5 reasons why Lionel Messi must not come out of International retirement
Lionel Messi’s retirement announcement from international duty, right after Copa America 2016 finals defeat for Argentina, sent shockwaves across the planet. So much so, that even English Premier League’s best player Sergio Aguero and FC Barcelona’s top player Javier Mascherano’s retirement went unnoticed.
There is random news that even Angel di Maria, Lucas Biglia, Gonzalo Higuain and Ezequiel Lavezzi are set to announce retirement too. But the bigger news, print and social media is all about Messi, Messi, Messi. Or rather “Please come back Messi”.
There are online petitions, signature campaigns and all sorts of mush going around. But should Messi reconsider the retirement. I think not. Leo chose the best time to retire and he shouldn’t bother coming back. Here are five reasons why.
#1 Retire when it’s “Why” than “When”
Top players have an enriching legacy of memories to protect. As it is, years down, they are remembered more for what they didn’t achieve (minority element) than that they did (majority content). Speak Zidane and a head butt comes to mind! Discuss the late Johann Cryuff and no World Cup will immediately be mentioned.
Timing a retirement is always a dicey game. You want to play more, enjoy more, serve more. Fans want more. But it's always best to retire when people go “Why” than asking “When”! When you retire late, there are chances of more bad memories being added to the list. At this stage, his glories far far outweigh the odd regret. Actually just one regret.
You rather retire with this than risk anything worse. To beat the only regret, he needs to play 2018 World Cup and win it. It’s a long shot! He rather give this time to the AFA to groom a young talent.