FIFA 23 World Cup Phenoms Rafael Leão Player Review

The Future Stars promo is always a personal favourite of mine and has delivered some of the more memorable FUT cards in FIFA history. Last year Bellingham was in my team from the drop until the bitter end, Lacroix was a bulldozer in defense and Vlahovic proved to be a complete menace in attack.

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The World Cup Phenoms promo pays homage to the Future Stars of old and looks at some of the youngest talents making huge waves on the world stage. With so many options available we turned things over to our Twitter poll in order to make the final selections for our focus this weekend.

Rafael Leão just barely edged out Jude Bellingham as the Englishman lost by the finest margins for the second time last weekend.  It is no surprise seeing Leão’s popularity given the position change and large boosts on top of his well used POTM version.

 

Which player from the new FIFA World Cup Phenoms promo do you want @MaeNine_ to review next? 🤔

— FUTBIN (@FUTBIN) December 9, 2022

 

In the back of my mind I was hoping to get another chance at using the Milan star after an extremely effective early review of his NIF version. Leão was now back inline with the current power curve and the hope was that he could replicate his success from early on in the year.

It was back to a more familiar 4-2-2-2 this weekend as Leão slotted in perfectly at striker, which of course worked perfectly for squad building given his Phenom position change. With the need for goals the FINISHER chemistry style fit perfectly and everything was ready to go.

 

Starting Formation

 

In-Game Formation

 

Overall

 

 

Rating: 9/10

Pace Rating: 9/10                                         

Shooting Rating: 9.5/10                               

Passing Rating: 7/10   

Dribbling Rating: 9/10       

Defending Rating: N/A         

Physical Rating: 9/10               

As we continue to roll out some criteria for ratings it was an easy test this weekend using the Portuguese sniper. Leão performs perfectly inline with the majority of his statistics, while offering a variety of ways for producing goals.

The 29 contributions in 15 matches was a fantastic return… The 21 goals are a perfect representation of the clinical abilities within this card… the 8 assists however, proving that goal stats are not always everything when determining overall quality.

 

Main Statistics – Shooting

Shooting Rating: 9.5/10

Weak Foot: ★★★★

Traits: Finesse Trait, Outside Foot Shot

Back to back weekends using a card that can absolutely bang the ball into the back of the net. The comparison to Rashford is uncanny in terms of power, but the presence of traits made the 10/10 a possibility on paper.

The 4 STAR WEAK FOOT was operating perfectly and allowed a variety of left-footed finishes throughout the weekend. Yet, minor missed chances proved a limitation present throughout the review. The tight angle finishes on the left could also drag wide and just scaled back the rating from the perfect 10/10.

The 99 FINISHING & 92 SHOT POWER were too much for many keepers to handle and when hitting the ball, with laces, toward goal, it was normally a goal celebration that followed.

The 188cm | 6’2 stature with 70 JUMPING proved a menacing figure in front of goal… the 79 HEADING ACCURACY was not ideal but still resulted in a couple of goal contributions.

 

 

Value/Coins

Value/Coins Rating: 4/5

1.4 million coins is a pile to pay for any card and the results had better equal the investment.  At just about 2.0 goal contributions per match I would suggest that Leão is not far off, but there are some other factors to consider, mainly in the form of competition.

The two standout comparisons I would point to are OTW Sadio Mane and WCH Włodzimierz Smolarek.  Mane offers a similar 4 STAR WEAK FOOT with better Shooting/Passing, and I would suggest that the 1 STAR SKILL improvement is not an almost million coin asset.  While Smolarek offers far superior shooting with a similar Weak Foot, offering different chem style application.  Despite being well short on skills, he is still a similar price to Mane.

 

Good vs. Bad 

Good vs Bad Rating: 5/5

If we are going to accept that Leão is a good value option, then there better be 1.4 million reasons why he is worth putting in your squad… and honestly he comes close.

+ The pace with this card is 100% fine without any chemistry boost involvement.  The 95 ACCELERATION was impressive on a CONTROLLED AcceleRATE card and the 97 SPRINT SPEED benefited heavily from the size of this unit on the pitch. 

+ The fear when I use cards that have a taller frame comes from the need for responsive left stick dribbling.  The 5 STAR SKILLS are a nice touch, but I needed the 95 AGILITY & 89 BALANCE to work alongside the 99 DRIBBLING to create magic… and they did, beautifully.  The FLAIR trait strikes again, with this card turning circles around defenders inside the box.  

+ The 188cm | 6’2 size, combined with the 90 STRENGTH has this card operating like a beast.  The aerial threat was real and once again the ability to play through press in the air was a massive asset.

Not much to complain about with this card… but there are a few areas you will want to consider before pulling the trigger on a purchase.

- This card absolutely needs the FINISHER chemistry style in my mind.  Which means that the passing is neglected and really proved this card's Achilles heel.  While the 84 SHORT PASSING is not great… the 82 VISION & 70 LONG PASSING are atrocious.  The 8 assists equaled a fantastic contribution… but like I said these stats can be deceiving.  I would attribute this total more to the pace and ability to simply square balls for teammates to tap in, rather than out and out passing competency.

- I did mention 95 ACCELERATION was impressive and it certainly was… but it was not as effective as similar numbers on a smaller or EXPLOSIVE card.  The deeper I went into Weekend League… the more the likes of WCH Carvalho and RTWC Marquinhos started to eat up my movements in the box.

 

Closing Words

Back to a 9/10 rating so let the groans come raining down, but it is in all seriousness an accurate representation of a card that could have been so much more.

The fact that Leão carries such a massive price tag is a key reason that I would honestly suggest avoiding this card. He is fantastic. The card statistics proved true and played amazing… but the inability to address the 88 FINISHING, 84 SHORT PASSING, 87 AGILITY & 85 BALANCE simultaneously with a chemistry style means that Leão never reached the levels that his price tag demands.

If you take away the need for FINISHING and want to operate Leão as a winger with an ENGINE then you will have a serious handful for opponents to manage… but many do not have the luxury of a 1.4 million coin wideman.

In the end the price tag was always going to prove the biggest hurdle with this card's value. The levels needed were simply not quite there. The card itself is a lot of fun to use, scores a lot of quality goals, and would be an improvement on many strikers… Just not the million coin improvement.