Amid a media scrum outside Santos’ Vila Belmiro stadium, Antonio Lima, a brisk octogenarian and legend of the club, said that there would never be another Pele. “I doubt a player will emerge with the same skill set and playing style as Pele,” said Lima. “That’s going to be very difficult. He was everything. He was different from the start. From the age of 17, he trained with the senior team. He will serve as an example to all the boys that will trial at clubs or that want to follow in his footsteps at Santos.”
Clodoaldo, another Santos legend and former Brazil international, remembered: “Pele liked perfection and he’d be on the back of his team-mates. The way I
