Updated version: Possible Wonderkids of Football Manager 2027
Welcome to the Ones to Watch FM 19 series. Here we aim to introduce the young players who, as well as being able to go straight into our starting eleven, may have the most room to improve in the game, helping our virtual managers reach new heights.
Sander Berge, 20 anos (KR Club Genk)
With names like Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Christian Benteke, Sergej Milinković-Savić and Leon Bailey leaving the club in recent years, Genk is increasingly one of the best at developing and boosting the talent of young players, not only from its own academy but also from clubs in less reputable European leagues. Our subject fits that last example.
The son of former basketball players and the grandson of a former footballer, Sander Berge is currently one of the players most chased by big European clubs. A product of Vålerenga, he made his debut for the Norwegian club's first team in 2015, aged just 17, playing 11 games that season. The real leap came in 2016, with Berge playing 25 Eliteserien games before moving to his current club, with Genk paying around 2 million euros for him.
The first attribute that stands out is his physique (1.93 metres and 88 kilos), but that isn't what Berge bases his game on. The Norwegian is the base through which all of Genk's play passes: he usually drops deep to collect the ball before playing a pass that breaks the opposition lines or switches play; if he has no passing option, he is very capable of carrying the ball on the dribble, often beating 1 or 2 players before finishing with a pass to an open teammate. In the team's defensive phase, Berge is the kind of player with great skill at reading and intercepting passes, and his positioning is almost exemplary for a player his age.
In fact, Berge has no real weakness in his game: he is capable going forward and also very good defending. The Norwegian is the kind of player any team should build its game around, being good in every phase of play.
With several scouts in Europe comparing the youngster to Sami Khedira, and although it isn't a wrong comparison, in my opinion it is Patrick Vieira he most resembles. Talented and capable, Berge now has to take the next step in his career and, whatever that is, the youngster should succeed.
João Félix, 18 anos (SL Benfica)
With Benfica losing 1-0 to Sporting, something had to be done to change the game, to stir things up, to try to break through the green and white wall on show that night at the Estádio da Luz. However, nobody would have expected a kid to turn the game around, especially after replacing one of the best players in the squad, Pizzi, but that's exactly what happened. Fejsa broke Sporting's line and played in Zivkovic, who with his third touch set Rafa free to cross from the byline to the far post, where he found João Félix, who headed home; the Luz erupted in an explosion of ecstasy.
Even for those who pay little attention to youth football and the Ledman LigaPro, it would be hard not to know the young Eagles player. There have already been several moments where the youngster from Viseu showed his talent: in 2017 he scored twice against Real Madrid in the Youth League semi-final and, in 2018, he was one of the main contributors to Portugal's win at the Under-19 Euros.
The former Futebol Clube do Porto player arrived at the Luz in 2015, and since then he has repaid the trust placed in him with excellent performances and moments of great brilliance. Gifted with technique, vision and an understanding of space well above normal, João Félix is a top level creative player. Able to play as a central midfielder in a 4-3-3, on the wings or behind the striker, Félix is the kind of player who likes to take on the opposition defence, beat two or three players and finish with a pass for a teammate or a shot himself. As already said, it is the young Portuguese player's intelligence that most lifts his game (look at the goal against Aves, how he uses the space in behind and finishes with his weaker foot); his opportunism also stands out, arriving late in the box and picking up balls cut back or, as seen in the goal against Sporting, arriving at the far post and using his height against a shorter full back, movements that would make even the best space investigator jealous (or Raumdeuter for the real enthusiasts), Thomas Müller.
Despite all these technical qualities and his quality off the ball, João Félix is still too inconsistent and not intense enough in his approach to the game. His physique could slow his development, something that has surely kept him from getting more minutes and starts at the beginning of this season.
Even so, his future should be bright and, having already been compared to players like Javier Pastore, as well as players closer to home like Rui Costa or Pablo Aimar, it won't be long before the "sharks" of European football come trying to take the Benfica prodigy far away.
Kai Havertz, 19 anos (Bayer Leverkusen)
By making his debut shortly after his 17th birthday, Kai Havertz became the youngest player ever to wear the Bayer Leverkusen shirt. In February the following year he would provide the assist for the 50,000th goal in Bundesliga history, and 4 days later he would play his first Champions League game, the first leg of the round of 16 against Atlético de Madrid. He ended up missing the second leg because he had a school exam. He would score his first goal for Leverkusen in April, in a 3-3 draw with Wolfsburg, becoming the youngest player to score for the Leverkusen club. A year later he would become the youngest player ever to reach 50 appearances in the German top flight.
The Leverkusen record breaker has been at the club since 2010, coming from his hometown club, Alemannia Aachen, where he stood out and impressed scouts of the biggest German teams. He rose to prominence with his performances in the Bundesliga Under-17 league, playing alongside Atakan Akkaynak, who would assist 9 of the 18 goals Havertz scored in the 2015/2016 season, with Leverkusen reaching the final of the competition, which they won 2-0 against Borussia Dortmund.
An extremely versatile player, Havertz can play on the wings, through the middle, as an 8 or a 10, or even as a second striker, complementing the predatory Chicharito Hernández. He is very tall (1.86 metres) and quick, but it is his quality on the ball that really impresses: his ability to carry the ball is very good and his excellent vision lets him play teammates through; he finished last season with 8 assists, despite the difficulties Leverkusen went through in parts of that season.
The German's biggest problem is losing the ball too often, the result of bad decisions and getting too carried away with dribbling, but these are problems that get solved with time and, at just 19, Havertz has plenty of it. Described by German media as a hybrid of Mesut Özil and Michael Ballack, I prefer to compare the youngster to Ricardo Kaká, because of his build and quality as a playmaker. Only time will tell whether he can fulfil all his potential.
Honourable mentions: Manuel Locatelli (AC Milan, on loan at Sassuolo), Gedson Fernandes (SL Benfica) and Guus Til (AZ Alkmaar)
