10 Football Manager Legends Who Flopped In Real Life

In the game:

For fans of Championship Manager 01/02, it wasn't Wayne Rooney that was the teenage goal machine who would lead the line for England's golden generation as they finally won the World Cup. It was Samba.

The young Millwall striker was one of the game's great bargains and would quickly age into a complete forward: technically adept, fast, a great shot and good in the air.

In reality:

Samba really did compete with Rooney as the lead striker for England at youth level. Millwall had picked him up after he scored 132 goals in 32 games for his academy and he continued scoring for their youth team. By the time he was 18, Samba had attracted interest from the likes of Leeds and Man United, with Millwall turning down a £2 million bid from Liverpool.

Just a few years later, however, Samba was depressed and struggling to resurrect his career in the Spanish second division. In all the player who was once the future of England goalgetting scored a grand total of 15 times across his entire career, playing barely 50 games across spells in England, Spain, Greece, Finland and Norway.

Samba would later blame his own cockiness and surrounding himself with bad influences early in his career for his failure to fulfill his potential. Open about his mental health struggles after not living up to his promise, Samba dismisses claims that the game's high rating put undue pressure on him at a young age.

Today he argues that his ratings in the game were accurate and that his virtual success reflects the career that he could have had if he had made some different choices. Well, except for that really high heading score. Even Samba, who was never any good in the air, can't justify that one.