Championship Manager and Football Manager have correctly predicted the future success of several superstars over the years – but not every player has lived up to their potential.
Wonderkid is the word that increases your heartbeat whenever it shows up next to one of your youth prospects, a player with the capability to become a Ballon d’Or winner provided you groom him properly.
Technically, the game gives the description to players that are below the age of 20 and have the highest possible potential.
As we all know, potential isn’t always fulfilled, but the developers behind the Football Manager series have a decent track record when it comes to the crystal ball: the 2005 edition’s so-called ‘golden generation’ featured such names as Carlos Tevez, Philipp Lahm, Wesley Sneijder, Javier Mascherano, and Vincent Kompany.
The same can’t be said for everyone, though. As it turns out, regularly scoring thirty-plus goals in the game doesn’t necessarily translate into greatness in real life. Who would have thought?
So here’s a wonderkid from every game, some of whom didn’t quite repeat their in-game careers in real life and others are going about reaching their potential in ways you might not have expected.
Cherno Samba
We’re focusing on the Football Manager era of 2005 onwards, but we have to start with the ultimate Championship Manager wonderkid.
In the game, Cherno Samba was your go-to striker if you wanted guaranteed success. We’re talking about 60+ goals per season.
In real life, he was signed by Millwall aged just 13 on the back of 132 goals in 32 games for his school team, was tipped to win the World Cup for England, and was wanted by the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United, such was his talent.
He would never make such a high-profile transfer, however, and eventually retired aged 30 having never played above the Championship.
Although Samba didn’t achieve in real life what he managed for many players on Champ Man, he told us his…
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