Yeah, it's very unfortunate. He could have been an amazing footballer, he had a bit of Pirlo in him.
But if you think about it, so could Kaka, Pato, Ronaldo....
Even though the latter is considered to be one of the best in the sport, IMO he could have been bigger than Pelé hadn't he had so many injuries. Imagine having 3 World Cups (We wouldn't have lost that '98 final was he 100%) by the age of 25, he had a rough average of one goal per match and that's being off the pitch for so many months. Top WC scorer of all time. Countless other awards and titles and that's having a fucked up knee that made him suffer like hell through out his whole career.