Arda Turan claims Cristiano Ronaldo is only picked as best player ever for ‘political reasons’

Cristiano Ronaldo is only selected ahead of Lionel Messi as the greatest player of all time due to political reasons, according to Arda Turan.  

The 33-year-old, who featured alongside Messi at Barcelona during his three-year spell, is the latest to weigh in on the debate which has continued to divide the sport’s biggest names. 

Turan believes that, despite the ‘special’ Ronaldo once again netting an impressive amount of goals last season, it is Messi who possesses the greater all-round ability.  

Arda Turan believes former Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time

The 33-year-old witnessed Messi’s magic in person during his three years at the Nou Camp

Having won one LaLiga title and two Copa del Rey trophies in the same star-studded team as Messi at the Nou Camp, it comes as no surprise that Turan has tipped the six-time Ballon d’Or winner as his choice.  

He told beIN Sports Turkey, via Goal: ‘Messi is present in every moment of football. He can dictate the game in every aspect.

‘There’s nothing bad to say about Ronaldo but he’s a goalscorer, albeit a very special one. Messi does everything in this game.

Turan claims that those who choose Ronaldo as the GOAT do so because of political reasons

Messi and Turan won one LaLiga title and two Copa del Rey trophies before the latter departed

‘He does things you can’t even imagine to do. His intelligence, his vision, his passing are all much different.

‘And every person I have talked to about this agrees with me.

‘Except the people who are close to Ronaldo, his team-mates, who say it’s Ronaldo as they answer politically.

‘Ronaldo is my friend and it’s not my place to question his quality. But I think Messi is better.’

Both Messi and Ronaldo have pressed their claims as the undisputed best player in football in recent history. The two superstars compete for the Ballon d’Or every season and aim to beat each other’s impressive goal tallies. 

Ronaldo regularly competes with Messi for Ballon d’Ors and has won the award five times

The Juventus forward has clinched five of the valuable gongs, one shy of Messi, with Luka Modric remaining the only player to have broken the pair’s dominance since 2008 due to his win two years ago.

And it has even been sensationally claimed that Messi and Ronaldo may find themselves sporting the same colours in the very near future. According to journalist Guillem Balague, the latter has been offered to Barcelona. 

It has been reported that Juventus would struggle to afford Ronaldo’s eye-watering £28million-a-year wage package after his two-year spell in Turin. The Old Lady are believed to have offered to ship him out to several of Europe’s elite clubs, including the dethroned LaLiga champions.