Cesc Fabregas is another player who holds his rating from the previous iteration of FIFA, but since he was one of the game's elite midfielders to begin with, that's nothing to be disappointed about. Chelsea have picked up a truly world class playmaker in the Spaniard, whose excellent return of goals and assists never seemed appreciated at Barcelona, where his versatility worked against him in terms of the club never quite working out where best to deploy him. At Chelsea, he's likely to be fielded alongside Nemanja Matic in one of the two pivot roles, directing the play from deep and focusing more on creating than scoring in open play. As we saw in pre-season, he knows how to take a mean set-piece as well, having scored an absolutely sensational free-kick against Vitesse Arnhem for his first Chelsea goal. Many players may prefer to play him in the No.10 position where they can benefit from the full range of his abilities, though he also showed an uncanny ability to play as a false nine, aka a player coming deep from a striker's position, during his time at Barcelona. He's also only 27, which means there's a good chance that regular football will see his already excellent rating of 86 raise by a further point or two. You can be sure he'll be an essential component of any player's FIFA team, no matter how much fan resentment may linger from his time at Arsenal or spats with club legend Frank Lampard.
28-year old English writer with a borderline obsessive passion for films, videogames, Chelsea FC, incomprehensible words and indefensible puns. Follow me on Twitter if you like infrequent outbursts of absolute drivel.
