Uncovered by: EURO 2008

2008 was a year when King Football sent us another blessing and we had the privilege of watching a great tournament. Switzerland and Austria were good hosts, even if they never got to impress the pundits with their football. I suppose that is a good thing as well, as it just shows that the referees finally learned something from the South Korea example. Of course, there were enough teams to impress us.. Portugal and Holland started their quest for glory in style and basically Europe started chanting their names. Other teams, such as Russia, Turkey or Germany, had a less impressive start, yet they found the pace and managed remarkable things. Of course, there was a constant team, who impressed, yet managed to keep form throughout the whole tournament and eventually clinched a deserved title. Supporters often got from ecstasy to agony, thanks to 22 men, who most of the times did everything to make EURO08, a show. An event to enjoy! Well the goal of this review is presenting players who impressed me and I am sure that every supporter generally. I will not be presenting known stars, such as Sneijder, Torres, Modric, Akinfeev or Arshavin, I will be just concentrating on less-known players, who reached stardom thanks to EURO2008.

Name: Turan Arda
Age: 20 years old
Nationality: Turkish
Club: Galatasaray
Position: Attacking Midfielder (Right, Left, Centre)
In my opinion, Arda plays best as a Winger. Even though his Crossing skill isn’t the best, I think he can make up for that with his Dribbling and Technique.
Value: £4 million
He is most likely to cost you something between 6 and 8 million.
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Ability: Arda is an undeveloped player, so you will probably not see things from him in the game, as you did in Austria. He is a decent Winger and he would probably be good enough, for a Championship side. He is technically good, he lacks ability in some areas though.
Development: Arda can improve a lot. In fact, by polishing his skill, he can become one of the best Turkish players of his generation. He has potential and by exploiting his talents, he can be matured to become good enough even for the Premiership, but for the Bundesliga in any case.
FM Status - In my opinion he is underrated in the game.
Zoli Rating: 6/10

Name: Yuri Zhirkov
Age: 23 years old
Nationality: Russian
Position: Attacking Midfielder (Left)
Even though he did a great job for Russia as a Left Back, in the game he is a Winger in fact.
Club: CSKA Moscow
Value: 4 million
CSKA is a good club, but I reckon you wouldn’t have to pay more for Zhirkov, than 7-8 million.
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Ability: Zhirkov is a good player, with balanced attributes. He posses good speed, he is able to do unexpected things in many cases, plus he is mentally very strong, which is very important. I think he would be excellent for a mid-table side from the Spanish La Liga.
Development: The Russian is almost developed, he has a thing or two to learn though. He is already one of the best Russian players, but I reckon he can become one of the best Eastern European players. He isn’t too expensive and I think he would be a bargain for most aspiring teams in the big leagues.
FM Status - The game got him just about right, apart from the position. He should be at least Accomplished as a Fullback.
Zoli Rating: 8/10

Name: Roman Pavlyuchenko
Age: 25 years old
Nationality: Russian
Club: Spartak Moscow
Position: Striker
He can be effectively used as a Target Man, but not really as a Fast Striker, due to the fact that he lacks speed or any sort of technical attributes.
Value: £3,5 million
Spartak Moscow are not one of the best Russian clubs any more, but it is unlikely that they would accept anything less than 10 million for their Striker.
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Ability: Pavlyuchenko is a good player. I think he can be considered to be the Russian version of Soldado, as the two players have many things in common. He is a decent finisher and his aerial ability is also notable. I reckon with the right tactics, he can become a decent scorer in any league. He would be an ideal replacement for Berbatov, I reckon.
Development: The Striker is almost fully develop. I don’t think he will become any better to be honest.
FM Status - The game got him right in my opinion.
Zoli Rating: 7/10

Name: Libor Sionko
Age: 30 years old
Nationality: Czech
Club: FC Kobenhavn
Position: Attacking Midfielder (Right)
He can basically play all over the midfield, he is competent on many positions.
Value: £1million
Due to his age, I am pretty sure Kobenhavn would sell you for his exact value.
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Ability: Sionko is a decent player, just about good enough for the Danish league. He has some nicely balanced attributes, nothing special though. I think he was great in Austria, you certainly can’t see him as the best Czech player in the game though. If you are managing in the Championship, or at a smaller Premiership club, he could be good for a few seasons. By few, understand 1 or 2, maximum 3.
Development: Sionko is at his peak, he will slowly become worse than he is at the moment.
FM Status - In my opinion, he is underrated in the game.
Zoli Rating: 7/10

Name: Andreas Ivanschitz
Age: 23 years old
Nationality: Austrian
Club: Panathinaikos - on loan from Salzburg
Position: Attacking Midfielder (Left, Centre)
He plays better as a Winger, you can use him in the Centre as well though.
Value: £3million
Well, Panathinaikos has the first option in signing him, as Salzburg set an agreed price of £2,8 million. If he isn’t signed by the Athen based club, you will probably get him for around 7 million after the first season.
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Ability: Ivanschitz is most definitely the best Austrian player out there. He is a decent winger and he managed notable things in real life. I am quite sure he will be able to play at that level in the game as well. I can imagine that he is one of the good players in the Greek league and that Panathinaikos will most probably buy him in the game, after the first season with them.
Development: The Austrian is a pretty developed player, all he can do is polishing his skill just a bit. He can improve here and there and he has the potential to be a very good player, not just measuring him in Austrian standard. He may not be ideal for top Premiership clubs, but I can imagine Portsmouth snapping him up..
FM Status - In my opinion, he is just about right in the game.
Zoli Rating: 7/10

Thanks for reading my last article for FM08!