THE BOY WONDERS

No Champ Man chat is complete without tales of the uber- talented…

NII LAMPTEY

CM 93/ 94

The real Lamptey had difficult spells at Aston Villa and Coventry; the virtual one was an explosive attacking midfielder available for a pittance from Anderlecht. ‘ Nil’, as it was originally misspelled, would dominate midfields in this early version.

LUIS ENRIQUE

CM 97/ 98

He wasn’t exactly an undiscovered gem – Enrique was a fulcrum of Barcelona by this point – but the future Spain boss was one of the first world- class utility stars of CM, able to play in any outfield position. Any. Outfield. Position. In those days, gamers had no need for the enganche, the inverted wing- back nor the segundo volante, nor for variously coloured dots on a pitch map – not when they had Luis Enrique in his stated position of Defender/ Midfielder/ Forward ( Right/ Left/ Centre).

KIM KALLSTROM

CM 01/ 02

Arsenal fans remember him for an FA Cup semi- winning penalty on loan. CM fans remember his incredible statistics from midfield. Kallstrom was available from Sweden for under £ 2m and blossomed into a world- class playmaker; in real life, he would just have to settle for 131 caps.

FREDDY ADU

CM4

One of the first examples of social media catapulting a wonderkid to fame, Adu had trials at Manchester United and was championed as the next Pele. In CM4, the American became an unstoppable force once you’d signed him from MLS.

ANTHONY VANDEN BORRE

FM 2007

The Belgian right- back broke through with Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht. He was considered by FM to be the Trent Alexander- Arnold of his era: a creative hub from full- back boasting sky- high potential. Kompany reached his capacity but Vanden Borre became a journeyman, ending his career back home in Belgium.

YAYA SANOGO

FM 2011

Ten goals in 13 matches during 2012- 13 announced Yaya Sanogo as Auxerre’s next big thing, although he was already a hero on Football Manager. In- game, the lanky hitman became the next Thierry Henry, but Sanogo struggled to reach those heights in real life after injury – that, and just not being very good. He last turned out for Huddersfield in 2021.