Five Football Manager Legends – Where are they now?
Unless you’re Welsh, it’s unlikely that the 1st March will hold too much significance for you, though seasoned football fans will almost certainly raise a smile when told that it is the birthday of legendary Mexican striker Carlos Vela.
The 35-year-old is still plying his trade over in America for Los Angeles FC and while he’s enjoyed a fairly successful career on the pitch, he is something of a cult hero in the Football Manager game series.
Perhaps at his most lethal in Football Manager 2009, Vela was bordering on a cheat code for any manager who could prise him from Arsenal (or indeed nurture him at The Emirates).
Vela’s insane potential in the game meant that he would almost always develop into one of the hottest strikers on the planet and while it didn’t quite materialise for him in real life, he would still go on to enjoy a solid career in his own right.
Following loan spells with each of Celta Vigo, Salamanca, Osasuna, West Brom and Real Sociedad while at Arsenal, Vela would go on to enjoy a seven-year spell at the last-named, scoring 54 goals in 184 appearances. He’s since made the switch to the MLS, where he’s earned cult status, while he is also a seasoned international for Mexico.
https://twitter.com/MLS/status/1164379897365696514
Both the Championship Manager and the Football Manager games series have prided themselves on identifying stars of the future, with a very mixed bag of results over the years. Some have gone on to become bona fide stars (such as Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany), while others dazzled in the virtual world but made little impact in real life (such as Carlos Fierro).
To celebrate Vela’s birthday, we’ve delved through the archives to pick out five legendary names from the Football Manager series.
Freddy Adu (Football Manager 2005)
Widely regarded as the greatest “FM wonderkid” of all-time, Freddy Adu was all the rage on the first edition of Football Manager back in 2005.
Fresh from becoming the youngest player to sign professional terms as a 14-year-old for DC United in January 2004, the American could be picked up on a free transfer if you managed a foreign club on the game due to him being just 15 at the beginning of saves.
Completing any transfer for free is a huge win for the transfer budget, but considering Adu’s insane in-game stats, it bordered on being a cheat code if you were willing to spend time nurturing him into the world-class talent that his virtual figures promised.
There are countless blog posts and stories telling tales of Adu scoring hundreds of goals, winning Champions League titles and scooping the Ballon d’Or countless times, though his career on the field never really took off.
Adu had trials with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United as a teenager – even popping to Championship Blackpool for a trial in 2014 – and while he did sign for Portuguese giants Benfica in 2007, his career proved to be rather nomadic.
The 34-year-old has racked up a staggering 14 clubs in nine different countries to date and while he hasn’t strictly retired, he’s been without a club since 2021 and reportedly now works as a coach back in the States.
https://twitter.com/tonyjameson/status/1738855793951223969
Cherno Samba (Championship Manager 01-02)
His name may mean little to those outside of the virtual world, but to seasoned Championship Manager players, Cherno Samba is one of the all-time greats. Available at beginning of the 01-02 version of the game as a 16-year-old striker at First Division side Millwall, Samba was a man who was quite literally hard coded for greatness.
The game was notorious in its early days for giving out generous high potential scores to young prodigies, though unlike with some other cult heroes, Samba’s potential wasn’t without merit. He was reportedly on the radar of the top academies in the country during his time at Millwall, with Michael Owen even said to have called Samba himself to try and persuade him to sign for Liverpool.
Eager not to miss a trick at the time, the game creators ensured that Samba had an incredibly high potential at the start of each save, meaning that with the right tutelage he would regularly develop into one of the most lethal forwards the world has ever seen.
In a vintage era for cult heroes in the real world, he quickly became a must-sign for anyone keen to dethrone a Manchester United side featuring the likes of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Sadly, things never took off outside of virtual reality for Samba, who according to his Wikipedia page made anywhere between 50-100 senior appearances and had stints in Spain, Finland, Greece and Norway after failing to establish himself at Millwall, before retiring in 2015 at the age of just 29.
https://twitter.com/talkSPORT/status/1241039297333125123
Taribo West (Championship Manager 01-02)
For many, Championship Manager 01-02 is the best version of the game and sticking to the retro theme, another iconic name from that era is the Nigerian centre back/left back Taribo West.
A full Nigerian international, a 27-year-old West is available for free at the start of your save and quickly became a staple signing for any manager eager for glory.
His shelf-life may not quite have been as long as some of the other names on the list due to his starting age, but West’s maximum scores of 20 for ‘Aggression’, ‘Strength’ and ‘Bravery’ on the in-game stats meant that he was something of a gem at the back.
What made West so popular was that you didn’t strictly have to be in charge of one of an elite club to sign him, though regardless of who you managed he would always produce the goods.
West was no slouch in real life and enjoyed an excellent career in his own right, earning 42 caps for Nigeria and taking part in two World Cups.
He was well known for his distinguishable green dreadlocks in the nineties and alongside winning a French title with Auxerre and a UEFA Cup with Inter Milan, he also had stints with European powerhouses AC Milan, Partizan Belgrade and Plymouth Argyle.
https://twitter.com/sid_lambert/status/978155304817971201
Benjamin Sesko (Football Manager 2022)
The nature of being a cult hero means that you usually have to wait a few years before getting such status, but one man who will be particularly well known to players of the more modern versions of the game is Slovenian forward Benjamin Sesko.
The 20-year-old is a hot prospect in his own right in the real world for RB Leipzig, with his potential first coming to light during his time at sister club RB Salzburg. Available as a precocious 18-year-old for a relatively modest sum in Football Manager 2022, Sesko quickly became a must-buy in the game for any top level club with European ambitions.
Sesko’s high in-game potential means he regularly earns a move to one of the big European giants fairly quickly into the game, becoming a real pain to play against if you fail to snap him up yourself.
Football Manager has a fair strike rate when it comes to picking out talents of the future and fans of the game won’t have been surprised to see the Slovenian impress on the pitch – scoring this stunner for Slovenia in September 2022.
https://twitter.com/Sport_Klub_Slo/status/1574840921572638720
Ivica Strok (Football Manager 2013)
He may not be real, but it would be folly not to include the legendary ‘regen’ Ivica Strok on this list, considering the career he would go on to enjoy.
Made famous by football Twitter personality Jonny Sharples, Strok’s career began on Sharples’ Football Manager 2013 save, when he was signed by Celtic for £5 million from the Croatian second tier side NK Zagreb in 2020.
What followed would be one of the greatest careers the world would ever see, with Strok’s addition being the final piece in the puzzle for Sharples and Celtic – who would go on to dominate Scottish football for the next 22 years.
Strok would clock up an unimaginable 836 goals in 903 appearances for Celtic, winning 23 league titles, four Champions League trophies and countless other cup wins and personal accolades along the way.
To celebrate such stardom, Sharples set up a Twitter account for Strok, which would amass several thousand followers as the Croatian international dazzled in the virtual world. Strok’s Twitter popularity was used as a force for good, with Sharples using the platform to open up about the suicide of his older brother Simon and their relationship with the Championship Manager series growing up.
As Strok prepared to sign off on his majestic career with a final outing against his boyhood club NK Zagreb, Sharples prepared a testimonial programme in aid of the charity CALM, which promptly sold out and raised vital funds for the cause.
Meanwhile in the virtual world, a 40-year-old Strok bowed out with one final goal in front of 99,237 adoring fans at Sharples Park.
https://twitter.com/IvicaStrok10/status/1215957837031133186
While they didn’t quite make the shortlist, special mentions must go to; Andri Sigþórsson, Maksim Tsyhalka, Tonton Zola Moukoko, Kim Kallstrom, Mark Kerr, Kennedy, Julio Arca, Danny Webber, Lazar Markovic, Ganso, Yaya Sanogo, Youssoufa Moukoko, Gavi and Endrick.
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