One of the most rewarding parts of becoming a superstar athlete has to be watching kids fall in love with what you do and try to emulate your style on the pitch. Maybe one day one of them grows up and goes on to inspire others just like you. Maybe if you're Pablo Aymar, one of your biggest fans will grow up to be Lionel Messi, one of the greatest players of all time. Today I'm going to show you how Imar captivated a young Lionel Messi. with his magic skills.
So, Aymar was one of those kids who was born in love with the sport, as soon as he could walk he wouldn't let go of his football. Unsurprisingly, by the age of 6, he had unknowingly convinced the coach of a local team that watched him play on the streets from afar that he had found a new Maradona, which led him to join Estudiantes Rio Cuarto. From there on, football became even more of an obsession and his father, Ricardo Aymar, watched his son's love for the sport grow and grow, with delight but also worryingly. Ricardo wanted what was best for his son and like many parents, he wanted to make sure he did well and kept focus on school. But from early on it was clear, little Pablo only cared about one thing and it surely wasn't a handbook.
By the age of 13, his father's biggest fear came to fruition, Looking back now it's clear it was inevitable. River played sent over a scout and Pablo dazzled him. Very soon the offer to join their academy arrived. Rio Quarto was an 8 hour trip away from Buenos Aires and in Ricardo's opinion, his son was far too young to be going all in on his dreams and moving away from home.
But Pablo wasn't one to listen to his father on these matters. He had learned a lot from him and of course, those teachings of hard work and perseverance would be part of what made him such a great player. But this time around, He had to be daring and after convincing his father to at least let him try out for a while, everyone at River was shocked at his skills, so Pablo, knowing he lacked the authority to convince his father to let him stay, went and begged Daniel Passarella, one of Argentina's greatest ever defenders and the first team's coach at the time, to go and show his dad that it was for the best that he stayed.
This daring move showed off the same playful, In subordination that Aymar would show on the pitch, and it would be just as effective, Aymar would move to Buenos Aires in search of the dream. Shockingly, it would only be 3 years before Ricardo Aymar heard Passarella ask him for another favor. The end of the summer was approaching and Daniel wanted Pablo to come earlier than expected to Buenos Aires. But why, you ask? So that a 16 year old joined River Plate's first team in training.
Aymar played a single game that year. only getting some more time under the spotlight in the 1997 Under 20 World Cup. This team was exceptional, lots of young men who now are known as legends shared the pitch with Aymar, from Riquelme to Inter's treble winning duo of Cambiasso and Walter Samuel.
The group stage showed them a tough time but much due to the genius of Aymar they persevered. In the last 16, Aymar got to play his signature game, a match against an England squad that presented the likes of Carragher and Michael Owen. Argentina would win 2 to 1 with Aymar scoring the winning goal.
From there on they caught some momentum, beating Brazil with Aymar winning the Man of the Match award and then Ireland and finally Uruguay as they became under 20 world champions. Following these heroics he would get to play the under 20 Sudamericano, winning the tournament's best player award but also getting his nickname El Payaso or the clown. I've tried to make sure I could get a definite response to why this nickname came to happen but I couldn't.
I've heard that it started because the commentators said that in Disturment watching Aymar was like a circus show. But I have also heard that he once showed up in TV dressed as a clown or even that the mole he has beneath his left eye looks like clown makeup. I'm honestly confused as to what is the real reason behind this iconic nickname.
Regardless, in 1998, now 18 years old, Pablo was finishing up school and I guess perhaps in an attempt to soften the blow that was was moving to Buenos Aires. Pablo had kept working hard at school to satisfy his father and he had now the opportunity to join med school. This would have been a dream come true for Ricardo but still, Aymar insisted that football was his passion and he decided to refuse the opportunity.
By the end of the season, he had played some part in River Plate's near miss at the Copa Libertadores final and he had in a way cemented that he was the future star of this squad. The next few seasons would see Aymar experience a bit of a deja vu. First getting knocked out again in the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores while he still fought for a place in the starting eleven, and then going out in the quarters once he became one of their key players, a sour taste that would only be sweetened as River finished in first place in both the Apertura and Clausura tournaments.
After this, it's easy to assume Aymar was looking to get some revenge on the past and to win the Copa Libertadores but very soon the winter market would come and he would leave. 49 goals and assists in the 82 matches he played for River, impressive numbers that still didn't do justice to the magic he brought to the pitch. His new home would be Valencia.
It would arrive for 24 million euros, the most expensive transfer fee ever paid by the Spanish club. It's hard to understand why Aymar chose Valencia at first, considering he had offers from every one of the top 5 leagues, even getting an offer from giants Real Madrid who would instead end up focusing themselves on the signing of Zidane, but Valencia were quite simply one of the up and coming forces in Europe. in that same season, though I might wouldn't play an essential role in it. They would make a Champions League final, defeating Lyon, Arsenal and Leeds. Once there, the match against Bayern would be an interesting one, for sure.
Two penalties in the first 10 minutes, with Valencia scoring theirs, before Canizares heroically saved Bayern's penalty. Still, this wouldn't be the end, as Bayern would get another penalty and score, as they would eventually, guess what? Going to a penalty shootout, where Bayern would miss the first penalty, only for Valencia to choke and allow the mighty Oliver Kahn to save 3 penalties and send them home trophyless. This first half season would see legends like Maradona and Cruyff heavily praising Aymar, with Barcelona even looking to steal him away from the Mestalla and the Spanish people giving Aymar the nickname El Mago, or the magician.
Over the summer Valencia was left without a manager and so arrived Rafa Benitez from Tenerife. After sensing some instability amongst the league's greatest and most notorious squads, Benitez set up a defensive formation like few others and during an entire La Liga season, while only conceding 27 goals, 10 less than the second most effective defense at the time. With numbers like this, of course Valencia became Spanish champions, but there's no way Aimar could thrive in this formation, or at least that's what people assumed before he proved this all wrong. Aymar would drop deep and use his exceptional vision to set up unpredictable passes leading to unparalleled counter attacks.
Despite finishing the season with only 4 league goals, Aymar was exceptional, easily one of the key players in this historic squad. The following season would be a bit of a reality check for Valencia, who would finish 5th in the league behind Celta de Vigo, Real Sociedad and Coruña. It's not enough to say that the league was going through some weird times.
In the Champions League, Aymar finally got to show Europe how good it really was. Despite going out in the quarter finals on goal difference to Inter, Aymar finished with 3 goals and 5 assists which would make him the top assist maker in the competition. With this disappointing finish in the league, many thought that Valencia just got lucky the first time around but then Benitez let go of his defensive minded tactics and decided to leave Valencia to assume their role as a Spanish powerhouse once and for all.
By the end of the season, they would be the second highest scoring team in La Liga, though they would still maintain their spot as the team with by far the best defense. Above all, if in some of their best seasons they had struggled internationally, this time around they took over, beating Villarreal, Bordeaux and Marseille on their way to conquer the UEFA Cup. This wonderful year should have been Aymar's standout season that would give him the ticket into one of Europe's strongest squads, but injuries plagued them. pushing him to the sidelines over and over again. In the UEFA Cup, he only got to play about 200 minutes out of the close to 800 available after the last 16 round.
If these injuries were already bound to make life at Valencia harder for Pablo Aymar, once Rafael Benitez had a falling out with the board and left in favor of Claudio Ranieri, it became quite clear that these changes were were gonna have long lasting effects on the Argentine, who Maradona once referred to as only player he'd pay money to watch. In that first season, following the departure of Benitez, Valencia dropped to 7th place and though the following season Kike Flores joined and a young David Villa scored 25 league goals to push the squad back up to 3rd place, Pablo Aimar seemed unable to capitalize on this opportunity to relaunch his career. A player once known for fearlessly running at the defense, dodging every tackle and flowing down the pitch, seemed to now lack the confidence to take risks. Honestly, he seemed scared.
Perhaps it was Hanieda's lack of trust that took a serious hit on his self-esteem. Maybe he was just scared that a new injury would put him away for good. But one thing is sure, he wasn't the same player anymore. And in a way, you could see he was aware of this change, so in 2005-2006, despite all the hope that Valencia would be back on top, he left the team.
There were lots of rumors that he would join Liverpool. Rafa Benitez had just taken them to a Champions League title and with many Spanish-speaking players already in this squad, who could clearly use some of Aymar's South American magic, it seemed like the perfect move for both. But as someone who had already said no to a move to Real Madrid a few years back, Aymar once again shocked everyone and joined Real Zaragoza.
This move wasn't as weird as it might sound, Aymar was hoping it would be a pit stop before it would once again launch himself towards the biggest stage. And on another hand, he had plenty of Argentine players at the club like Diego and Gabriel Milito, all of this coupled with a surprisingly talented squad with players like Gerard Piqué. They had made the final of the Copa del Rey the previous year and they could give him a chance to play once again how he loved to and in the position he loved to. Once he joined, the club issued a statement referring to him as the biggest transfer in the history of the club.
Over that first season, Aimar would adapt to the squad impressively well, forming an incredible duo with Diego Melito and in the end, helping him get a shocking 23 league goals just too short of the TopScore award. This incredible duo would of course lead Zaragoza to their highest placement of the 21st century, finishing just 6 points short of a champions league spot in 6th place. For many this looked like a rebirth of sorts for Aymar, despite still dealing with a few annoying injuries it seemed that he was once again at the peak of his abilities. If support and a stable relationship with his club and teammates seemed like all he needed at this point in order to start driving, that was the opposite of what he got.
Financial issues led the club to enter a time of instability where some of their best players even ended up leaving including for example Gabriel Milito. Once the season started their squad did not contain the defensive talent they previously had and it was clear to everyone. By the end of the season they had conceded 61 goals and despite still having an impressive attack only outdone by 6 other teams in the league, they would finish in 18th place and get relegated.
Of course a player like Aymar couldn't stay at a club in these states so like others before him, he decided to leave. The market was more than happy to provide him with different escape routes but he would decide out of every possible team to join Benfica, where he'd replace Rui Costa and get to play alongside the young Di Maria, David Luís and José Antonio Reyes. Once he arrived the fans were excited to see what could come of their star signing but a start would be a scary sight. Injuries would plague the first half of the season and by January, Aymar had only played 6 league matches. Thankfully, the second half would be much different with Aymar providing the fans with a few glimpses of what could come of his time with the club, even though they would not be enough to stop Porto from winning their 4th league title in a row.
The following season Benfica would pull off the signing of Javier Saviola from Real Madrid, pairing him up with Aymar once again and to further add what to the fire, they would manage the signing of local rising star Fabio Quintran. The trio of Di Maria, Aymar and Saviola in attack, right behind Oscar Cardoso was something else, especially considering the level of the Portuguese league, so to win it, they only had to make sure Aymar was fit and for that, it required a bit of pampering. That season Aymar would be barely ever used for the full 90 and that strategy would work Mark wonders as the player would finally manage to stay clear of injuries.
As the final matchday came to an end, Benfica were 8 points clear from rivals FC Porto, the highest margin between the two rivals in a winning season for Benfica since 1977. This was as close to humiliation as FC Porto had witnessed for a long time, so they prepared their counter attack. They sold some of their key players like Bruno Alves, let go of their manager Jesualdo Ferreira and signed André Villas-Boas, who had been one of Mourinho's students in a way. And… headed the likes of João Moutinho, Ramos Rodrigues and Otamendi to a squad that already contained Raul Meireles, Hulk and Falcao.
Even though Aimar would have another impressive season, it would not be enough as Porto would finish 21 points in front. And even as the Europa League seemed like the last effort to make history, especially as 3 Portuguese teams made it to the semi-finals and Benfica beat Braga in the first leg in their efforts to provide the fans with an iconic, classic Europa League final. Everything would come crashing down as they would rest Aymar and few other players in the second leg, giving Braga the opportunity to turn the tie around as they would go on to lose to Porto in the final and lead them to what would be their 4th trophy that season.
The following season, even though Villasboas would leave for Chelsea, Porto would once again manage what now looked like impressive signings, Mangala, Alexandro and Danilo. This meant that second coach Vitor Pereira would take over and have an even stronger squad than Villasboas and with Benfica losing Di Maria, Porto would take the trophy once more, in his first season at the club. Aimar would start struggling for time on the pitch, but regardless, it would look like this season would be his most successful trophy wise with Benfica, being on route to play both the cup and europa league finals and being in first place with a 2 point lead with only 2 league matches left.
Would they repeat Porto's achievement and get an Europa league treble? Well, let me tell you what happened. They played the next league match against Porto themselves and after a goal to which in the first half.
The match would remain a draw until the 92nd minute when Kelvin scored one of the most iconic goals in Portuguese football's history and sent Benfica's coach Jorge Jesus down to his knees and Benfica themselves down to second place in the league. Four days later they played the Europa League final against Chelsea and once again the match would remain a draw until the 93rd minute when Ivanovic scored the winner for Chelsea. At this point they were a broken team in Mental terms and despite going in front in the Portuguese Cup final, they would eventually witness Vitoria de Guimarães score twice to win their first major title in their history.
After this, who could blame Aimar for deciding to move away? Well, not Manny but what people expected is that he would move back to Argentina but instead he moved to Malaysia where he played 8 matches for Johor FC before joining River Plate in training like Manny already expected him to do. playing only one match with the team before hanging his boots.
Though, actually 3 years later he would play one single official match with Estudiantes Rio Cuarto as he said he really wanted to add one official match with his youth club to his resume. I left his career with a Argentinian national team to the end because honestly not much happened. The most he ever played in an international tournament was 164 minutes in the 2007 and Copa America as Brazil defeated Argentina in the final.
He only once played a full 90 minutes in a copa america or world cup and it was in a group stage match against sweden in 2002. He also played the confederations cup final to brazil, though he did score in this one, Argentina would be decimated 4-1 once again. I found all of this very odd so after some research I realized he only played a full 90 for Argentina 9 times out of 52 appearances. It would be benched in favor of Veron. Then, either because of Saviola or Riquelme, and finally because of Tevez and of course, as the student became the master, Lionel Messi. It was tough luck to be honest, but very clearly, he still managed to leave a mark in his country's football history, so I guess he can't be too mad.
A frequent question when talking about Aymar starts in a what if. Since he never played in an all time great club, it's hard to judge what he could have done there. People question whether Aimar is an all-time great in the global scope.
They question where he would rank among others, and hopefully, I'll have the answer for that today. Still, it has to be mentioned that football is more than numbers. It appeals to our every sense. It captures our attention and entertains us with its magic. And Aimar was a great provider of that sort of experience, and for that, it will forever be remembered and imitated.
Which, after all, is the greatest form of flattering. So, getting into the ranking system, which I hope won't offend any fans of the great Argentinian. Finishing really wasn't his thing, only around 80 career goals, but that doesn't mean he couldn't score some worldies now and then, it's a 7 out of 10. Playmaking was great but I feel like it would be too much to give him a 10 out of 10 so I settled for a 9. Dribbling is simple to justify, Just think that there had to be a reason they compared him with Maradona so much.
It's a 10 out of 10. Speed and physicality was good, he was pretty fast, not the strongest of course but he did the job. Shame for the injuries of course but a 7 out of 10 seems in order. Then mentality.
It wasn't all that bad to be honest but I can't stop myself from getting the feeling he suffered a bit from stage fright and had a quitters mentality sometimes. A 7 out of 10. Longevity and adaptability were good, it played well everywhere and for a relatively long time an 8 out of 10. Flair goes end in end with dribbling, so enjoyable to watch and easy 10 out of 10. The trophy cabinet is a difficult and touchy subject to be honest, I do admire the fact him immensely for his two La Ligas with Valencia, but no other major trophies and not a single vote in the Ballon d'Or just makes it hard to justify more than a 6 out of 10. Finally the icon factor, being away from the biggest stages led him to never achieve a level of credibility he perhaps deserved but still, it was enough to make him an idol for many, Messi included. So that earns him a 7 out of 10. Totaling out at 71 out of 90, low in comparison to others on the list but remember, you have to be fantastic to even be on it.
And besides that, remember to go and vote in the description for what level of a player you think he was, it could change how he ranks, your opinion really matters here. Besides that, let me tell you I've added the X Factor of Schneider and Litmanen and they are now ranked as you see on screen, I was especially surprised with Litmanen, and many voting him as the GOAT. I guess the Finnish supporters really pulled through on this one, so... Before the end of the video, I'd like to thank our sponsor Skillshare.
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