Jesús Navas – 19 – Sevilla
Once again we find two wonderkids for the same position in the same roster, this time in Sevilla’s. The first of this duo, Jesús Navas, is a well-known name in the footballing world. His PES5 persona is the prototype of the young winger/side-midfielder (though in this game he is surprisingly not registered as a winger, only as a SMF and AMF): Navas is fast (82 Top Speed and 80 Acceleration), agile (82 Agility) and a fine dribbler (83 Dribble Accuracy), which combined with his 80 Technique make sure that it will be quite hard to steal the ball away from him early on; and as the virtual years advance on your ML save, it will be progressively harder. On other areas he still needs a bit of time; his passing is merely decent at this point, his attacking IQ is sub-par (70 Attack) and his mental stats, beside an impressive 5 Consistency attribute, will be a footballing liability alright. Regardless of his evolution during your ML save, which tends to be tantalizing, Navas will always be first and foremost a ferociously skilled dribbler.
Konami continues to impress with their usual prescience, bar a few notable exceptions to the rule. Jesús Navas is not just a product of Sevilla’s academy, but actually a Sevillan himself. After a wonderful debut season for the club’s “B” team, grabbing a total of 33 appearances and four goals, he plays his first match for the club’s first team in 2003. Before that 2003/04 campaign ended, Navas plays on another four occasions; however, his breakout season came on the subsequent one, as the man plays a total of 30 matches, inspiring his PES5 statsheet. On the next campaign this youngster manages to play even more often (48 games), helping Sevilla conquer the 2005/06 Europa League – both our wonderkid and his team would retain that title on the following edition of that competition. Completely established as a vital first-teamer, Navas ends up spending a total of ten consecutive seasons in Sevilla, grabbing 394 appearances plus 34 goals; also carrying his team to a couple of Europa League wins, one European SuperCup in 2006, two editions of the Copa del Rey (2007 and 2010) and one Spanish SuperCup in 2007. Constantly linked to bigger sides over the years, Navas recurrently refused to leave Sevilla until finally, Manchester City convinces him to join some Premier League action, acquiring him for about 15M pounds in 2013. On his first footballing adventure abroad, could Navas replicate what he had done in Sevilla on an even more demanding league?
Amidst the talented likes of David Silva and Samir Nasri, Jesús Navas is nevertheless able to clinch a spot on the always-potent Manchester City side of the mid-2010s decade. On his debut season he grabs an amazing 48 appearances and six goals, 30 of those on the Premier League – and what a debut campaign it was, as City conquers both the 2013/14 edition of the PL as well as the Football League Cup (a title he would win again in 2016). Navas was living the dream. Though the Citizens went trophy-less through the following campaign, Navas retained his importance, playing another 47 matches. His footballing influence even grew on the 2015/16 campaign, for despite City’s disappointing season (they finished 4th in the league, despite reaching the Champions League semifinals) Navas grabs a potent 52 games. If it looked as if his English career was on the rise, perhaps on its way to reach legend-worthy status, the arrival of new manager Pep Guardiola – replacing Manuel Pellegrini on the 2016/17 campaign – meant that our wonderkid not only would have to witness his playing time be drastically culled (he ends up playing 36 matches, a mere 24 games on the Premier League), Pep would also adapt him to the right-back position. This would spawn the second iteration of the real Jesús Navas, totally different from the talented winger we knew him to be up until that point: the reliable sideback.
An impressive 186 games later, Navas returns to Sevilla, now as a half-winger-half-sideback combo. No one doubted he would be able to once again shine bright in Andalusia; 88 matches in just a couple of seasons speaks for itself. On the 2019/20 season, Navas not only grabs 47 appearances but helps Sevilla conquer yet another Europa League, Jesús’ third. Since his departure in 2013, Sevilla had amassed a total of three more Europa League conquests in a row, coincidentally on the first three seasons of Navas as a Citizen. I wonder if Navas hadn’t left; he would be forever remembered as a player who had snatched an incredible six Europa League editions. As of today, he still has a very respectable trio of them…! So far, Jesús Navas has played a total of ten matches on the current 2019/20 season as a Sevilla footballer.
Navas could never escape the role of a mere utility player for his national team; only when you’re playing for a legendary football team such as Spain’ s late-00s/early-10s side, that is indeed still a wonderful feat. Navas’ international story is pretty simple: he participated on a total of two top-tier international competitions, the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Championship, and…won them both. Granted, he played a mere three games on both competitions, almost always as a sub-in, but…he lifted those trophies anyway! Furthermore, Navas would also play thrice on Spain’s 2013 Confederations Cup adventure, ultimately losing in the final against Brazil. Currently with a total of 46 caps and five goals, Jesús impresses for his longevity more than anything else as he is still called up for his national team in 2020, eleven years after his debut for Spain’s first team and after having spent five years from 2014 to 2019 without a single appearance with a Spain shirt on.
Wonderkid material? Yes. Navas is a well-known footballing name whose influence was undeniable over the last fifteen years. Can he become even better in PES5? Absolutely.
Diego Capel – 17 – Sevilla
The second SMF wonderkid Sevilla possesses in PES5 is an even younger player – in fact, one of the youngest footballers in this game: Capel, a left-footed 17-year-old who is as expected not at all a complete product at this point; he is merely another project of a player from the start. Excruciatingly underdeveloped attacking IQ (67 Attack), poor Stamina (73), poor passing and shooting: Diego Capel is however quite fast – 80 Top Speed, Acceleration and Agility), plus a competent dribbler (78 Dribble Accuracy and 79 Dribble Speed). This is a mission for the hardcore, as few believe such a player could possibly be able to rise to virtual stardom. Capel definitely does become one of the best SMFs in this game, even if he next to useless early on.
When Diego Capel was debuting for Sevilla as a mere 16-year-old, a new footballing star of the future was thought to have emerged. He plays a total of 19 matches for the club’s “B” team, as well as three games as a first-teamer on the 2004/05 season alone. On the next, while his influence on the reserve team grew – 30 matches played – he would play a total of five games for a Sevilla side that ultimately won the Europa League in 2006 – Capel almost missed out on the medal as he played…one continental match! That was close! 2006 would be a fine year for our wonderkid. After conquering one of the most important competitions in the world of football, he is part of the Spanish national team that conquers the Under-19 Euro Cup, defeating Scotland in the final; Capel is a starting-11 player alongside the likes of Piqué, Javi García and Juan Mata. On the 2006/07 campaign that followed, if on one hand once again he grabs an even bigger number of appearances at Sevilla B – 35, plus six goals scored -, he only plays one match for the first-team: curiously, an Europa League game. Those valuable 18 minutes of play on that continental math will forever make him a part of yet another Europa League conquest for the Andalusian side, as well as for Capel himself. Sevilla also conquers the 2006 European SuperCup early on in that season and the 2006/07 Copa del Rey, but Diego Capel doesn’t actually participate on any of those.
Diego Capel’s luck was about to change. The tragic death of that which was Sevilla’s top real-life wonderkid, Puerta, coincidentally Capel’s rival for a left-midfielder spot on this Sevilla team, opened up a door for this PES5 youngster and, completely out of nowhere, Capel steals the show with a potent 43 matches played, 31 of those on La Liga. On the following campaigns Capel’s performances convince bigger clubs to try to acquire him, yet nothing ever materializes so he keeps his role as a vital first-teamer, grabbing more than 100 appearances in just the four last seasons Capel spends as a Sevilla footballer.
However, on the 2010/11 season his influence is dwindling as a consequence of having more inner-squad competition. Before he decided what to do with his club career, Capel is part of the Spanish team that conquers the 2011 Under-21 Euro Cup, playing a total of four matches and one minute on the final against Switzerland. Lifting that trophy were the likes of De Gea, Javi Martínez, Ander Herrera, Thiago Alcântara or Juan Mata. Diego Capel was among the best of that generation of Spanish footballers. That status provoked Portugal’s Sporting’s intention of acquiring this PES5 wonderkid; Capel eventually signs for the Leões on the summer of 2011 for 3,5M euros. His timing couldn’t have had been worse, though. Sporting was just beginning a process of heavy financial investment on their football team in order to keep up with the powerful likes of Porto and Benfica; only if the latter could effectively do so as a consequence of having had not just actual footballing success but having also amassed countless millions in transfer fees over the previous seasons – because of all the talent they exported -, Sporting had…neither; nor the money nor the trophies. Anyhow, Sporting takes a massive risk – and massive loans from banks too…- and invests heavily on their roster, spending a butt-load to acquire the likes of Schaars, Elias, Bojinov, Jeffrén, among others…none of those would last very long in Lisbon. Capel integrates that list, but he somehow survives the culling that was to come.
Capel immediately establishes himself as one of Sporting’s most valuable pieces, grabbing a huge 49 games and seven goals on his debut campaign in 2011/12. Portugal wouldn’t get any better than this for our wonderkid, espeically as Sporting reaches the Europa League semifinals. On the following campaign, though Capel still plays often (36 matches and five goals), I bet he wishes he didn’t, for Sporting has one of the worst seasons in the club’s history. Four managers and a new elected president mid-season later, the club finishes 7th in the league after having spent a good chunk of the campaign below mid-table, often even drastically close to relegation places. Sportingly – badum-tss! – and financially ruined as a consequence of poor performances and investments, under Sporting’s new management most of the expensive under-performing players were culled; Capel was one of the very few who remained for the totally renovated (and very much low-cost) Sporting of the 2013/14 campaign. Still, life wouldn’t be the same for him after that traumatic previous season. He plays less and less minutes over the following couple of seasons until he is shipped off to Genoa in 2015. 21 matches later and he’s off again, this time to Anderlecht, where he finds solace: Capel helps his team conquer the Belgian League, the last trophy he ever lifts, following 25 appearances.
That could have been the kind of campaign which rekindled his career, strangely, it had the opposite effect. Capel leaves Anderlecht and then spends a full year without seeing any professional football action before signing for…Spanish Second Division side Extremadura UD. 15 games and a mid-table finish later, he embraces yet another footballing adventure, joining Malta’s Birkirkara. I don’t know whether he actually played any match there; and apparently, he’s currently a free agent at the ripe age of 32, with two caps under his belt for his national team, loads of positive and negative footballing memories and the title of a failed PES5 wonderkid. Life is complex.
Wallace – 20 – Celtic
If, on the other hand, you are looking for a player that screams “wonderkid”, Wallace is your man. The only thing one can’t really appreciate about Wallace’s skillset is his poor mental attributes (63 Mentality and 62 Teamwork); otherwise, there is a lot to like about his virtual self. He might be fast (82 Top Speed and 87 Acceleration) but he is even more agile (87 Agility), which considering his 80 Dribble Accuracy plus 83 Dribble Speed – and his short stature (168cm) – recreate a pretty skilled and evasive dribbler who’ll be very hard to neutralize. Wallace has got more up his sleeve. Look at his 80 Long Pass Accuracy and 83 Swerve: give him space on the left – for he can play as a winger and as a left-wingback as well – and he will deliver one of his trademark venomous crosses. At the age of 20, Wallace is quite the safe bet already.
Though Ross Wallace debuted for Celtic in the 2002/03 season on a Scottish League Cup match, he had to wait another season until he established himself as a somewhat-regular first-teamer, playing a total of twelve games on the subsequent campaign – one of the most collectively successful of his whole career so far, lifting both the Scottish Premiership title as well as the Scottish Cup, both in 2004. Wallace improves his numbers on the 2004/05 campaign (21 matches played, including three Champions League apperances); with his career clearly on the rise, Konami reproduces Wallace as a wonderkid in PES5. Again, their sense of timing was far from perfect. New Celtic manager Gordon Strachan isn’t fond of our potent virtual youngster, barely plays him and when he finally does, the manager decides to play him as a left-back. A decade later, Wallace confesses to The Herald: “When I was at Celtic I kept getting played at left back for some strange reason when that wasn’t my natural position”. A talented, young winger, with a fragile build (168cm) can’t possibly be your best option for a sideback role, especially in Scottish football. As a consequence of his poor performances, he gets less playing time on the 2005/06 campaign (14 matches) even if he does participate in another Scottish Premiership conquest, winning also the Scottish League Cup. Wallace plays a couple of matches on the 2006/07 season – which was enough for him to be able to say he did participate on another Scottish Premiership win, for Celtic would win the title later on – before joining Championship’s Sunderland for his first footballing adventure abroad.
If you thought this was too much for our PES5 wonderkid at a point where his footballing career wasn’t looking so good, think again. Wallace plays a mesmerizing 33 matches on his debut season, scoring also six goals, ultimately leading Sunderland to a Championship win as the club finishes 1st place – just one season after having finished 20th in the Premier League, thus ending up relegated. Wallace however isn’t quite able to retain that vital role he had acquired on that winning season, playing just 22 matches on his debut campaign on the Premier League for the Black Cats because of a serious injury that sidelined him for practically half of the season, cutting short that which could have been his absolute breakout campaign. As Sunderland acquires more competition for Wallace’s role, he is forced out on a loan to Preston North End, meaning he would be back for some Championship action on the 2008/09 campaign. He immediately clinches a spot on the team’s starting-11 and manages to play an incredible 89 matches in just two seasons, scoring also twelve goals. That was enough to convince Burnley to sign him, also a Championship side at that point.
Again, Wallace has what it takes to be successful at his new club. On his first three seasons as a Burnley footballer he grabs another incredible 132 appearances and twelve goals scored. Coincidentally, as his influence on the team’s football decreased, their performance skyrocketed. Seemingly stuck as a mid-table Championship team, Burnley severely cull his minutes on the 2013/14 season (Wallace played 40 matches on the campaign before, only to play a mere 15 on the subsequent one…) and end up finishing 2nd, consequently promoted to the Premier League – this after an 11th place finish beforehand. A mere coincidence? Interestingly, upon Wallace’s return to the Premier League seven years later after his last presence there as a Sunderland player, our wonderkid manages to play more than he had played on the season that preceded the 2014/15 campaign (18 matches), but Burnley is relegated after finishing 19th. It seemed that Premier League action was too much for him. His contract with Burnley expires and Wallace signs for Championship’s Sheffield Wednesday; in just a couple of seasons he plays a brutal 93 matches, scores eleven goals and his team barely misses out on promotion, reaching the playoffs in Wallace’s first two seasons there: on the first, Sheffield loses the final game against Hull City; on the second, they can’t advance past the semifinals. Following an unimpressive 2017/18 campaign, both for Wallace as he plays substantially less (31 games) and Sheffield (who finished a shocking 15th place), the PES5 wonderkid leaves not just Sheffield Wednesday but the Championship itself, signing for Fleetwood Town, a side that disputed the League One.
His debut season on the League One was impressive (38 matches), Fleetwood finishing mid-table. Yet just one year later he leaves the club…several months after his departure, Wallace signs a short-term contract with St. Mirren back home in Scotland, but ends up playing a mere three games before leaving. Scottish international (with a total of…one game played for his national team, a friendly match back in 2009) Ross Wallace is apparently a free agent right now; at the age of 35 we don’t expect much more of him at this point. Wallace didn’t confirm his PES5 wonderkid status, even if he did become a recognizable Championship name over the last decade or so.
Namle – 18 – Esportiva
Namle – some call him Nani for some reason; calling him a ‘nanny’ must surely be a kind of tasteless joke – is one of the most exciting players in PES5 – mostly because of how unique his attribute sheet is. Here is a player who, as a consequence of how young he still is, isn’t offensively competent (68 Attack, poor shooting skills), isn’t durable (72 Stamina), can’t pass the ball decently and has terrible mental attributes (60 Mentality, 60 Teamwork and 3 for both Consistency and Condition is one of the most horrible combinations you’ll ever come across). However, Namle is almost exclusively valuable because of his great Top Speed (84, plus 78 Acceleration), and especially his tremendous 86 Dribble Accuracy and 85 Technique; it is an absolute rarity so see such a technically gifted young footballer. Over time Nani evolves massively, yet what will truly set him apart during his PES5 Master League career is the fact that he quickly becomes one of the most skilled players in this game.
He came, he saw, he conquered. Nani appeared for the first time on a Pro Evolution game exactly in PES5; its European release came a mere couple of months after Nani’s professional football debut in real life for Sporting. The club’s world-class youth academy had produced top-tier talent from Figo to Cristiano Ronaldo; Nani was already seen as one of the most exciting prospects of this prolific youth setting even before his actual debut. Well, our wonderkid isn’t shy at all and completely seizes Sporting’s starting-11, playing a total of 36 matches on his first season as a first-teamer, finishing the campaign as one of the Sporting players with the most minutes played – that particular ranking was led by another stellar Alcochete (Sporting’s academy) product, a very young João Moutinho. If anything, Nani’s influence even grew on the subsequent season, grabbing a total of 40 matches and six goals, plus his first professional football title (he had conquered the 2004/05 National Youth League as an Under-19 Sporting player beforehand), the 2007 Taça de Portugal, the Portuguese Cup. Naturally Sporting is constantly scouted by the top clubs of the world, given its well-earned reputation of being a formidable footballing furnace, so Nani had been under their radars for quite a long time already; yet as Sporting reaches the Champions League group stage, Nani’s talented is more competently broadcasted to the world, which prompts a race for his acquisition. Following in the footsteps of another fast, technically gifted young winger, Nani joins Manchester United for 25M euros at the end of the 2006/07 campaign.
Establishing oneself in a roster comprised of the likes of Giggs, Ronaldo, Rooney or Tévez can’t possibly be an easy feat, but Nani did it. On his debut season in the Premier League he snatches a total of 41 appearances, eleven of which on United’s glorious Champions League run. And what a season that was. The Red Devils conquer the 2007 Community Shield, the Premier League and the Champions League. Nani was effectively living the dream. His next campaign would bring him down to Earth a bit, as he plays 31 games and just 13 Premier League matches; but again his team is massively successful conquering the Football League Cup, the Community Shield, the Premier League and the Club World Cup, plus reaching the Champions League final only to lose against Barcelona. Nani’s ultimate test was coming, the one that would define his whole career later on. Ronaldo leaves for Real Madrid in 2009 and, naturally, Nani is expected to fill in his shoes, though lately Cristiano had evolved beyond the mere trickster he was in his Sporting and early-Man. United days, now a uniquely prolific goal scoring machine. Could Nani rise to imitate that process? Eventually, he would prove himself unable to do so. On his third season as a Red Devil, Nani again plays often (34 matches, plus six goals scored), as United conquers the Football League Cup. It was now or never: Nani rises to the challenge and has a wonderful 2010/11 campaign, putting out some Ronaldo-like numbers (well…early-Ronaldo-like…): 49 matches played and ten goals scored, grabbing another iteration of both the Community Shield and the Premier League – again reaching the Champions League final, losing once more to Guardiola’s Barça.
Our wonderkid is definitely able to retain his role on the 2011/12 season, playing 40 matches and again scoring ten goals; yet as Manchester United fails to lift any silverware – plus even failing to advance past the group stage of the Champions League – the club would be forced to invest heavily on new talent, prompting the arrival of Antonio Valencia (who snatches Ronaldo’s shirt, the “7”, which most had bet it would eventually be worn by Nani himself), Kagawa and Ashley Young as the more direct competitors for Nani’s playing time. Nani succumbed to the pressure. His minutes were literally cut in half as our PES5 wonderkid plays a mere 21 matches, eleven of which on the Premier League. Manchester does win the Premier League on Sir Alex Ferguson’s last season as the club’s manager, which is coincidentally the last title Nani ever wins with the Red Devils. Both him and the club itself would be in for some acute suffering following Sir Alex’s departure, despite the fact that Nani renewed his contract on the beginning of the 2013/14 season. Moyes’ United finished a shocking 7th in the League; Nani, now facing even more competition from the likes of newcomers Wilfred Zaha and Juan Mata, grabs an insignificant 13 games. The die was cast. Nani’s time with United was coming to an end.
Seven years after leaving Sporting, Nani was back again at Alvalade as United loans him to the Leões. Now as his team’s undisputed superstar, he goes on to play regularly once again (37 matches), scoring also twelve goals. Sporting wins the Taça de Portugal and Nani’s career seems to be on the rise again. Such a performance wasn’t enough to convince United to reintegrate him on their roster, but it was nevertheless enough to attract Fenerbahçe’s attention: the Turkish side acquires our wonderkid for the 2015/16 campaign. Again, Nani steals the show and plays a wonderful 47 matches, plus scoring twelve goals; however, it was his fantastic performances at the UEFA Euro 2016 – which he helped Portugal conquer – that landed him a job at Valencia. His timing was poor, though. Valencia imitates their horrible 2015/16 campaign and finish 12th in La Liga. Nani is forced out on a loan to Lazio, where even if he plays regularly – 25 games – he isn’t at all as offensively prolific as usual – just three goals scored. It was now time for a second return to Sporting: Nani is spectacularly consistent and grabs a potent 28 matches and 9 goals in about half a season – though he wasn’t around to lift either trophies, Sporting would eventually win both the 2019 Taça de Portugal and the Taça da Liga (Portugal’s League Cup). Strangely, following a very successful first half of the 2018/19 campaign, Nani decides to join the MLS, signing for Orlando City.
If you thought this was a kind of early retirement, don’t worry, you’re not alone: I was of the same opinion back then. Nani himself would prove all of us wrong. He has a fantastic debut season in the USA, playing 33 matches and scoring 12 goals, though his team finished near the bottom of the MLS’ Eastern Conference. On the 2020 season, Nani leads his team to their first-ever Playoffs appearance after finishing 4th on the regular season, so far playing 23 games and scoring 8 goals. The MLS Playoffs begin on November 20th, another opportunity for Nani to write another interesting chapter on his rather prolific footballing career.
Nani is one of the most capped players in the Portuguese national team’s history, a factoid that reveals a lot about his international influence. In eleven years wearing the senior squad’s shirt, from 2006 to 2017, and after participating in two Under-21 European Championships (2006 and 2007), Nani disputes a total of three European Cups (2008, 2012 and 2016), one edition of the World Cup (2014) and the 2017 Confederations Cup. His indisputable international peak came when he established himself as a vital part of the Portuguese team that conquers the 2016 Euro Cup; Nani finished the competition as one of its top scorers, having netted three goals. In the end, for a Portuguese winger to be able to grab a stupendous 112 caps plus 24 goals scored, knowing what we know about how prolific Portugal is when producing very talented wingers, such a feat could only be attained by a Pro Evo wonderkid of Nani’s caliber.
Galyoy – 18 – Constanti
Here is a total wildcard to celebrate the last iteration of this long SMF wonderkids list. Gursoy – Galyoy ingame – is perhaps one of the very few players I admit I had never heard of, whilst also never recognizing him from my various PES5 Master League-fueled adventures. This is likely due to his attribute-sheet, one that reveals quite the forgettable talent, despite his young age. Gursoy is fast (83 Top Speed and Acceleration) and agile (82 Agility); he is far from terrible on the ball (77 Technique) and can deliver a somewhat-accurate cross from the left side with his left foot (75 Long Pass Accuracy); the problem is, he is just terrible elsewhere. Offensively unintelligent (66 Attack), fragile as a kite on a windy day (64 Balance), awful shooting skills and mental stats (except his 4 Consistency), it is hard to believe this is really a wonderkid; yet according to TVI’s Master League Recommended Players Guide on Neoseeker’s website, he evolves into one of the best SMFs in the game. Somehow. A very challenging prospect this is.
Gursoy. A name I was completely unaware of both in PES5 as well as in real life. If his really unimpressive statsheet is the perfect explanation for the former, when it comes to the latter, the reason is quite as simple too: Gursoy was a totally failed wonderkid.
The high hopes Konami had for this footballer were surely a consequence of his uniquely promising early years, considering Gursoy was already a first-teamer at the age of 16. He makes his professional football debut on the 2002/03 campaign playing for Adanaspor, specifically on a home match against the mighty Fenerbahçe. Gursoy plays fifteen minutes on that memorable game, as this mid-table Turkish side wins 3-1. Grabbing a total of five matches played on his debut season, our wonderkid gets more playing time on the subsequent campaign, finishing it with a total of 16 games; the issue here is, of those sixteen appearances, three were draws and one was a win. Gursoy’s Adanaspor is relegated after finishing 17th in the Turkish SuperLeague but hey, not all is lost. Surely he must have impressed the Turkish football scene despite his team’s awful performances, given none other than Fenerbahçe decide to acquire this young footballer at the end of the 2003/04 season. Gursoy now had a very high footballing mountain to climb.
Perhaps that mountain was not exactly a challenge, but an insurmountable obstacle. There are no records of Gursoy having played any minute on the 2004/05 season as a Fenerbahçe footballer. Still, somehow he had done enough to earn the honour of being represented on the fifth iteration of Pro Evo, appearing on Fenerbahçe’s roster for the following 2005/06 campaign. Only, again, in real life, his footballing influence there was practically non-existent: Gursoy plays six minutes on a March 2006 league fixture against the unpronounceable Diyarbakirspor as his team was already pulverizing that opposition by four goals to none. If our wonderkid wanted playing time, he clearly would have to look for it elsewhere. Fenerbahçe loans him out to Sivasspor for the 2006/07 season and, surprisingly, after a couple of years that were ultimately totally unproductive and possibly even footballingly hurtful for Gursoy, he harnesses his Seabass-given Pro Evo energy and plays 20 matches; his team finishes 7th in the league. His career on the way up, perhaps this was finally Gursoy’s time to shine? Well, not really. His impressive campaign at Sivasspor did impress Fenerbahçe’s management enough for him to be called back to the club to reintegrate their roster for the 2007/08 season; only, ultimately, Gursoy appears on just three occasions on a Fenerbahçe shirt: on the second, the fifth and the 34th fixtures of the Turkish SuperLeague, always as a late sub-in.
Still, for some reason, he is kept around for the subsequent campaign and, lo and behold, Gursoy kicks off the 2008/09 season in style, participating in a couple of Champions League qualifying matches against Hungary’s MTK and Partizan Belgrade. Don’t get your hopes up though, for he was in for another painful season as he ends up playing a mere seven games in total. In a decision that, if anything, was two dreadful years late, Fenerbahçe loans him out once more, this time to Antalyaspor, another mid-table Turkish SuperLeague side. Only, unlike his previous Sivasspor-fueled experience, Gursoy is not able to establish himself there at all, playing just eight matches during that year-long loan. It is clear Gursoy needs a footballing downgrade; six years after signing for Fenerbahçe, his contract expires and our wonderkid signs for 2nd-tier Turkish club Bugsasspor. That was a wise decision. Gursoy finally demonstrates what he is truly made of, getting 23 appearances plus seven goals. Bugsasspor barely misses out on promotion after finishing 3rd in the League; Gursoy nevertheless was leaving at the end of that campaign for to join another 2nd-tier mid-table side, Goztepe, where he would play 17 games. Another season, another club…and another downgrade: Gursoy signs for third division side Hatayspor and, well, he is a bit more regular there, grabbing a total of 39 matches in two seasons, plus eleven goals.
In 2014 he signs for Sariyer, another 3rd-tier Turkish side, yet as always, he appears seldom (13 games), so our PES5 prospect needed to go deeper. Tepecikspor offered him a contract to play some…fourth tier footballing action in Turkey, but apparently, in two seasons he plays a mere eight matches, scoring three goals. Nazilli Belediyespor, another fourth tier club, believed in Gursoy enough to sign him for the 2017/18 season; that which, according to the Libero Magazine’s research, was the last of Gursoy’s footballing adventures. He plays a total of 17 matches, staying true to his reputation as a the guy who is sometimes match fit, like once a month.
A recurrent presence on Turkey’s youth national teams, the best our wonderkid could do was to participate on the 2005 Under-20 World Cup and on the following year’s Under-19 Euro Cup. Turkey didn’t really make any waves on either of those, not even on the latter where Gursoy shared the midfield with Arda Turan.
One of the least impressive wonderkids in this Libero Magazine series – both virtually and in real-life -, Gursoy is possibly one of the finest hidden gems of PES5. I say ‘possibly’ for I truly have no idea; you will have to find out about that yourself.
Libero Magazine 