Pelé: ‘Impossible for Neymar to replace me’

The former Santos star does not believe there will ever be a new ‘king’ of Brazilian football quite like him despite the 23-year-old’s challenge to his goalscoring record. As mentioned in GOAL, when asked if Neymar could replace him as Brazilian football’s favourite son, Pelé said: “I think not. I think to be the new […]
by
sambafoot_admin
2015-03-27 16:27:00

The former Santos star does not believe there will ever be a new ‘king’ of Brazilian football quite like him despite the 23-year-old’s challenge to his goalscoring record.

As mentioned in GOAL, when asked if Neymar could replace him as Brazilian football’s favourite son, Pelé said: “I think not. I think to be the new king, the new Pelé, is impossible. Because my mother and my father closed the machine. I think he’s a good player, an excellent young player and he’s going to be a big star, no doubt.”

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have also proven worthy challengers to the all-time greats in recent years but Pelé believes he could have been a force in the modern game.

Pelé continued: “If you ask, would Beethoven be important now? Of course. If I was in this moment and prepared to play in this moment. The thing people forget is I was given a gift to play football, this is something no-one can judge.”