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Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi and his Portuguese counterpart Cristiano Ronaldo are at the final stages of their careers. In football, it's called the bonus years.
It has been a long 17 years of seeing nothing but pure bliss from the two most prolific players in the recent years.
Messi took over from the flamboyant Ronaldinho as Ronaldo was carving star status on foreign land. But, as their careers come to an end, are Frenchman Kylian Mbappe and Norwegian Erling Haaland the next phenomenon to grace the green grass?
“I do not score enough goals, I personally think that. I should have had more goals than assists,” Erling Haaland.
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Halaand seems still to have a hunger for more
Having scored a hat trick on international duty for Norway, Haaland seems still to have a hunger for more. A trait I can match with young Ronaldo in his first years at Manchester United.
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Erling Haaland
Though not having won a trophy, he has shown the maturity and want to be the best in the world.
Haaland came to light playing for Norway at the under 20s where he bagged 9 goals in Norway’s emphatic win over lowly rated Honduras and he does not seem to stop.
He is now the lead of a fierce Dortmund attack and there are many suitors, the big boys in the football world who want his services.
Only time will tell. His next moves are very crucial. But what he has done so far, and the hunger that he has, things are really looking up.
Mbappe, the youngest scorer at a world cup
On the other side, having been the youngest scorer at a world cup winning finalist, at only 18 years old, Mbappe has already shown his prowess.
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PSG will get at least one full season of Messi and Mbappe together, with Neymar as well
Unlike Haaland, he has won a lot of trophies at both club and national level which is new in its sense.
Having been one of the most expensive players, with his move from Monaco, which he helped win a PSG dominant league, with 26 goals out of 44 matches, teams were on notice and PSG would not sleep on the opportunity to get his signature.
Despite the big move, he has managed to maintain his standards with the goals and assists. He is always a handful to defenders.
Many have showed talent at a hound age but not many can keep it for more than a decade as Messi and Ronaldo.
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Messi and Ronaldo
But these two knew sensations have everything to match their predecessors. I hope they do not get lured into wrong decisions because of the financial state of the game now.
I hope they make procedural growth moves that will put them at the top of the game for a very long time.
As the saying goes, only time will tell. They have mapped their past, let’s see how they craft their future. But Mbappe and Haaland will for sure be the next phenomes of the game, for a long time to come.
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Pulse Contributor Master Omamo