As our resident flair guru, where does Maradona fit on the scale? He has ALL the attributes to be off the charts BUT he selfishly backed it up by actually delivering some important silverware too.
Stats will also tell you that George Best won a Ballon D'Or and Phil Neville didn't.
In terms of them spoiling our sport, we're probably the wrong club to support for you currently then :) As without them, TB probably wouldn't have made his fortune, bought the Albion or indeed had the insights...
Despite the fact that Pele has historically been judged on the mythical goal tally that he amassed during his career, which is, um, a stat.
I don't think Pele is a modern footballer by any stretch of the imagination.
Out of interest, how do you judge a player's ability or rate his career then...