Ever......no dude he's not! Of his time right now, second to Cristiano Ronaldo, imo. If you want to talk ever your forgetting players like Eusebio, Pele and Maradona! Two out of the 3 listed single handily won world cup trophies for their nations, even if one did it with the hand of God lol!
How many world cups? Lol, exactly! If your arguing about best ever you have to take into effect his international career! How well an individual can mesh with a total new group of players. Messi doesn't have Xavi and all the rest of Barca to assist his goals for his country and it showed in SA 2010.
In the past Argentina put the whole team on Messi's shoulders, but now they actually let him roam and dominate like he does for Barca. He may not have Xavi and Iniesta but he does have Aguero, Di Maria, Lavezzi, Tevez, Higuian(?), Gago, and others. I believe they will perform well at WC 2014.