by @FMRensie
If you can’t trust the opinion of a Czech blogger who has been managing in Mexico for the majority of Football Manager 2020, who can you trust? We asked Ondrej aka @FMRensie to bring us his Player of the Year from this year’s version of the game...strap yourselves in as we go on a trip to South America.
It's not uncommon that one, but usually more than one player spends his career in line with my Football Manager save(s) in one (my) club. And in the last edition, FM20, was no different.
I spent ten seasons as the Celaya FC manager starting in the Mexican 2nd tier with a not too big ambition to become some domestic or continental power. We changed it as we progressed during the save, but that's a different story. The main point of this post is to share my favourite FM20 player with you all.
Among all the newgens produced during the save, there still were some real players at the end of the 10th season, and one of them will always remind me of this FM20 save.#
Emiliano Ozuna from Argentina.
This Argentinian winger was already the key player of the squad when the save started. And he kept his role for the whole of the time of the save. Emiliano was 23 years old in 2019 when we started our journey, and it's clear to say he was already too good for the Mexican second tier at the start of the save.
He was able to play as the winger in ML or AML position, but he also moved to WBL position when I decided to switch to 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 formation.
Ozuna was also able to play as a striker, so his variability was perfect. He was not good enough to play as Pressing Forward or Deep Lying Forward as he was always limited slightly by some of his attributes. And it was clear at the first sight. I used him as the Advanced Forward when he played upfront. Just to take advantage of his Acceleration and the solid Pace.
There were times when I thought he will not play too much and I will sell or release him. Because of too many good newgens. But the romanticism in me always decided against it.
Some of his attributes increased during the first five years. But he also lost, for example, one Acceleration "point".
It didn't affect his performances too much. He made it to the double digits in all three 2022/23, 2023/24 & 2024/25 seasons.
At the end of the 2024/2025 season, he already has 280 matches in all competitions for the club. He was also added between the club icons as the first player after Emilio Butragueno.
The seasons 2026/27 and 2027/28 were not too good for him in comparison with previous ones and I thought it might be his end.
But it was great to follow his "refreshment" in our last season together. He was our main wing back on the left side of the pitch within 3-5-2/3-4-3 and he scored 15 goals and made 14 assists in 42 appearances. I think that's a good outcome from a 33 year old player.
There was a logical physical decline within these ten years as he moved over the thirties. But it was not something drastic. On the other hand, his mental attributes slightly increased during the years.
I resigned from the Celaya FC managerial position at the end of the 2028/2029 season as I decided to take over the Mexican national team.
Emiliano Ozuna made 445 appearances in all competitions during the 10 seasons I managed the club, scored 137 goals and made 100 assists.
He spent one more season with the club after my departure and retired from professional football in 2030 at the age of 34.
Ozuna is not a player about whom you will read in the books. He won't be among the best rated and the most famous players around the world. In real life, but also probably not even in FM.
For me, he will always be the best connection with FM20. Maybe because of his versatility. Maybe because he turned down a lot of foreign offers (China and the USA mainly) and rather stayed with Celaya. For sure because he was the best North American Champions League goal-scorer as a wing back!
Ozuna was simply THAT one player I will never forget thanks to FM20.
Thanks for reading,
Ondrej.
If you haven’t already explored Ondrej’s extensive Football Manager blog and back catalogue, get on over to FMRensie.net where you can find a host of save careers, tactical tips & guidelines, FM general interest articles as well as his selection of custom Football Manager skins, kits and set-pieces all available to download.
Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.
