Obviously a very, very good player but the difference between him and the very best is that I think he’d rather rack up 20 goals than actually do what it takes to win.
Neymar and Suarez sacrificed huge parts of their game because they realised play had to go through Messi and it meant that the team could win.
Alexis to me wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t adapt his game and there’s a reason both him and Cesc were ran out of town and the team immediately evaluated.
I agree with you but I think with Cesc it's a bit different. To this day I don't know why they signed him but for being able to do so cause he was good at Arsenal and "had Barca DNA". Back in 2011 Cesc was playing as a 10 for Arsenal, which they didn't have at Barca. Xavi was going to spend another 4 years there as their playmaker and Cesc only developed into a DLP later at Chelsea - so successor stuff my ass. And they also had that guy at their club already in Thiago. Messi was playing false 9 operating in the almost exact same spaces as Arsenal Cesc did at 10. I remember Pep trying a 343 diamond so he could fit in Cesc at 10 in front of his usual Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta trio but him and Messi were just blocking each other. It was so useless Barca got Cesc and that fact makes the whole transfer and saga even more infuriating.