Jawad I understand ur frustration about Etoo but­ remember you let him go u had everything to keep him @­ Madrid and u didn't. When Barca showed the interest­ u quickly blocked the deal! was it fair? I don't­ think so! I think u shud have keeped him

A player's salary is not only base on his­ performance on the pitch but also his marketability. A­ recognizable face/name can sell merchandises/tickets­ and bring in more money to the club.

messi is better than maradona

Andrew, great comment. Top quality..

A lot of talk about Messi and Eto'o. Neither of­ them should be undermined because they have incredible­ abilities. Eto'o is a world class striker because­ all he cares about is scoring and how to move into­ positions to score, and this has made Eto'o one of­ the best strikers of this generation if not the best.­ His goal ratio is incredible. As for easy goals? False.­ UCL final wasn't an easy goal, he had to think­ quickly; and look at this weekend against Parma, the­ defence gave him no space, and the moment he was given­ an inch, he cracked one into the top right.
Messi­ without a doubt had the best season though and deserves­ both awards if you honestly look at it objectively. I­ don't need to make any arguments for him because­ while his statistics were by far the best last season,­ you can't quantify the influence he has on the­ field. To be honest, the only person who could­ realistically challenge for this award this year is­ Iniesta; he had the same influence as Messi, except­ lacking the goals and assists, but they will come.
And­ seriously, some people are still caught up with Kaka­ and Ronaldo from the last two years that they forget­ the awards are based on this year (reflects the season­ more). No one can give plausible arguments that they­ deserve it this year. Kaka i feel will definitely push­ for it next year though and especially if Brazil get­ the WC. Madrid has the potential to win the lot and­ Kaka so far has been the star so far.
As for Messi in­ Argentina, it's not his fault, it is­ Maradonna's. He doesn't select Zarate or­ Higuain and doesn't start Cambiasso or Samuel, that­ speaks for itself without saying anything else. But for­ me, in order for Messi to be looked upon as not just a­ great of his generation, but more Pele and­ Maradonna-esque, he needs to perform the same for­ country as club.

indonoob@9....Whereas I agree with you that messi is a­ great player, i disagree that "eto'o, he­ waits for the perfect pass to­ score." u just need­ to look at some of the goals that the guy can­ hit...champions league finals is an example. U surely­ cant say that was a perfect pass as he had to do the­ work himself...compare with messi's goal also in­ the finals..now thts a perfect pass. In addition, am­ not sure u also watched Inter's match last­ weekend...coz u cant call teh goal etoó scored agnst­ parma a result of a perfect pass but it was a classic­ one!

will guys iam real madrid fun the tureth is messi­ better thn eto
i hate him bcz eto was real plyer. when­ he was 10 or 11 years real madid mek him plyer he lern­ football in madrid then barca buy him when he scoret­ gol agine real he was so happy like he did no good­ player saying bad ords agnest first klub as he did he­ is just a shame i am happy to he move inter i am not­ seeing anymore he.s @#$% face
u know evry one knows­ kaka and ronaldo and messi is best player in the wrold­ who getting this year best player of world we shud wait

where did maradona put Messi in Argentine squad?­ striker. n where is he playing at Barca? wide at flank­ n roam to midfield n getting thru defence with his­ mazey runs.. still not getting the point? ok my point­ is Messi didnt perform with Argentina (in fact each of­ them didnt perform) coz his coach doesnt know how to­ run a team, specifically have no idea whatsoever to use­ the talent in his squad. seriously, if u were maradona,­ with the talent of Lisandro, Milito n others, are u­ going to convert Messi as striker where he is best as­ an attacking midfielder..? ya, thought so..!

Actually jokers. kaka is the best player in the world.­ Hot for country and club, if not for last season's­ injuries he could have showed his class. Have u watched­ the Confed cup world cup qualifiersand real in the­ weekend. Class poise and control KAKA - Brazil over­ argies and lame Spain - soft centre when Senna (a­ brazilian) does not play.

Visca el Barca!!!

indonoob, Im not saying who deserves more the fifa­ player award. I watched all Barca games last season and­ I must say Messi was very important to them. What I­ hate is when one player gets all the credit for a team­ effort and another is seen like just an average player­ although he also contributes alot to the team­ (Eto'o). People like Toure did alot and the whole­ team as a whole. I dont just agree with people who see­ Eto'o as just some one who gets the easy goals.­ Look at his goals and you will agree with me that he is­ more than that. He does alot for the team defensively­ and he does what a forward is supposed to do. Even­ Iniesta Xavi etc have talked about this except the­ journalists and Pep who never praised him and just­ after two games he is pouring praises on Ibra. He even ­ went as far as saying he will give Ibra as much time as­ he wants to adapt. There is alot of discrimination out­ here and its just a fact. In Barcelona Messi is able to­ do what he does because of the team and the movement of­ the forwards like Eto'o. In Argentina he cannot do­ it so its wrong to say he can win alone!!!

It will be a damn shame for Messi, Mascherano, Aguero,­ Riquelme, and Zanetti to all miss out on South Africa.­ All of them are class players and I'd love to watch­ them play in the world cup.

Contrast in coaches as well.

Guardiola and­ Maradonna...huge gap in experience and managing talent­ there.

If Argentina don't qualify, I'd sum it­ up to Maradonna...

Eto'o and Messi are two different kind of players­ so its hard to compare them. But most managers would­ prefer Messi in their team because Eto'o's game­ is pretty much one-dimensional. But Messi isn't­ doing very well for his national team. Look at the­ wealth of talent Argentina have and they are really­ under performing. Messi is fast becoming a bit like Del­ Piero, magical for club, ineffective for country

@ #8 Richie, I'm not saying that eto'o does not­ deserve any credits, he does, but I'm answering to­ #4 CHIEF who says that eto'o deserves the FIFA­ player of the year more than Messi. There is no way­ eto'o deserves it more than Messi, no way. Did you­ see the last two months when Barca was resting Messi,­ Xavi, Iniest, and eto'o could no score a single­ goal for the last 2 months, because he needed their­ assists. And for your information, Messi does create­ goals. In fact Messi and Iniesta are the type of­ players who cut through the deffense by themselves,­ where as eto'o, he waits for the perfect pass to­ score. And if you watched la liga the whole season, you­ would have noticed that Messi was a game changer by­ himself. Whenever Barca did not have Messi, they would­ have some trouble, but as soon as Messi came in, Barca­ would win. And do you remember how manytimes Messi came­ as substitute and won the game for Barca. He did that­ against Osasuna, Racing Santander, and other teams­ where he would score the winning goal. And that is­ Messi, and this why he is the best in the world. And­ for your information, I'm not no journalist or­ anyone who is trying to promote Messi, I'm only­ here to speak the trouth, and I will always speak­ against those fans who are wrong, for example #4 CHIEF.

indonoob you one of those @#$% who have been deceived­ by journalists out to promote messis image for adverts.­ Same was said when eto'o was playing with Ronnie­ and where is Ronnie without Eto'o? Eto'os­ movement is spectacular and thats why its easy to play­ with him. He doesnt only stick his leg like the media­ wants to make it sound like. He used to score for­ Mallorca and his country long before messi was known.­ Messi is a great player just like Iniesta Xavi Toure­ etc but lets give poor Eto'o the credit for his­ achievements. His contribution has been enormous.­ Without his goals in the CL finals, who knows how those­ games would have ended. Im tired of reading @#$% about­ Eto'o scoring easy goals from others passes. Messi­ is not a play maker. Ronnie used to be. You have to­ pity a forward waiting for Messis pass because it only­ comes by chance. Now he is pretennding to harmonize­ with Ibra but all of them have big egos which will show­ when things dont go their way. Did u see messis­ headbutt in the supercup. People say he is humble but I­ know this is because things are smooth. Ronnie used to­ smile like an Angel and now?? Please lets give each and­ everyone his credit african or not!

@ #4 CHIEF, shut the fuxk up dixk head. I bet you are­ either a african who will all ways support a­ "african brotha" just because he is black and­ african, or you are a madrid fan who totaly hates Messi­ becasue he is the best in the world, and you are jelous­ because he is not in your team, or you are an inter fan­ who thinks that you got the best attacker in the world,­ but the truth is you lost the best attacker in the­ world. Anyways I don't care who you are, but there­ is no way Eto'o desrves the FIFA player of the year­ ahead of Messi, Iniesta, and Xavi. First of all­ eto'o scored 35 goals in all competition, and Messi­ scored 39 in all competion. Half the goals that­ eto'o scored came from Messi, because Messi, Xavi,­ Iniest, Henry were the one who were creating the goals­ and eto'o was there to only stick his leg out and­ score. And for Argentina, Don't blame Messi,­ it's all Maradona's fault who is not­ experienced. And look at the facts, look at the group­ that Argentina is in, and look at the weak assssssss­ group that Cameroon is in. So go fuxk yourself, and­ quit Talking about Messi. He is the Best Player in the­ World, and deserves the most money.

After all Messi had given much to Barca he deserved to­ be rewarded. Dotun Lagos Nigeria