I'm not a football historian but from the 20 years or so that I actively watch football, clips and the stuff I read up on, this would be my take:
Outside of the obvious big 3 I'd have Di Stefano clearly as the best. His impact is clear and unparalleled. Real Madrid won 2 La Ligas in almost half a century before and after him while winning it 8 times (!) with him. The only reason he was never considered up there with Maradona and Pelé is the lacking World Cup trophy. The reason for that is mostly down to the political climate during his active time. Argentina suffered military coups in 43, 55, 62, 66. Imagine a national team environment with 4 military coups where you have strong pro and anti regime supporters and football certainly is not the top priority within the country. Then, he moved to Spain and played a handful of games for them internationally where it was the same shit under Franco dictatorship during the aftermath of Spanish Civil War. Just the worst possible timing to wear the Argentina or Spain national jerseys in the 50s and 60s. Both countries had other stuff to worry about instead of building a working football national team infrastructure.
After Di Stefano, Platini and Cruyff would be my picks. I don't know if I have to write much about Cruyff on a Barca forum.
1984 EC by Platini might be one of the best NT performances of all time. Left foot, right foot, freekick, headers. He scored all sorts of goals while primarily being a playmaker who dictated the tempo of the game. Back then he was considered on par or even above Maradona, only until Maradona won the WC in 86 that debate ended. Without a doubt the better and more consistent French player out of him and Zidane though.
After that it becomes a bit blurry for me. Players like Zico who mostly spent their times in Brazil I can't comment much on but out of all the Brazilian stars Romario probably is the best Brazilian player of all time after Pelé. Again, I'm not a football professor and wouldn't argue against it if someone argued in favour of Garrincha or Zico or whoever (though Garrincha gives strong hipster pick vibes). But:
Imagine falling out with your NT coach who doesn't nominate you which ends up with Brazil losing their first ever WC qualification game. Fans and media pressure the coach to get Romario back in the team. Romario comes out publicly to declare that he is going to win the WC and
actually does so while being the best player of the tournament. In today's celeb worshipping social media Instagram world a player like that would be hailed as the undisputed GOAT, Muhammad Ali Mk2. Obviously he was also part of Barca's dream team and when a "philosophy or bust" coach like Cruyff overlooks your partying and "not always following coaching instructions" you know he was in different stratosphere, unlike Ronaldinho who Pep got rid off immediately when Ronaldinho was still 28. No one gets rid of a "top 10 of all time" at 28. You'd at least try to redeem the player as a coach if you think he's untouchably good and just lacks motivation or discipline, which could be solved with strong coaching.
How small details change the entire course of history. I'm 100 % certain if Romario does not get injured in 98 and Ronaldo doesn't get that seizure before the final, Brazil 100 % wins the World Cup back to back. Woulda, coulda, shoulda of course. So people might not agree with me but Romario certainly ranks higher than Dinho or any other Brazilian since Pelé for me.
So in my list Di Stefano would come right after Péle, Maradona and Messi. Then Cruyff and Platini (over Zidane) and Romario (over Ronaldinho). The 2 Ronaldos wouldn't be anywhere near my top 10 list. R9 for sure if we talk about 1 or 2 season peaks but not over their whole careers. He was only at GOAT level until 1999 for about 2 years when his knee got shot. From then on he was "only" a world class striker. His insane acceleration elevating him beyond other WC strikers was gone.
When we talk about pure goal poachers like Cristiano I wouldn't know why he should be anywhere close to an all time list or even above the likes of Puskas. Overall his impact on his teams is way overstated and a product of the "Messi Ronaldo rivalry" artificially fuelled by (social) media era. At 24 years of age he was taking stupid shots from 50 yards in a CL final like a maniac, showing less intelligence and team work than 17 year old Yamal. At Madrid he got humiliated up until he turned 30 when finally Ramos scored that 92 minute header to win them La Decima and then the floodgates opened with Ramos again deciding the first CL final in their 3-peat and countless clutch last minute wins. Sure, Cristiano also had some performances, against Bayern most notably, but nothing out of the ordinary that you wouldn't expect from time to time from a world class forward, same as Lewandowski scoring 4 against Real.
That's my take.
