Everyone is a new version of someone else. Ryan Giggs was the new George Best when he made his Manchester United debut in 1991 and he played on the opposite flank to the previous season's new George Best, Lee Sharpe. Ever since 1994, any Romanian child who can do more than five keepie-ups has been dubbed the new Gheorghe Hagi. But as globalisation accelerates and the world becomes ever more inter-linked, the need for local or national icons has slackened off. Now everyone wants to be the new Lionel Messi.
It doesn't take much for the comparison to be made.