Liverpool star Roberto Firmino – once discovered on Football Manager

In Football Manager you occasionally find a ‘hot prospect’ still unknown to the world that a few years later turns out to be an actual wonder kid in real life. For example, Javier Saviola, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Ravel Morrison, Simon Davies, and Kylian Mbappe are very different players – but all share something in common. Each was tipped for greatness at a very young age by the video game Football Manager.

But did you know that Roberto Firmino was discovered on Football Manager?

Firmino joined Liverpool from Hoffenheim in June 2015 for £36.90 million and Hoffenheim’s scout, Lutz Pfannenstiel revealed in 2016 that he discovered the Brazilian through the popular game Football Manager. The Hoffenheim scout came across the wonder kid on Football Manager and then decided to go scout the player in real life.

Pfannenstiel admitted that paying that amount of money back then for a teenager from the second tier of Brazilian football was a risk. But taking that leap of faith paid off a few years later. Together with Salah and Mané, the Brazilian is now an integral part of the attacking lineup at Liverpool.

Though Danny Murphy believes moving Salah central has had an impact on Firmino’s performance last season, Firmino has been successful on his own at Liverpool too. The Brazilian centre-forward scored 12 goals in the Premier League last season and 4 in the Champions League. He won his first Champions League title in 2019 when Liverpool beat Tottenham in the final in Madrid.

The Brazilian international is only 27 years old at this moment but can already be considered one of the best players in the world. We are sure Firmino is grateful that Football Manager discovered his talent early on, giving him a head start in launching his career.

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