Endrick, a new football star recruited to Real Madrid, quoted Cristiano Ronaldo as his idol. This is also seen with Haaland, Mbappe, Saka, Vini Jr, Rodrygo, Kvara. So many young players today all state Ronaldo as an influence for them. Messi has more accolades than Ronaldo, but the only young players I can think that stated him as an influence is Julian Alvarez and Jude Bellingham. Why do you think most young players respect and admire Ronaldo more than Messi?
Ronaldo’s football style, strength, pace plus his “cool guy” vibe is what most young guys idolize. Messi on the other hand looks like the average man. He’s regularly the shortest player on the pitch and as a result doesn’t have the most charisma but he makes up for it in his skill and football intelligence which is why more mature football fans look past that and focus on the game and what each player brings onto pitch.
For example one of my brothers scoffed at Messi being the best player in the world because he said he looks more like a farmer or taxi driver and not what you’d expect a football superstar to look like. He then said Ronaldo fits more of the idea of what you’d expect to see as a global football athlete. Charisma is the biggest factor that impresses younger minds. In other words who they would rather be is often who they look up to the most.