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Jack Kenmare
Jack Wilshere, Lucas Moura and Christian Eriksen were handed the joint-highest potential rating on FIFA 12 career mode as EA Sports made some huge 'wonderkid' shouts.
Ahead of its official release on September 27, 2011, the team at EA Sports were tasked with predicting who would dominate football for years to come.
At the time, Pep Guardiola's Barcelona had made light work of Manchester United in the Champions League final as goals from Pedro, Lionel Messi and David Villa sealed a 3-1 win at Wembley.
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United did, however, secure their 19th top-flight title, placing them one ahead of bitter rivals Liverpool in the all-time standings.
And they also managed to sign a player who was placed in the top 25 of players with the highest potential rating on FIFA 12 career mode.
Phil Jones, a £16 million signing from Blackburn Rovers, would go on to make 229 appearances for United during an injury-plagued 12-year spell at Old Trafford. He announced his retirement from football at the age of 32 in August.
So what about the rest? As you can see from the screenshots below, then-Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere topped the list with an overall rating of 82, and a potential rating of 90.
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Wilshere, who announced his retirement from playing professional football in 2022 – a decision that was "difficult" to accept – suffered a string of ankle injuries in the early stages of his career.
In fact, when he was just 18-years-old, the former England international damaged his right ankle at the end of the 2010/11 campaign and went on to miss 151 games over a six-year period at Arsenal.
He did have the 'stress fracture' repaired by two world-renowned surgeons but his ankle was never the same again.
Wilshere would later be forced to have surgery on his knee and calf bone during an injury-plagued spell at Arsenal, which saw him miss over 100 games.
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He would play 197 times for the Gunners between 2008 and 2016 before spells at Bournemouth and West Ham, where he missed a further 59 games in three years. After e brief spell at Danish side Aarhus, Wilshere decided to hang up his boots at 30.
Thoughts on the list? Let us know in the comments.
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Topics: EA Sports, FIFA, Jack Wilshere, Phil Jones
Senior Journalist at SPORTbible with a passion for long-form journalism. Almost 10 years’ experience across online and print.
@jackkenmare_
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