On Pele’s 80th birthday, we take a look at the Top 5 footballers who can surpass O’Rei in different achievements throughout his career.
King Pele turns 80 years old today, which gave us an idea to make a Top 5 list of footballers who can surpass some of his records. We will take a look at the players who might get on top of the Brazilian legend over the next decade. These are various different stats in which Pele has been at the top for many decades. But this can change pretty soon with the new generations.
5.- Erling Haaland
Even though he just started his professional career, Erling Haaland is already one of the world’s most sensational new talents. In the Champions League alone, he has a goal-record like no other player before him. Despite his age, this is a player with the potential to possibly get after one of Pele’s most impressive records. As of right now, O’Rei is still one of the most prolific goal-scorers in football history with 767 goals this far.
We only have to look at his goal ratio to make this assumption. At Molde, Haaland played 50 games and scored 20 goals. But he exploded when he moved to RB Salzburg with 29 goals in 27 matches. At Borussia Dortmund, he’s already scored 22 goals in 25 matches. And finally, this kid already scored 6 goals in 7 games with the Norway National team. He is still 20 years old.
4.- Neymar
Out of all the Brazilian stars in today’s football, Neymar is by far the best of them all. His trophy cabinet already has several titles to his name and the last five years of his career will be crucial. Neymar has Pele’s Brazil goal record to surpass (he just got past Ronaldo Nazario’s 65 goals), with Pele at the top with 77 goals. It’s safe to say that Neymar will easily surpass Pele with the most goals for the Brazil national team. Getting to win three FIFA World Cup titles is impossible for Neymar but he can at least surpass Pele’s goal-count.
3.- Lionel Messi
As a one-club man, Pele had arguably one of the most impressive careers in football history. He scored an incredible 656 goals at club level. Leo already surpassed Pele by four goals if we only count the ones with a single club. However, O’Rei scored another 64 goals during his three-season spell at New York Cosmos. That leaves the Brazilian legend with a total 674 club goals throughout his career. If Messi does well over the current season, he will obliterate this record without breaking a sweat.
2.- Kylian Mbappe
In what perhaps could be the hardest Pele record to surpass, Kylian Mbappe already took the first step towards it. As we all know, O’Rei won a record three FIFA World Cup titles and became the only player in history to do this. Mbappe is fortunate enough to be the most talented player of a young French generation that can definitely win another two trophies. Doing this will be extremely difficult for Mbappe, but it’s certainly not impossible.
1.- Cristiano Ronaldo
Last but never least, Cristiano Ronaldo can become the all-time goalscorer who ever lived and Pele is definitely amongst his targets. Although the Brazilian legend isn’t the highest ranked in this stat, surpassing O’Rei would be an impressive feat. Cristiano is already the first high-profile player with more than 100 international goals with his country. This means that Pele is behind him on this impressive stat. However, there’s still some road ahead if he wants to finish on top of everybody else. Pele included.
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