 |
| Photo by Zweli Ndhlovu |
“The crowned Prince is upstaging the King…”
I am probably paraphrasing here, but this is what a commentator said as teams went into halftime on Tuesday 11 April 2017. Paulo Dybala was giving the Barcelona a torrid time as Juventus ran out 3-0 winners in that game.
We have this fascination with crowning the new king every single season. I mean, we were already looking for the new Messi in 2008. We never let players just enjoy his career without us trying to get someone else to usurp that player.
We do not even wait for a player to reach the twilight of their career. In the PSL for example, we were looking for the next Thulani Serero when Serero was still 21, probably his best season in the PSL. Funny thing is when the player we touted as the next king fails to live up to the expectation, we turn around and act like at some point we never tried to elevate that player to King status.
Soccer is a fast-paced game, but the constant lookout for the next elite players is effectively killing off many players careers who were yet to reach their peak (some players peak late honestly) early. How many players have you thought “This player should give others a chance, so and so is here now and is taking their spot.” I think that is why in hindsight we realise how much a player was underrated in their generation because of the constant need for something new.
As fans, we are making football a game of musical chair where we constantly want something different in a short space of time. We never fully appreciate the players we have at the moment and only on their retirement do we realise how much we missed on because we searched for a replacement before it’s time.
