I thought that might of been the case, with him being South Americans (plus he had the money as he was the highest paid player for a while) and all that, theres jsut no way someone can be that unlucky like Real Ronaldo was, his tale sounds much like Patos Milan career. A
Recoba's debuts goals for Inter upstaging Real Rons debut for Inter made me a fan instantly, especially as I was a left footer aswell. After Enzo hes probably the most talented player I've seen from your neck of the woods
Riquelme could only play in position and one formation, which left the team pretty fukked. He was way too up and down in his career, like you said he had a good 1-2 years in Europe. 2007 was probably his best year for the Argentina NT team but all I remember from the world cup qualification for 2010 was him killing every counter attack like Gervinho does for Arsenal, everything was done too much at his own pace, when he needed to play it quicker. Also im not sure if he was really a big game player, because he always seemed to go missing when his teams needed it most. Might of been different when he went back to Boca, but goin off his Villarreal & Argentina career, felt he never really left his mark on those top games. i.e Missing the pen vs Arsenal in the 06 CL semis springs to mind
Recoba left foot is as good as anyones, his freekicks

but the yea the breh liked the party life and wasnt about that professional football player life...Riquelme was always clutch for Boca but he didnt like the European professional footballer lifestyle, and plus he wasnt given a fair shake at Barca and was played out of position...as for him slowing down attacks you are right...in argentina/uruguay the classic [URL=http://www.the-coli.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=10]#10 s[/URL] like him are supposed to give the team "pausa" (pause) and slow things down when they "feel" like it and to give the team a "breath" and change the "pace" of the game...like you said he is the type of player that needs a team built around him so they can play at his "pace" and him dictating everything..the game in Europe and even in south america now is too fast for that but Recoba has adapted unlike Riquelme and he drops way back and plays a regista type role where he either hits long ball to strikers/wingers or he keeps things ticking deep in midfield and gives a "clean" outball from the middle of the field...Riquelme doesnt do this as good either cuz he cant or cuz he just feels like playing a little further up the pitch as a classic #10
, theres jsut no way someone can be that unlucky like Real Ronaldo was, his tale sounds much like Patos Milan career. A 
used to go on to recoba.net to watch his free kicks 
everybody on that team was left footed
Adriano , Him, Cordoba, Martins, Vieri , Materrazi etc
lovely player to watch.
when he was rockin the skinhead, he looked 
he left peg was
@ ghost's posts in the areenus thread.
....
He was some character and Ray Hudson was in love with him.