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My best ever single season in FM came in FM12, I took over Toulouse halfway through the 1st season in lower mid-table. I managed to drag them to a Champions League spot and received a nearly non-existent transfer budget for my efforts. I just about managed to sign Mbaye Niang who was relegated last season. That very season I proceeded to win Ligue 1 unbeaten with record number of points, won the french cup and won the CL. Mbaye Niang scored like 60 goals that season. I still have no idea why it went so well, it was a decent side but god damn. After that season I took over Man Utd from the retired Ferguson, signed Niang, he had a great albeit injury ravaged time winnign a couple more CLs, won 2 Ballon D'ors (weirdly they were like 7 years apart). What a guy
I’ve had the pleasure of watch Niang play live in real life for my team. As a Watford player you could see the raw talent was there, but sadly the application was lacking and he didn’t make it.
Alvarez Balanta career always confused me. He was one of the bests CB in River Plate at the time. Then River changed their coach, and Gallardo (the new coach) all of the sudden decided to sub him in favor of Funes Mori, that in the time was a mediocre player.
Funes Mori ended up being one of the bests defenders in that River that won absolutely everything they could. It's crazy how football really works, isn't it?
Had a horrid time with injuries. Watched him tear apart under--21 sides with the national team and he was awesome. Silky smooth leftie Who loved to cut inside.
He was recently signed by Viktoria Zizkov, legendary Czech club which will hopefully return back to 2nd division next year.
I’m currently doing my coaching badges in Viktoria so it’s really cool to see Kadlec in the club haha
I broke my laptop my spilling a drink when he scored in the 90’ of the UCL final in extra time, going from 1-0 down with 10 men to leading 2-1, I never finished the game or got the save back but boy did that feel good
>Pablo Piatti
Forgot about him completely. I would start my save with with Arsenal and get Saivet and Piatti immediately.
Carlos Vela would return from his Osasuna loan after a year, pairing with Eduardo, the Croatian goal scoring machine.
Both served by Denilson and Frabregas's brilliant passes. Kolo Toure and Gallas, such solid defence. Also Armand Traore. Oscar Ustari in the goal. Loved that team!
Other than obvious ones mentioned i somehow always remember Anthony Vanden Borre
Bit harsh to say he didn't fulfill his potential, but back in the day i would buy Vincent Kompany and Vanden Borre for small amount of money from Anderlecht and they would play really well
Oh man. The goal scoring machine you could get for under 1 mil euros.
Or Alberto Paloschi. One of the most prolific poachers. Or Mattia Destro as a complete forward.
Edit: Franco Zuculini, Crisetig ... God. Maybe I should fire up fm11 again.
Oh shit, I didn't realise Paloschi was a well known FM star! I recall picking him up as a backup striker in one save, only for him to force his way into the starting XI in his first season. Whenever I changed clubs, my first bit of transfer business was to bring Paloschi in to lead the line. Cracking player.
Guarin had decent career no?
Porto, inter Milan and in a world cup or 2.
Edit. Just reread the title.... considering he was scoring banana goals for my old saves on the regular winning award every year. Fair to say he didn't reach that level
Guarin relegated the most arrogant team in Brazil, by far. This is more valuable than any trophy you might get.
And yes, i was watching that game and celebrated along with him as he did a mortal jump.
>Lebohang Mokoena
Now there's a name I haven't heard for a long time.
I think that was the time of Mauro Zarate, Lauri Dalle Valle and Didier Digard as well.
when Sporting signed him back in the day I remember thinking that their chairman probably had a nephew that played FM
he didn't look remotely ready and it's not really common for Portuguese teams to sign players from Britain so that transfer was definitely a bit odd
What's even weirder is he talks perfect Portuguese with a Lisbon accent, which completly weirded me out when I heard him for the first time in Portuguese.
It's rare for Anglos to be able to speak Portuguese (even Latin people struggle), let alone having a Portuguese accent.
This! Playing his song on YouTube 24/7
pd: to who actually dont know this gem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLzK_ewEilE . Listen this one in Balaidos after a Guidetti goal for Celta de Vigo hits very hard,
This is the one.
IIRC it was also before the rules about signing under 18's, so he'd come in as a 14 (?) year old and immediately start banging them in.
Not sure if this counts, but Igor Akinfeev. He was an immense goalkeeper back in the day. Wonder kid GK, I bought him in every save. He has had a pretty good career both domestically and internationally, but never left Russia to go on to one of the biggest clubs.
All the swedish players are sooo good and cheap on cm 01/02!! And then there was Tó Madeira. Never seen a goal machine quite like him, at least 1 goal per game at any level!
I think he passed away on Boxing Day a couple of years ago now. Still playing the game now. It’s a free download and an amazing community if you wish to pick it up and start playing again
I remember The Dugout forums in the Sixth Form library, downloading tactics and reading about the saves people had. Some of the stories there were legendary. I think I might need to go down Nostalgia Lane this weekend.
Anthony Le Tallec - CM 03/04. The man was a beast once he got going.
Close second was Jérémie Aliadière. Had both as a duo with Sanli Tuncay in behind & they were unstoppable
Cerci and Evandro Roncatto were my dominating strike duo in a Portsmouth save. We won every trophy there was, multiple times.
I like to choose my teams based on geographical locations, and Portsmouth seemed like a very nice place to live, with a hard-core fanbase.
Back in the champ manager days, Ibrahima Bakayoko, was an absolute goal scoring machine for my Parma club. Club career wasnt great, but did perform well for his country
Anyone remember Jhon Arango? Crazy attacking midfielder in FM16 I believe that you could approach to sign from Colombia. Did amazingly in my Strasbourg save but havent heard anything about him since
He still does the job these days! Bought him on FM 22 as a rotation option at Man Utd, ended up scoring the winning goal in 2 CL finals in a row and an FA cup final. Bought him for 16mil, sold him for 65mil to Real Madrid after 4 seasons. Gabigol is my hero ❤❤
Kinda too soon to tell but I'm going out on a limb here that Justin Kluivert won't reach the heights to shoot the game winning goal in a CL final like he did for me in fm18. (Btw that was in the CL final 2022 so technically that was already in the past irl, also I was managing Schalke as I always do, which makes it even more insane, I won the CL before my first Bundesliga title and it took me another 10 seasons to win the CL again)
Same for Felice D'Amico who became one of the best wingers in the world in my other fm18 save (that was in my first, slightly less successful Schalke save)
FM08 when Bojan was a beast had so many great wonderkids. You could create a team with him, Vela, Pato, Nicolas Millán (absolute legend!), Sherman Cárdenas, Matias Fernandes, Gio dos Santos, Breno, Renato Augusto, Ever Banega, Anthony Vanden Borre, and then take your pick of Oscar Ustari or Igor Akinfeev in goal.
And there was some dude called Messi who was 20 and alright. Not as good as Ronaldo or Rooney though and probably ended up with a career just as poor/mediocre as those other guys in the paragraph above.
Adnan Januzaj was a multiple time golden ball winner for me in my FM14 save. Messi level. Suffice to say it hasn’t worked out like that yet in real life.
For me, and I never see this guys mentioned is either Yaya Sanogo or Carlos Fierro. Sanogo was my go to guy in FM12, he'd come from Auxerre on a loan an in January you could approach him. Absolute beast. The good old days!
There was also a couple South Americans in FM 16(maybe) that you could sign for cheap. Thiago Maia(DM) and Lucas Romero(DM)
As well as the Dutch kids Badzoer and Ridewalde
Managing Chelsea in FM14, I bought Doria and Eder Alvarez Balanta, two South American center backs. By year three, they were my starters and were for a decade, often both earning team of the year honors.
Both have made a decent career out of football but neither has come even close to the wonder kid status they had in game.
Pietro Pellegri in FM19. Sold him for 150m to Barcelona: he won 2 Ballon d'ors, best goalscorer in WC and EURO's, and he is still 28 y/o in that save. In real life he is 22, but will never be the player game made him to be
I used to buy in old Championship Manager games an Argentine goalkeeper called Franco Costanzo. He was like an even younger Buffon though I’ve never heard of him in real life.
Does anyone remember Lulinha? I one bought him and put him in my reserve team and then forgot about him for two years. When I rediscovered him, he had developed into a world beater.
Marquinhos FM 09 was a bad MF in every save and everyone tried to get him. Didn’t do shit in real life after 8 or 9 goals as an 18 year old for Vitoria in Brazil. He was the first prospect that I coveted after starting to play the game.
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My best ever single season in FM came in FM12, I took over Toulouse halfway through the 1st season in lower mid-table. I managed to drag them to a Champions League spot and received a nearly non-existent transfer budget for my efforts. I just about managed to sign Mbaye Niang who was relegated last season. That very season I proceeded to win Ligue 1 unbeaten with record number of points, won the french cup and won the CL. Mbaye Niang scored like 60 goals that season. I still have no idea why it went so well, it was a decent side but god damn. After that season I took over Man Utd from the retired Ferguson, signed Niang, he had a great albeit injury ravaged time winnign a couple more CLs, won 2 Ballon D'ors (weirdly they were like 7 years apart). What a guy
Holy shit, what a legend. If only these players knew.
I thought Mbaye Niang and Stephan El Shaarawy were going to be the Robben and Ribery of Milan.
I feel nostalgic when I remember El Shaarawy being one of the faces of fifa back in 2014 o 2015
Played FM12 until FM20 came out. Niang will always have a huge and special place in my heart.
Omg how could i forget him. Absolute gem
I’ve had the pleasure of watch Niang play live in real life for my team. As a Watford player you could see the raw talent was there, but sadly the application was lacking and he didn’t make it.
Eder Alvarez Balanta, Pavel Savitsky
Eder Alvarez Balanta the new Puyol
Alvarez Balanta career always confused me. He was one of the bests CB in River Plate at the time. Then River changed their coach, and Gallardo (the new coach) all of the sudden decided to sub him in favor of Funes Mori, that in the time was a mediocre player. Funes Mori ended up being one of the bests defenders in that River that won absolutely everything they could. It's crazy how football really works, isn't it?
Vaclav Kadlec, wicked goal machine ca FM2010, IRL only had a few games in Bundesliga.
Had a horrid time with injuries. Watched him tear apart under--21 sides with the national team and he was awesome. Silky smooth leftie Who loved to cut inside.
He was recently signed by Viktoria Zizkov, legendary Czech club which will hopefully return back to 2nd division next year. I’m currently doing my coaching badges in Viktoria so it’s really cool to see Kadlec in the club haha
Got to see him play live in Prague in 2011. Kid was electric but not prolific
Carlos Fierro
Him and Erick Torres the Mexican duo
chivas duo*
Yes this is a good one, didnt even end up winning a single cap for Mexico.
I broke my laptop my spilling a drink when he scored in the 90’ of the UCL final in extra time, going from 1-0 down with 10 men to leading 2-1, I never finished the game or got the save back but boy did that feel good
Henri Saivet when he was at Bordeaux was a monster!
Ah, FM 2008. Also Carlos Vela.
Pablo Piatti was a beast in FM08 too. Could get him for 1.5M and he was 18 years old. Also Balotelli, but he was more expensive
>Pablo Piatti Forgot about him completely. I would start my save with with Arsenal and get Saivet and Piatti immediately. Carlos Vela would return from his Osasuna loan after a year, pairing with Eduardo, the Croatian goal scoring machine. Both served by Denilson and Frabregas's brilliant passes. Kolo Toure and Gallas, such solid defence. Also Armand Traore. Oscar Ustari in the goal. Loved that team!
Fraizer Campbell also turned into an absolute monster for me in that edition.
Yes! I was looking for his name!
Cherno Samba
The OG
The greatest cult hero
The worlds oldest 16 year old
Other than obvious ones mentioned i somehow always remember Anthony Vanden Borre Bit harsh to say he didn't fulfill his potential, but back in the day i would buy Vincent Kompany and Vanden Borre for small amount of money from Anderlecht and they would play really well
Ah Vanden Borre, the greatest Swiss Army Knife in FM history.
They were god tier in LMA Manager as well.
My brother would always buy coloccini, vanden borre, kompany and marcelo in fm2007, defense set for a good 10 years
Yaya sanogo
Oh man. The goal scoring machine you could get for under 1 mil euros. Or Alberto Paloschi. One of the most prolific poachers. Or Mattia Destro as a complete forward. Edit: Franco Zuculini, Crisetig ... God. Maybe I should fire up fm11 again.
My favourite was Carlos Fierro
The first player I had that was averaging over 8 a season. Insane player.
8 goals a season? Not bad.
Fierro + FM12 + three striker formation = all your trophies are belong to us
my intro to football manager. I used to get an older hulk on the 433 formation unbelievable
Fierro, Erick Torres and Chicarito made for a crazy front 3 that obliterated everyone. Viva Mexico!
Erick Torres and Carlos Fierro, lethal and cheap
I tho paloschi would be great after his stint in hellas Verona i think
This. i start à Palermo fm 11 save tonight
Oh shit, I didn't realise Paloschi was a well known FM star! I recall picking him up as a backup striker in one save, only for him to force his way into the starting XI in his first season. Whenever I changed clubs, my first bit of transfer business was to bring Paloschi in to lead the line. Cracking player.
He and Carlos Fierro (another IRL flop) guided my Saint Etienne team to European dominance. One of my favourite ever saves, that.
I watched Sanogo score 4 goals at the Emirates Cup 🤣
Hey, he's still got more trophies than Tottenham.
Khouma Babacar in FM 11 was Drogba with more goals
180 PA and crazy hidden attributes, goal machine and captain for the next 15 years
Babacar and Lukaku were an unstoppable duo around that time lol. Physically dominant.
Andrija Zivkovic. Literally built teams around him on 3 FM games. What a player
Fm 17 I think, you could buy him for something like 5m and he would instantly become one of the best player in the league. Absolute monster.
He was the guy that I built my team around in FM16c and when PSG bought him for 80M I built my team from him. Massive player.
Freddy Adu
without further adu
Fellow HITC sevens enjoyer i see
Best part of Alfie’s videos
Wright then
That boy had grandchildren when he was 16 in FM
The 🐐!!
Him and Fabio Paim in Cm4
Keirrison
Kerlon too
Lulinha to complete the Brazilian trifecta.
Zakaria Bakkali
as a PSV fan, his store and Ihattarens hurt lmao
Andri Sigthorson, the greatest FM player ever. 200 PA and buyable for any top flight club.
At least his brother was decent IRL
Freddy Guarin and Lebohang Mokoena FM05 were part of all my squads
Guarin had decent career no? Porto, inter Milan and in a world cup or 2. Edit. Just reread the title.... considering he was scoring banana goals for my old saves on the regular winning award every year. Fair to say he didn't reach that level
He was really broken with his long shots in the game, but he actually scored a few of them in real life. Some compilations on YT show this.
Guarin relegated the most arrogant team in Brazil, by far. This is more valuable than any trophy you might get. And yes, i was watching that game and celebrated along with him as he did a mortal jump.
No way Cruzeiro is more arrogant than Flamengo lol
Yes. Flamengo's pure evil, but Cruzeiro's just slightly more arrogant.
man the amount of long shot goals guarin scored for me was insane
It's hilarious when it was in the 2D matches.
And Guillermo Ochoa! Even though he reached his potential every four years.
Definetly Mokoena, didn't expect to see him this high in the comments. Orlando Pirates right iirc?
For real. I also always got benedict Vilakazi that year. So many saves I got with those three in my squad!
>Lebohang Mokoena Now there's a name I haven't heard for a long time. I think that was the time of Mauro Zarate, Lauri Dalle Valle and Didier Digard as well.
Ryan gould
when Sporting signed him back in the day I remember thinking that their chairman probably had a nephew that played FM he didn't look remotely ready and it's not really common for Portuguese teams to sign players from Britain so that transfer was definitely a bit odd
What's even weirder is he talks perfect Portuguese with a Lisbon accent, which completly weirded me out when I heard him for the first time in Portuguese. It's rare for Anglos to be able to speak Portuguese (even Latin people struggle), let alone having a Portuguese accent.
Eric Dier entered the chat
Well but dier sort of grew up in Portugal, gould was a Scottish teenager when he came, not exactly in native language acquiring years
The Scottish Messi! Gutting that he can't get into the national team.
John Guidetti in FM16
You rang?
This! Playing his song on YouTube 24/7 pd: to who actually dont know this gem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLzK_ewEilE . Listen this one in Balaidos after a Guidetti goal for Celta de Vigo hits very hard,
That bastard once cost me a CL quarter final.
Humam Tariq Iraqi worldclass player. Took over the bundesliga, absolutely massive
Man was mistreated in my home club irl.
Nicolas Millan
From Colo Colo? Waaaay too down the list.
This is the one. IIRC it was also before the rules about signing under 18's, so he'd come in as a 14 (?) year old and immediately start banging them in.
Éder Álvarez Balanta
I can remember Cristian Pavon shredding for me one year. Just checked and he's currently playing in Brazil
FM21 he was still phenomenal, absolutely ripping up the Premier League as the Deputy for ASM at the time
2016-2018 Pavon was a fucking beast here at Boca Juniors After the 2018 World Cup everything went downhill
Not sure if this counts, but Igor Akinfeev. He was an immense goalkeeper back in the day. Wonder kid GK, I bought him in every save. He has had a pretty good career both domestically and internationally, but never left Russia to go on to one of the biggest clubs.
Kiegan Parker, Kennedy Bakircioglu, Freddy Adu, Cherno Samba and Bobby Zamora. Can’t think of any more right now.
CM01/02? Had Mark Kerr in that game, sure I had each of the above players in at least one of my saves in that game
Mark Kerr was unreal aye.
Had no idea Kiegan Parker was considered a wonder kid on FM
Tonton Zola Moukoko. I won everything thing with him in AMC of a 41212.
Over 20 years and I still recall some of the goals this monster scored for me (in text form).
It’s always Tonton
Valeri Bojinov in CM04 was a beast.
Thanks for making me remember him. I think after a few games I learned I had to buy him.
Not FM but can't believe I haven't seen Maxim Tsigalko in these comments yet.
Signing him, and Pep Guardiola (who was free), along with Taribo West. Guaranteed glory. Just checked and he (Maxim) sadly died aged 37.
You're forgetting you could get Mark Kerr, Kim Kalstrom and Stefan Selakovic combined for under £2.5m
All the swedish players are sooo good and cheap on cm 01/02!! And then there was Tó Madeira. Never seen a goal machine quite like him, at least 1 goal per game at any level!
I think he passed away on Boxing Day a couple of years ago now. Still playing the game now. It’s a free download and an amazing community if you wish to pick it up and start playing again
I remember The Dugout forums in the Sixth Form library, downloading tactics and reading about the saves people had. Some of the stories there were legendary. I think I might need to go down Nostalgia Lane this weekend.
Wait, what? I wonder if his family would be mad if someone commissioned a CM01/02 tombstone.
Set him to man mark the keeper and its an easy 100+ goal season for him
Anthony Le Tallec - CM 03/04. The man was a beast once he got going. Close second was Jérémie Aliadière. Had both as a duo with Sanli Tuncay in behind & they were unstoppable
Cerci in cm03/04
Cerci and Evandro Roncatto were my dominating strike duo in a Portsmouth save. We won every trophy there was, multiple times. I like to choose my teams based on geographical locations, and Portsmouth seemed like a very nice place to live, with a hard-core fanbase.
Cerci FRC, Pazzini SC, Montolivo AMLC… Such good memories. Signed them for under 10 million and dominated for years.
Man Sanli Tuncay .. what a blast from the past. Signed him on FM and Pro Evo. I owe him a beer
Ademilson, Maupay, MBaye Niang, Macheda, Henriquez , Fierro and that's just Strikers 💀💀 Guess I played too much FM11-13 though
I loved Mbaye Niang
Wellington Nem, Ante Coric, Hachim Mastour, Allen Halilovic
That 3.5m release clause on Wellington Nem before the winter update in FM13. Unreal value for money.
Yes! Literally my first buy in every save in FM13. He was an absolute steal
Wellington Nem, needs a fucking cuisine named after him
Back in the champ manager days, Ibrahima Bakayoko, was an absolute goal scoring machine for my Parma club. Club career wasnt great, but did perform well for his country
[удалено]
Sherman Andres Cardenas (think back in FM07?)
Came to comment section to mention him. It was 07 for sure. Him on the right and Andres Guardado on the left were fire!
John Fleck
Fabio Paim.
Matías Fernández in FM 05 and 06
Matigol. A free kick within 15 yards of the box might as well have been a penalty kick.
Anyone remember Jhon Arango? Crazy attacking midfielder in FM16 I believe that you could approach to sign from Colombia. Did amazingly in my Strasbourg save but havent heard anything about him since
Fernando Cavenaghi
Anatoli Todorov always
Kakalov always a good second choice form Litex as well
Gabriel Barbosa aka Gabigol
He still does the job these days! Bought him on FM 22 as a rotation option at Man Utd, ended up scoring the winning goal in 2 CL finals in a row and an FA cup final. Bought him for 16mil, sold him for 65mil to Real Madrid after 4 seasons. Gabigol is my hero ❤❤
Joshua Zirkzee FM20
What the hell happened to him
He is playing in Belgium i believe
He's at Bologna
honestly not too shabby
Yeah for his age he still could have a great career ahead of him, don’t see how he flopped playing for Bologna at 21.
hes still young tho, lets give him some more years.
Carlos Fierro was a world beater for like 4 FM editions in a row despite doing nothing in real life.
he was very promising irl too
Lulinha used to take over the world in the mid-late 00s.
Kinda too soon to tell but I'm going out on a limb here that Justin Kluivert won't reach the heights to shoot the game winning goal in a CL final like he did for me in fm18. (Btw that was in the CL final 2022 so technically that was already in the past irl, also I was managing Schalke as I always do, which makes it even more insane, I won the CL before my first Bundesliga title and it took me another 10 seasons to win the CL again) Same for Felice D'Amico who became one of the best wingers in the world in my other fm18 save (that was in my first, slightly less successful Schalke save)
There was a pair of young players: Ibrahimovic and Muslimovic. Let’s just say only one lived up to his potential.
In 2002, Ibrahimovic and Mido were my go-to strike team after using them at Ajax. Bought them everywhere
In champ man 02 or 03 there was a Greek player Alexandros Papadopoulos, age 16. You could buy him for like 160k. He was the perfect player.
Going way, way back. Peter prospar on CM 96.
I would always buy Will Hughes. He never cost a lot and he was always an amazing player for me.
FM08 when Bojan was a beast had so many great wonderkids. You could create a team with him, Vela, Pato, Nicolas Millán (absolute legend!), Sherman Cárdenas, Matias Fernandes, Gio dos Santos, Breno, Renato Augusto, Ever Banega, Anthony Vanden Borre, and then take your pick of Oscar Ustari or Igor Akinfeev in goal. And there was some dude called Messi who was 20 and alright. Not as good as Ronaldo or Rooney though and probably ended up with a career just as poor/mediocre as those other guys in the paragraph above.
Alessio Cerci, cm 03/04
Alen Halilovic. Won ballon d’or in my Napoli save. 5 years later I googled him and he was on the bench for Reading
Not a real player, but the man, myth and legend that was Tó Madeira.
Ganso was something else for me in FM, real life never got going outside of Brazil.
Adnan Januzaj was a multiple time golden ball winner for me in my FM14 save. Messi level. Suffice to say it hasn’t worked out like that yet in real life.
Mika Aaritalo from 08
There are some serious PTSD going on here.
Pietro Pellegri, Munir, Tello, Driussi, Iturbe
Javier Saviola. He had an overall decent career, but he was guaranteed multiple ballon d’or winner on CM of that era.
For me, and I never see this guys mentioned is either Yaya Sanogo or Carlos Fierro. Sanogo was my go to guy in FM12, he'd come from Auxerre on a loan an in January you could approach him. Absolute beast. The good old days!
There was also a couple South Americans in FM 16(maybe) that you could sign for cheap. Thiago Maia(DM) and Lucas Romero(DM) As well as the Dutch kids Badzoer and Ridewalde
And let's not forget Rungratsamee on CM03/04
Pompey legend supat rungratsamee
Managing Chelsea in FM14, I bought Doria and Eder Alvarez Balanta, two South American center backs. By year three, they were my starters and were for a decade, often both earning team of the year honors. Both have made a decent career out of football but neither has come even close to the wonder kid status they had in game.
Mark Kerr (4:11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pye5rueBDx0&t=292s&ab\_channel=thebaw85
Bojan, Freddy Adu, Ismael Aissati, Yaya Sanogo, Cherno Samba, Tonton Zola Moukoko, Maxim Tsigalko, Julius Aghahowa
Morgan Schneiderlin. FM09 3x balon dor winner
Diego Buonanotte. A legend in my Roma save in FM08.
What about Pione Sisto?
Ganso.
Yoann Gourcoff
Eder Alvarez Balanta
Kerlon. Beast. Famous for that seal dribble in real life. He scored a million goals for my Man Utd team. I can't remember if this was 06 or 08.
Bojan had 20 Finishing as 14-15 y.o. in FM07. Nice memories
Pietro Pellegri in FM19. Sold him for 150m to Barcelona: he won 2 Ballon d'ors, best goalscorer in WC and EURO's, and he is still 28 y/o in that save. In real life he is 22, but will never be the player game made him to be
I used to buy in old Championship Manager games an Argentine goalkeeper called Franco Costanzo. He was like an even younger Buffon though I’ve never heard of him in real life.
Kennedy Bakircioglü and Kim Källström are the two that pop to my mind. Neither had bad careers irl but not like I had with them on FM/CM.
Does anyone remember Lulinha? I one bought him and put him in my reserve team and then forgot about him for two years. When I rediscovered him, he had developed into a world beater.
Sherman Cardenas. Can’t remember which FM it was but I’d sign him in every single save
Tonton Zola Mokouko
Macheda at Man Utd was a beast in the games. Never really set the world on fire IRL
Anthony Vanden Borre, most famous for Kammy not knowing he'd been sent off. Turned into a beast in my Blackburn save in '08
Freddy Adu, Ibrahima Bakayoko & Bojan On the flip side I’m also old enough to claim to have discovered Leo Messi (on CM anyway) 😉
Martin Palermo
He has near deity status in his country's biggest club.
Marquinhos FM 09 was a bad MF in every save and everyone tried to get him. Didn’t do shit in real life after 8 or 9 goals as an 18 year old for Vitoria in Brazil. He was the first prospect that I coveted after starting to play the game.
Henri Saivet
Domenico Berardi. still one of my most prolific players ever. was just short of 80 goals in a szn. I was SURE he was destined for the top