The Backpage | FIFA 12 – 5 YOUNG PLAYERS YOU MUST SIGN

Football journalist and FIFA fan Darren Cross looks at player growth in FIFA 12, then picks out five young stars who all become world-class…

If you read last week’s Backpage you’ll know I’ve been playing as Malaga in my FIFA 12 Career Mode. They were taken over by a Qatari investor last year and I’ve had a lot of fun signing players at £35 million a pop, but recently I got thinking it would be more of a challenge to grow a world-class team, rather than just buy one.

So I decided to start a new career as a different club – Ajax – and pack my team with the best high-potential young players I could find. I’ve had a bit of help from some friends at EA who pointed me in the direction of a handful of wonderkids whothey know will grow quickly with games, and I’ve done some digging around in the transfer system and uncovered a few gems of my own.

I’ve picked five to tell you about in detail here, and they’re all well worth a look – you won’t believe how good some of these players become…

CRISTIAN PASQUATO
CF
Lecce (on loan from Juventus)
I’ve never been one for saving the best until last, so meet Italian forward Cristian Pasquato.

In the real world… he’s a versatile forward who can play in almost any attacking position. Pasquato’s only had a couple of games for Lecce so far this season, but he’s played for Italy at every level except full international and is very highly rated.

In FIFA 12… he improves incredibly quickly and becomes absolutely awesome. The bad news is you can’t buy him in the first season due to him only just signing for Lecce, but the good news is that his stats rocket during that first year as he plays consistently.

Buy him as soon as you can.

JACKSON MARTINEZ
ST
Chiapas
Need a pacy, strong striker who just keeps getting better? Then run a search for Colombian powerhouse Jackson Martinez.

In the real world… Martinez has five goals in ten caps for Colombia and has apparently been attracting attention from a number of clubs in England.

In FIFA 12… he becomes a monster. You can get him for about £4 million straight away. What are you waiting for?

SIMONE BENEDETTI
CB
Gubbio
A tall centre-back who can also play at right-back, Benedetti grows into a top-class player.

In the real world… Italy U19 international Benedetti is co-owned by Inter and Torino, and currently on loan with Gubbio. At 6ft 3in, he’s very strong and dominates in the air.

In FIFA 12… Benedetti starts off with an Overall rating of 64, but give him enough games and he’ll add ten points to that in season one before eventually peaking at around the 86 mark. To give that some perspective, that puts him in the same bracket as John Terry, Carles Puyol and Giorgio Chiellini.

ALEXANDRE LACAZETTE
ST
Lyon
A fast, agile striker who’s great to start with and becomes one of the best forwards in the game.

In the real world… Lacazette plays for his hometown club of Lyon, and is best known for scoring the winning goal against Spain in last year’s Euro Under 19 Championship.

In FIFA 12… The striker, who can also play on the right wing, needs plenty of games to get his growth going. In my Malaga save game he’s only added a few points to his key attributes, but he is still with Lyon so has hardly played. Given game time, I’m reliably informed that he achieves an Overall rating of 80+, which isn’t bad for £3 million.

LOUISE ESSENQUE PARFAIT
CM
Ascoli
Don’t be put off by his first name, Louise is a powerful box-to-box midfielder who’ll triple in value.

In the real world… Parfait plays for Ascoli in Italy, and for Cameroon’s Under-20 side. Big things are expected of him.

In FIFA 12… you can pick up Parfait for around £3 million and he’ll soon be worth a lot more than that, as long as you give him plenty of games. In season two of my save he’s added 12 points to his Sprint Speed, 13 to Jumping, 10 to Acceleration, 10 to Strength and has gone from 62 Overall to 71.

I hope that’s inspired you to start a new career and concentrate on growing some great players. There are plenty of them out there, but I don’t want to give them all away here as finding these gems yourself is half of the fun.

Enjoy, and I’ll see you next week.

Have a good week,
Darren
twitter: @Darren_Cross