FC 25 89 On This Day Icon Zanetti Player Review - Cop or Flop

Today is a special day because we have been granted our second Icon SBC of the FC 25 cycle. This isn’t any ordinary Icon SBC, however. EA has dropped an On This Day Icon SBC in the form of Javier Zanetti. The card design on this item looks absolutely fantastic!

These “On This Day” items seem to be almost an alternative version to flashback items but for Heroes and Icons. Because both this Zanetti and Keane have had these forms of items now and both items have been a lower overall from their base version. Of course, this comes with some alternative stats that often are an upgrade rather than a downgrade.

Zanetti has had a nice boost to his pace, as well as some boosts to dribbling and passing whilst taking a hit on his defending and physical stats. Likewise, this card has also been given an additional skill move boost up to 3* skills. The Playstyle+ has changed from Relentless to Rapid which is a very nice change. Unfortunately, he has lost the position to play CM though. He has also gained the attacking wingback role for the RB position. 

For Chemstyle here I have gone for the Shadow to max out pace whilst trying to regain some of those Defensive stats that he lost.

Here are the following segments to unlock the On This Day Icon Zanetti SBC:

Born Legend

Rare: Exactly 11

Player Level: Exactly Bronze

# of players in squad: 11

Rising Star

Rare: Exactly 11

Player Level: Exactly Silver

# of players in squad: 11

On a Loan

Squad Rating: Min 81

# of players in squad: 11

Nerazzurri

# of players from Lombardia FC: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 85

# of players in squad: 11

La Albiceleste

# of players from Argentina: Min 1

IF Players: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 86

# of players in squad: 11

86-Rated Squad

Squad Rating: Min 86

# of players in squad: 11

Top-notch

IF Players: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 86

# of players in squad: 11

87-Rated Squad

Squad Rating: Min 87

# of players in squad: 11

8 segments in total for this SBC which of course is what you would expect for an SBC. However it’s worth noting that this SBC has only been given a total of 30 days to complete. I say that like it’s not a lot but for an Icon SBC you typically would get a long time to complete and this just didn’t feel like enough for me. The total cost is coming just short of 400k which also seems like a fairly steep price in my opinion because would he possibly be less on the market? Quite possibly.

How did he perform in-game?

+ The passing on this card also impressed me a lot. Specifically the quick short passes but it was also really effective at making those snappy passes into the box to a target man

+ Interceptions were probably the highlight of this item as he very often pressed to intercept the opposition's passes.

+ Zanetti would also show some great positioning both attacking and defensively as when the team had possession he would make some nice wide runs to assist with getting the ball up the pitch, and when we had lost possession he was quick to track back and put a stop to counter attacks

/ Pace is certainly an improvement on his base item. Especially when utilizing the Rapid+ playstyle. But he didn’t feel “rapid” on the ball, unfortunately.

- Strength wasn’t amazing on this card as very often he was forced off of the ball

Zanetti - Cop or Flop?

This card was okay. But that’s just it. He didn’t feel like anything particularly special in-game and if you’re going to drop 400k on an SBC, you really need the item to make a big impact for you on the pitch. He played very aggressively and hunted down the ball, but personally I feel like there are many better options out there for a fraction of the price. You can purchase the new Trackstars Correia card is only 20k and will likely do a fairly similar job. The only difference is the special icon chemistry. Personally, I would stay away from this SBC and save your coins as this just isn’t an elite item that’ll make the difference to your squad.

Verdict = FLOP