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Over the years, we have been lucky to witness the rise of some of the best players in world football. These players have become such huge icons today that it is hard to imagine that they could ever have been anything apart from brilliant. But surprisingly, the world of gaming gives us some interesting insight into what actually might have been the case for some of these players while they were starting out in the big bad world of professional football.
FIFA has a unique system of rating its players. They generally give ratings based on individual success and team success together. Generally, when a club signs an unknown player, no matter how talented the kid might be, he struggles to achieve a very high rating in his very first season.
There are obviously some exceptions to this, but largely, the norm is quite simple. You start from the bottom. Looking back now, it is quite astonishing to see that even the very best stars in FIFA today started from the very bottom. Here are 5 superstar footballers and their worst ever FIFA ratings:
#5 Zlatan Ibrahimovic- 66
This is almost laughable. One of the most commanding players today, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has made a name for himself in Europe unlike any other player has ever done. The big Swede has moved from club to club and won pretty much everything there is to win. A strong season with Manchester United in his Premier League bow showed that he's still far from done.
FIFA 18 is likely to see Zlatan rated in the 90s yet again and it comes as no surprise when you look at how important a player he has been for every club he played for. But wait. FIFA 02 actually shows that a young Zlatan played for Ajax and received a rating of just 66!
Quite astonishing when you look back now. But you can't blame EA either as he was an unknown commodity at the time who worked his way up gradually and has now reached almost unattainable heights in the senior game.
#4 Neymar Jr - 73
Neymar is widely considered as the best Brazilian player in the world today and for good reason. The former Santos man has been banging in the goals for his new club Barcelona and has successfully led the national team to quite a few victories.
As his stock grows, so does his rating and Neymar is rated very highly in the latest FIFA ratings. But looking back at his inaugural run in the game, we see that a rating of 73 was administered to the pacy Brazilian in FIFA 10.
Playing at Santos back then, Neymar was far from the player he is today and as he made his way up the ranks, his ratings shot up too. Still pretty hard to believe though that a player like Neymar just barely made it into the 70s.
#3 Paul Pogba - 55
French superstar Paul Pogba may have shattered the English transfer window last summer after he joined boyhood club Manchester United but things weren't always so smooth for the powerful midfielder.
Going back to the 2011/12 season and Pogba's first introduction to senior football, FIFA 12 had some very different plans for what his career would look like. Widely touted to be in the 90s department for FIFA 18, Pogba was actually rated only 55 in FIFA 12. That's right, 55.
Again, it's impossible that FIFA and EA would have known what this timid looking kid actually had but when you consider today's scenario and where the player stands, it makes for some incredible viewing. Quite extraordinary indeed.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo - 80
Cristiano Ronaldo should be thanking his lucky stars that Sir Alex had seen so much in him when he signed for Manchester United back in 2004. The player came in with a decent reputation and that bought him a rating of 80 in FIFA when he started off.
Also read: 5 times Cristiano Ronaldo had a higher rating than Lionel Messi in FIFA
But considering that the Portuguese maestro is rated 94 in FIFA 17 and could even go higher in FIFA 18, it still seems pretty shocking when one looks back. FIFA 04 was clearly not known for its graphics and when you check the game back today, Ronaldo looks nothing like his real self pretty much outlining what the developers actually thought of him at the time. Best player in the world much?
#1 Lionel Messi- 78
Sticking with the best players in the world, joint best with Ronaldo atop the football ladder is the mercurial talent, Leo Messi. The Argentine has traded blows with Cristiano at the very top for a while now but according to FIFA 06, he was not that special.
A rating of 78 in his first ever game shows just how far Messi has come in his career and stands at 93 today with the scope of going higher. FIFA 06 might wanna cover their face now that FIFA 18 is so close to its arrival.
