Ingar

Ever since the little fat genius Diego Armando Maradona tortured opposition defenders at home and abroad, football fans have been looking for "the new Maradona". Anyone remember Nii Lamptey? He was a Ghana international called "the new Maradona" in the early 90's. Nowadays it's Riquelme and Messi - fellow Argentinian countrymen of Maradona - that are believed to be "the new Maradona". But the one true player it would be fair to compare to Maradona, how unsimilar their physique may be, is Manchester United's Wayne Rooney. Ex-Red Lee Sharpe writes an excellent comparison between Maradona, Rooney and Ronaldinho on his world-cup blog:

I think Wayne Rooney's much more in the same mould as Maradona than Ronaldinho. When Rooney gets the ball, he wants to attack people straightaway. He wants to get at the other team, he wants to beat defenders, he wants to score, he wants to cross the ball and it's really exciting.

He grabs the game by the scruff of the neck just like Maradona used to do but I'm not sure that Ronaldinho does. It seems that he wants to be more of a conductor than the lead singer in a rock band, to sit there and pull the strings rather than make the whole game tick. I'd rather watch a Maradona or a Wayne Rooney running at pace than a cute pass from Ronaldinho, it's far more entertaining and gets you on the edge of your seat.