Player(s) for the Uninitiated American Sports Fan?

We’ve got a good friend who’s a big sports fan, but mostly of the traditional American variety: primarily basketball and football, both college and pro.

We asked him if he’d ever thought about watching some soccer, and he said what it would take would be a compelling player for him to follow.

Which obviously got us thinking which one(s) we’re going to pick for him to watch.

Here are our preliminary picks–one obvious choice, one a bit less so, and one American:

1) Lionel Messi
2) Mario Balotelli
3) Clint Dempsey (Not only is our friend American, but he’s got an affinity for Texas–the teams he follows most closely are the Dallas Cowboys and UT football. Also the Lakers.)

We’ll be back with a followup post giving some context as to why these three, including some links to background articles and YouTube clips–not least for the friend in question. But we also welcome additional suggestions and/or feedback on these choices. Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.