Neither were true wingers at the time though, both were more of a mix between a winger and a 10, filling the same spaces, but on opposite sides. Neither had good work rate, which makes it hard to have both play together.

Now that’s just plain bullshit. Pele for example revolutionized football far more than Messi. So did Cruyff. It’s impossible to measure how different football would be today if not for those two players, can you really say the same about Messi?

That is not to mean Messi wasn’t more successful than those two, he was definitely more successful than Cruyff, Pelé is debatable. But he was definitely not more influential.