Gerard Pique Quotes

You can never know if there will be a second Cruyff, someone with a great personality who can grow up and make it into the squad of the club they love. But what is certain is that, in the Champions League, there will be big clubs producing these players forever.

He is an example of a La Masia player. Technically he is unbelievable.

I had some very good players and some wonderful young players hitting the scene. Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Michael Owen - we had something tangible to work with and move forward.

When I first arrived at Napoli, I was the ball boy, which meant that I got to watch as the legends trained. Then, once I joined the youth team as a young teenager, I was a midfielder just like Tardelli.

Zidane told me that since Messi, he had never seen a left foot like mine. I was a little impressed, because Messi is a piece of a footballer.

Mario Balotelli is undoubtedly the greatest talent of Italian football.

Arsene Wenger was talking about comparisons with Johan Cruyff, a player who only comes around every 10 years and Thierry Henry is definitely one of those

It is an honour and a pleasure to be able to play with Leo Messi. I want to learn. He is the best player in the world and in history. I am delighted to be able to share costumes. I want to learn a lot from him on and off the field.

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated world football for a decade and, given the nature of football, at a certain point the baton will have to pass to someone else. I think Neymar has a great chance of filling that role.

I was lucky in that I played in a Liverpool team alongside the likes of Raheem Sterling, Jon Flanagan, Andre Wisdom and Suso and you knew that these players were special.

Argentina have always produced very good players, and mine is just another name on the list.

Ajax is the best academy in the world.

During the Sir Alex Ferguson years, you would see all those great players - Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo, to name just a few - and you'd quickly realise why Old Trafford had an aura like nowhere else.

When you walk in the door at Green Bay and see the murals of all the football players you knew as a fan, it can get to you. I grew up being Bart Starr and Paul Hornung on the playground.

I signed as an 11-year-old for Everton. I broke into the Under-18s at the age of 14, then the reserves at 15, then I was in the first-team squad at 16.

Novi Sad is a really beautiful city, and the club is really nice. It is one of the best youth academies in Serbia.

To be able to be mentioned with guys like Emmitt, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Curtis Martin and my man LaDainian Tomlinson, it's a blessing.

It's not easy to break into an Arsenal team from youth.

I thought the first Welsh team I played in was the golden generation, with Neville Southall, Mark Hughes, Ian Rush, Dean Saunders, Gary Speed, and Ryan Giggs.

Messi, there is only one, as there was only one Maradona. You cannot replace players like them.

Dave Mackay was one of the best I've ever seen. Jimmy Greaves was the greatest goal scorer, and George Best was just the best. The greatest.

I played for Barcelona, for Ajax, where it's important to develop and integrate young talent.

Scholes was playing tiki-taka football when nobody in England knew what it was. He was another of those players, like Denis Law or Bobby Moore, who at 15 probably looked as if he wouldn't make it.

Iniesta is a true football genius, and we should all give thanks not only for what he has done but what he's continuing to do.

Ajax always bring through young players from their academy - we can't pay €20m for a player, so we make sure we develop those players and give them the opportunity to play.