The great lock-down of 2020 has been forcing Football Twitter in to nostalgic overload with replays of famous matches, goals and lists a plenty of your favourite players throughout the years so I thought, let’s not try to be different and ride that train through a wet and windy Sunday afternoon.
On Episode 136 of the 5 Star Potential Podcast (Released Monday 30th March), we spoke about our top 5 players from Championship Manager or Football Manager that meant something to us which lead to a Tweet that got some brilliant responses from our listeners.
We had the regulars like Stefan Selakovic, Maxim Tsigalko, Anthony Van Den Borre & obviously, Cherno Samba fire in to our mentions, but there were so many stories about various wonderkids that had been and gone, regen/newgens that only you could love and someone even mentioned… Ryan Shawcross.
So whilst watching re-runs of Friday Night Dinner (not a spin off of my blog) this afternoon I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane and look at the wonderkids of FM12 and what they’re up to in 2020 for no other reason than because I fancied blogging about something whilst I wait for Doop to press continue on our network save.
I’ve gone for a traditional 4-4-2 this afternoon and here’s how we lineup:
Marc-André ter Stegen
If you consider being Barcelona’s first choice goalkeeper as good as it gets then ter Stegen was surely a FM12 player that’s gone on to arguably one of the best in his trade. Back in FM12 a 19 year old ter-Stegen as plying his trade at Borussia Monchengladbach and could be acquired for around £10m meaning you had that goalkeeper position nailed down for the next 15 seasons! The researcher for FM12 had already identified his distribution and Neuer-esque style which made him an absolute bargain for any top-tier European club. Fulfilment Rating 10/10.
Sime Vrsaljko
Part of the holy trinity at Dinamo in FM12, Vrsaljko, Kovacic & Badelj were go to transfers for the AI so you had to act fast. You could normally sign Vrsaljko for around £2m which was an absolute steal for most Premier League teams meaning you had more of your money to spend elsewhere. For me, Vrsaljko was one of those players that when you look at his attributes you’re not overawed but at the end of the season he’ll have a 7.5+ average rating and double digit assist numbers. In Football Manager he’d be a star player for most mid-table sides, mirror his real-life path and he’d have been a stand out player for Genoa and Sassuolo whereas his move to Atletico Madid took him to the next level but he became more of a squad player and ended up moving on loan to Inter Milan. Fulfilment Rating 8.5/10.
Kurt Zouma
Kurt Happy Zouma, I mean it’s criminal that his middle name doesn’t get more recognition, was a great wonderkid. In fact, I’d class him as a beast. I remember pairing him up with Mathias Jørgensen at West Ham and the pair of them dominated at the back. The Football Manager researchers hit the nail on the head again with Zouma as he followed his regular in-game path to a Champions League side with Chelsea. A serious injury slowed down his progression but he’s still young enough to make the grade at Chelsea so we’ll watch this space. Fulfilment Rating 7/10.
Daniele Rugani
You’d be forgiven for overlooking Rugani at the start of FM12, aged just 16 and playing for Empoli he had what can only be described as decent attributes for a 16 year old. After a brilliant first season his rise was meteoric and then a future move to Juventus only cemented his wonderkidness. It’s difficult to say that he’s not been a success playing for one of the biggest teams in the world but some of his performances have been, shall we say, John Stonesy. Fulfilment Rating 8/10.
Jack Robinson
What a player Jack Robinson was in FM12, honestly I think he was one of my favourite players to try and sign if Barcelona and Real Madrid didn’t get him early and after a few seasons his attribute growth could be staggering. Injury and lack of first team chances whilst at Liverpool really hampered his real life progression, but nonetheless he’s still played at Championship level in a career that nearly all of us would swap to tomorrow and in January joined Chris Wilder’s brilliant Sheffield United so we’ll watch this space. Fulfilment Rating 6/10.
Raheem Sterling
16 year old Sterling was loved by the FM12 universe, already rapid with a touch of flair he was a player that would develop quickly but much like his real life form, goalscoring wasn’t his main strength. It’s fair to say that his move to Manchester City and the way he’s developed under Pep Guardiola have elevated him to new heights and he’s now regarded as one of the world’s elite players. Fulfilment Rating 9/10.
Adryan
It’s not a wonderkid list without me dropping in someone from South America and Adryan was another of my regular signings. His creativeness would unlock defences for days and as he developed he would regularly be seen moving to a big European side unlike his real life career that possibly peaked when he moved on loan to Leeds where once again every Football Manager player unlocked their knowledge bombs on all that would listen. It’s fair to say that Sion wouldn’t have been where I’d have expected him to end up so he falls short of the researchers estimation. Fulfilment Rating 5/10.
Tom Cairney
Leeds United might consider him the one that got away when they released him as a 16 year-old for being too small but Leeds’ loss was Hull City’s gain as they’d unearthed a potential wonderkid. In FM12, at the ripe old age of 20, he already possessed some great attributes and a wand of a left foot and would often be one of those home-grown pickups for mid-table sides. In his real life his career he has predominantly played outside the top flight with Hull, Blackburn and Fulham to reasonable success but no manager has taken a punt on bringing him in to the Premier League. Fulfilment Rating 5/10.
Juan Iturbe
Dubbed the new Messi, ‘Turbo’ possessed some brilliant acceleration and flair which made him a desirable transfer target for the wonderkid hoarders and the fact that he was at Porto meant he was in the prime position to develop in to a world beater. In real life he’s not had a bad career to date but never reached the heights that FM12 predicted for him, but having teams like Porto, River Plate, Roma & Bournemouth on your CV doesn’t do your reputation any harm. Fulfilment Rating 7.5/10.
Yaya Sanogo
I honestly think there might be more people that signed him than didn’t across FM11 & FM12 as Sanogo was arguably the transfer bargain of edition where you could pick him up from Auxerre for virtual pennies. After a couple of seasons of the right training and you’d have a 6’4 towering centre forward that would dominate with his head and feat often with a trio of 19’s in Finishing, Heading & Composure. In real life Arsenal were the club that took a punt on him but his career never got going and he now finds himself playing for Toulouse in Ligue 1. Fulfilment Rating 6.5/10.
Carlos Fierro
5 Star Potential Wonderkid Hall of Fame inductee, Fierro, was rated so highly in the game that for around £7m you could sign a goal scoring monster that would bag 30 a season for the next ten years. In real life he stayed with Chivas until 2017 and got nowhere near his digital goal scoring form (21 goals), moved to Cruz Azul for one baron season before transferring to MLS side San Jose. Now he’s not quite on the Freddy Adu level of hype failure but if you compared his FM12 exploits to his real life career they couldn’t be further apart for a professional footballer. Fulfilment Rating 6.5/10.
I hope you enjoyed our trip down memory lane and we’d love to hear your thoughts on our squad. Tweet us your wonderkid XI’s @WeStreamFM to join the discussion.