From 1950 until 2006, Brazil always had the better players in the world, not always the best team.
I'm not sure, I guess you could say that Pele and his cohorts were the best players, but that said, it's hard to see any of them doing that much better in Europe over the likes of Di Stefano, Puskas, Eusebio, Stanley Matthews, Lev Jashin etc. Personally, I'd prefer Europeans.
In the 1970's after Pele's heydays were over, I definitely think Europe had the better players in Cruyff, Beckenbauer Muller etc. and better teams as well. In the 1980's in was pretty equal, e.g. Brazil WC'82 and '86 teams had some of the best individuals in the world compared to Europeans, but as a team European NT's and especially clubs were better overall throughout the decade.
And this was even more emphasized in the 1990's when the money really started to flow into the European football and thanks to internet/widespread television it became easier for everybody to compare players from all over the world. Even if Brazil still had some of the very best individuals, I would say that their teams actually became "better" (even if less entertaining and certainly less exotic/different) thanks to European influence for their players and coaches. It depends on a number of players you want to concentrate on, but generally speaking, outside of a handful of individuals at most, I don't think Brazil had the best players in any larger sample.
In the 21st century, I don't see much difference from Brazilian top players to other countries, though. They're all in the same mix.