Glavisted, I suppose when you say Luis Gento you mean Paco Gento, or Luis Suárez, ¿right?
I think that stating "Which Is Number One™" is pointless: there are too many factors to consider.
- They played in different times.
- Some had huge club success, others huge international success, others a combination, others none.
- Some played along some superstars, others built the team mostly on their own.
- Some were amazing playmakers, others were incredible scorers.
I think it is easier to establish who has been the best player during a small period of time, and from that you can get who have been the top players of all time. I'd say:
1950's - Alfredo DiStéfano
1960's - Pelé
1970's - Johann Cruyff & Franz Beckenbauer
1980's - Diego A. Maradona
1990's - Ronaldo
2000's - Zinedine Zidane
You will find that these periods mostly overlap, as Ronaldo and Zidane are more mid-to-late 90's and early 2000's, and Maradona is early 1990's too. But this is fairly good as a representation of the best players of each time. Now, there's a group of players that not having been among the all-time super greatest best-of-their-time players, are too good not to be mentioned. These are:
Marco Van Basten (late 80's early 90's), Romário da Souza (early 90's), Gabriel Batistuta (early 90's), Eusebio (60's), Bobby Charlton (60's), Lev Yashin (early 60's), Michel Platini (early 80's), Gerd Müller (early 70's), Roberto Baggio (early 90's) and Ronaldinho (00's).
Thus, it is not fair to choose, say, Maradona above Pelé. Maradona failed to achieve the maximum in his however brilliant club career, while Pelé won every possible title both with Santos and Brazil. Pelé won 3 WC's, and though had an arguably better team than Maradona in 1970, he also won two more WC's. Maradona on the contrary played in a time when being a superstar was harder, his private life hurt his professional career, and was a complete leader to Boca Juniors, Napoli and Argentina. Plus, he almost won a WC on his own. Therefore, it is unfair to compare.
Ronaldo could have been the greatest of all time had it not been for his severe knee injury, which forced him to change his gameplay, though he kept being the best striker in the world for many years after. Van Basten also had a terrible injury that cut his career. But don't forget that Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer were great club players, won a lot of individual accolades and European Cups, and also did great with their National teams. Alfredo DiStéfano was the best player of the 50's, won 5 European Cups, 2 argentine, 4 colombian and 8 spanish leagues, 1 intercontinental cup, 1 copa américa, 2 European Footballer of the Year, the Super Ballon D'Or... and covered a much bigger part of the pitch than Maradona or Pelé.
It is impossible to choose between them. Zinedine Zidane might be the one player that has touched my heart more when watching him play, but that's because I usually prefer playmakers than strikers. There's a group of six or seven súper players (DiStéfano, Pelé, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Maradona, Ronaldo and Zidane), and anyone of those can be dubbed The Greatest One™.
