FIFA 23 FUTURE STARS FABIO VIEIRA PLAYER REVIEW

Arsenal, Midfield, Vieira? It just makes sense!

Team of the Year cards are now out of packs, and yet somehow I feel like my chances of packing one are exactly the same. But its passing has brought along Future Stars! One of the best promos in the game, it’s time to look at the stars of tomorrow!

EA’s hit rate with Future Stars is genuinely mental. Players are more notable if they haven’t made it, I’m looking at you Patrick Cutrone, than if they have! 

The beginning of the promo has also brought a brand-new SBC! Fabio Vieira from Arsenal has been given an 89 rated card, and once again, EA have smashed the card design. 

Check out the card! - Fabio Vieira 89

Future Stars Vieira SBC Requirements

Here are the following SBC Requirements you’ll need to complete for Fabio:

#1 - Portugal
Portugal Player - Min 1 
Squad Rating - 85
Reward - Prime Mixed Players Pack

#2 - Premier League
Premier League Players - Min 1
Squad Rating - Min 86
Reward - Premium Gold Players Pack

Total Cost from scratch ~ 215K
Estimated Return From Packs ~ 13k

This is not a cheap SBC. The post TOTY hangover means that some may have fodder, like the leftover remnants of the post night out kebab, lying around in their club. But if you don’t, there’s absolutely no way you want to be grinding the game so shortly after the mother of all grinds. You only have a week to do this SBC though, so best make your mind up quickly!

Future Stars Fabio SBC In Game Analysis

This card is an awful lot of fun to play with. 

His boost to 4/4 was really noticeable. His passing off both feet was quite frankly ludicrous. Considering how much I enjoyed Flashback Jorginho’s passing, I really wasn’t expecting this card to be on the same level but he gives his new team mate a good run for his money. For me this card really excels in more of a CAM role and this is one of the reasons why.

Unlike Jorginho, he is incredibly nimble on the ball. 80 balance looked a little suspect when analysing the card itself but with high agility and dribbling he more than makes up for it in game. I tried him out as both a box to box with an anchor and then more of a CAM with an engine. And with the engine he is delightful. He isn’t quite as nimble as the Bennacer RTTK card from early in the game cycle but that’s the closest player I can compare to. 

His shooting is very solid, both from close range and from distance. With 89 positioning, he was always in the right place when building up the attack and then whenever a loose ball appeared, he pounced on it like a prime poacher. With outside of the foot shot trait, he also has a mean distance hit. 91 long shots and 89 shot power mean that he regularly beats keepers for pace when you get that perfect dipping angle for the far corner. 

Slightly disappointingly, however, he was defensively quite weak. Whilst his card doesn’t scream solid box-to-box midfielder, the 76 defending on his card is a bit of a lie. He has 88 heading accuracy but no other stat above 80. And the combination of 63 interceptions and 81 reactions meant he was an absolute menace for letting an opposition pass through his legs or just by him. 

His 71 strength also meant on the ball he was fairly easy to push off if a strong defender got close. However, his 92 stamina meant he could go all day so it wasn’t all bad on the physical front.

All in all, this is a belting attacking midfielder with all the traits to really hold down a spot in a mid-level team. He won’t be pushing out TOTY KdB but he’s definitely in the next tier of players.

How Does He Compare?

Price wise this card is an interesting one to compare to his Premier League counterparts. Much like with Jorginho, you have the out and out defensive midfielders in this price range like TOTT Casemiro, and you have the more all-rounders like Thiago’s Rulebreakers. As Vieira falls more into the Thiago mould, we’ll start there.

Obviously, 5/3 on Thiago vs 4/4 on Vieira is more of a personal preference. The 5-star skill moves can certainly help in tight areas but the ability to pass off both feet can’t be underplayed. On face card stats, Vieira should wipe the floor with Thiago. He is better in every stat other than pace where they are even. Yet they only have 11 IGS differences. In fact comparing the cards it’s almost a battle of “who can have the most useless stat”. Vieira has 88 heading accuracy but only 70 jumping, so he’s like Alan Shearer but only if he doesn’t need to leave the floor. On the other hand, Thiago has 56 heading accuracy but 89 jumping, so he jumps like he’s in an NBA Dunk contest but once he’s up there he forgets which way the goal is. 

Thiago has 12 less stamina than Vieira and has always been my major gripe with that card. However with 22 more interceptions, he is much more defensively adept. The passing is almost a dead heat, whilst pure passing stats, Thiago wins, the extra 6 vision and 5 crossing are a massive plus in Vieira’s column. Shooting however is all the Portugeezer. 6 more finishing and long shots with more positioning and shot power is not a close run thing. Whilst 96 volleys is lovely to have on Thiago, I don’t see many people cranking 30 yard volleys out at the moment. Vieira also has some extra positional flexibility too.

So Vieira edges this for me, especially as an attacking midfielder. They are almost exactly the same price and with two good clubs for linking and two good nations, it probably suggests this is a very fair price. However it does point to the fact that the power curve in the mid range cards has absolutely crawled this year. Thiago was released in October…

The other card I will compare to is WC Hero Kuyt, who sits at 300k on Playstation currently. He’s definitely more on the attacking side but I do see him used in the midfield an awful lot. He does have the better links with the Hero chemistry but I would argue that it’s going to be much easier to get that extra link through the Arsenal club link for Vieira. 

Vieira is 4/4 to Kuyt’s 4/3 but the stats do begin to favour the Dutchman. He’s quicker with far superior finishing (although not from distance) and has a massive physical advantage over the Gunner. But this really is where you see the true quality of Fabio Vieira’s card. He has more stats in every passing stat, including a combined 17 in short passing, long passing and vision. For me, despite losing on Reactions and Composure, has much more well rounded dribbling too. And defensively, despite losing on interceptions, it’s almost a no-contest. 

I’m going to reuse my Jorginho links section from Tuesday, with the obvious addition that he can also now link to Jorginho. 

Having been practically ignored for special cards last year, much like in the league, Arsenal have had a storming season. With Odegaard’s POTM still available and offering a cracking attacking mid, Saka’s TOTYHM offering a real all rounder on one wing and Gabriel Jesus’ Winter Wildcard on the other, you have a plethora of solid options to get the Club link on Vieira. 

There are almost too many cracking Portuguese players to highlight any individual one in the premier league. But with Cancelo, Bruno Fernandes, Carvalho, Dalot, Bernardo Silva and Palhinha all possessing cracking cards, you really shouldn’t find it hard to get Fabio on 3 chemistry. 

Future Stars Vieira - Cop or Flop?

This card has 64% upvotes. Which is a little tight but I suppose that’s the price you pay for being a fairly expensive SBC that doesn’t really push the power curve. For those with God squads, this isn’t going to touch the sides. But if you are fairly new to the game or a more casual player, this could really offer you something you don’t have. 

Comments time and for today we’re going to observe someone’s sarcasm radar being very askew…

This is a fun card. For those that want to play the game and have fun and still have the ability to win, this is right up your alley. I’m sure there will be some 8 year olds who’ll say it’s a “Div 9 card”, whilst they themselves revel in the glory of Div 5, but at the end of the day, if we aren’t trying to have fun, what’s the point?

I loved him, hopefully you will too. The only thing left to say is. VIEEEEIRA, WO-OH!

SBC Rating: 7/10

COP