Reviews
92 - FUT Birthday
First things first
I got this card in a 80+ playerpick saturday morning. When I looked at his ingame stats I was incredibly excited to use him. I linked him with mertens and hamsik for me this might be my favorite trio i have yet used.
I use him as the left CDM in the 4222 and how strong he is, the pace isn't the issue i also have the engine on him so he feels faster than he looks. His shooting is powerful and dreadful. His heading is a very strong stat of his. At corners he is in the air deadly.
If you have the coins, BUY HIM. Just give him a wee try and see for yourself.
Heading
Strength
Passing
Defending
Pace
Height
Weakfoot
Finishing
Can feel slow but holds of defenders
Stamina
This guy is a charging bull. I used him as CB in a 3ATB formation and he was impassable. Nothing bad can be said about this card, he is the best possible pure beast-defender in the game (I had prime Cannavaro, prime Nesta, prime Hierro, prime Rijkaard, Puyol, Ramos, etc). His physicality is on another level, he grabs and catches anything near him. No escape.
TO ME, the only but huge "con" he has is his nationality and the team he plays in (Napoli). No FUTChampions-ready green links a part from Carniball Mertens (I hate him this year) and this really forces you in the construction of the team. Serie A doesn't offer much a part from Ronaldo and some defenders (speaking in terms of "FUTChampions-ready"), thus you have to settle for some players in order to have Koulibaly on full-chem. And even If you manage to fit him, you'll surely be bound in other links since the players you used to fit him will not give you freedom of choice.
I tried every combination possible, but (considering my preferences) I didn't find a valid solution. That's why I'm using Van Dijk instead of him, and that's why the Dutch costs almost twice the price of Koulibaly despite being defensively worse.
And it's a real shame.
Hoping for Serie A TOTS to have Insigne.
Simply the best defender in the game
He just can't be hybridized
So there i was, completed the SBC for OP Blanc with still 200k to spare. I sat in front of the web app and thought: "well, Futswap Juan Jesus has been a good soldier for me, but this football legend (Blanc) needs a special partner.
Fut Birthday was out and so I saw this absolute beauty of a card - the 92 rated CDM Kalidou Koulibaly. I was looking at his 91 rated version earlier but wasn't too convinced because of the passing and driblling rating.
But this one - he had it all, and at 7 Chem CB he would be just fine.
So I pulled the trigger at 173k on PS4 with a Shadow chem already applied.
And what can I say? This defender is a total monster in the defence. He isn't as smooth and elegant on the ball and in his movements as Blanc, in fact, he is the total opposite - he is rude, he is brutal in the tackle, he smashes the opponents strikers on the floor, mentions their mommies in his trash talk. In tight situations in the box he always finds a was to scrap the ball out, into the stands, like a real hard-ass defender.
In one situation the opposition FB Sane (99 Pace) was running through on goal from almost the halfway line, but suddenly this beast darted across, slammed him to the floor (injuring him LOL), and carried the ball away from danger like it was nothing.
One fact particulary impressed me - i used him only for 20 games - 5 DR (all wins, div 2) and 15 WL (12-3), and he DIDN'T MAKE A SINGLE FOUL, whereas Blanc earned 2 yellow cards in the same amount of games.
He is by no means the perfect defender, the lacks some agility, acceleration and long passing could be better - but he is great value for money, especially if you could get him into your team on 10 Chem.
I don't know how he would perfom in the midfield, i think there are better options, but as a CB he is a must have in any Serie A team.
Timing
Tackling
Strength
Performs this perfect "auto-lunges" and "auto-blocks" more often than OP Blanc
His sheer presence in the defence terrifies the opposition player
Acceleration
Agility
Dribbling - have a ball playing defender next to him
i only played four games with him i draft i was doing drafts for the purpose of testing new players and his impact as a lone cdm was god damn unreal he is so quick to catch up with opponents wins tackles 4/5 times and is very clean with it his passing and turning is quite good in my opinion ineed him in my team now asap i would recommend him
height aggression tackling recovery
couldnt identify any