DBasia.news – The end of Lionel Messi’s career in Argentina national team is closer. Recently, Messi reported have a plan to absent from La Albicelesta throughout 2018.
It means, the Argentina national team have to find Lionel Messi’s successor. It won’t be easy, moreover, Messi is Argentina’s top scorer of all time.
Lionel Messi performed in 128 matches for Argentina national team. From that amount, the Barcelona striker scored 65 goals.
Besides, Lionel Messi is the captain of the Argentina national team. The 31-year-old striker often becomes the one to rely on in difficult times.
However, nothing is perfect. Lionel Messi also has a weakness during his performance with the Argentina national team.
Lionel Messi hasn’t succeeded bringing Argentina national team to reach the World Cup title or Copa America. Messi’s best achievement was winning the gold medal of 2008 Olympiad.
If Lionel Messi really resigns from Argentina national team, La Albicelesta could use the 3 friendly matches throughout 2018 to find the successor.
Some players could replace Lionel Messi’s role, at least in the attacking field of Argentina national team. Then, who are the players to be the next Messi? Here are they:
Giovanni Simeone
Giovanni Simeone name is attached to his father who was also the former Argentina national team player, Diego. Unlikely, young Simeone is a striker.
Actually, Simeone’s talent can be seen since he played for River Place. But, the 23-year-old player stole the spotlight since playing for Genoa and Fiorentina.
When he played for Genoa, Simeone scored two goals to Juventus net. Meanwhile, Inter Milan got defeated three times by Simeone with Fiorentina.
Simeone’s big talent made him predicted as the future of Argentina national team. Moreover, Simeone could play in many positions just like Lionel Messi.
Mauro Icardi
The big talent of Mauro Icardi made many people surprised why he seldom plays for Argentina national team. In fact, Icardi was consistent to score two-digits goals with Inter Milan.
His personal problem with Lionel Messi predicted as the trigger why Icardi kicked from Argentina national team. But, now Icardi could return to La Albiceleste after Messi’s exit.
Compared to the other names in this list, Icardi has a different style compared to Lionel Messi. Icardi is the pure striker similar to Gabriel Batistuta.
However, talking about accuracy, no one can doubt Icardi. The top scorer of 2017-2018 Serie A wasn’t just bluffing.
Paulo Dybala
Among the other players in this list, Paulo Dybala is the strongest candidate to replace Lionel Messi. Dybala has a similar style to Messi.
Moreover, Dybala had the experience playing with Lionel Messi in Argentina national team. The Juventus player was part of La Albiceleste squad in the 2018 Wrld Cup.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival to Juventus believed to boost Dybala quality. Playing with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi must be an interesting experience.
The Argentinians assumed Dybala deserves the 10 jersey number if Lionel Messi really retires. The jersey number is familiar because Dybala wears the same number in Juventus.