FIFA 23 Team of the Season Moments Araujo Player Review - COP OR FLOP?

The Community Team of the Season is here! We have a plethora of incredible players available to us and of course, it is only the beginning. Our first SBC of the Team of the Season promotion comes in the form of Ronald Araujo who has earned himself a TOTS Moments card.

At first glance, I was really excited about seeing this card on the menu but then came the requirements which put the price tag of this card at a staggering 525k. Now naturally you would like to think that a TOTS card would be expensive, especially on day one and especially on a card like Araujo, which was in many people's squads at the start of the game. So while it is refreshing to have this card thrown back in the power curve mix. This SBC is expensive. 

You can check out the card here!

@futbin_com is TOTS Moments Araujo worth it? 👀 will you be completing the Araujo SBC? #fifa23 #fut ♬ original sound - FUTBIN

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

#1 - LaLiga
# of players from La Liga Santander - Min. 1
Squad Rating - 88
Pack Return - Premium Gold Players Pack

#2 - Top Form
IF or TOTS Player - Min. 1
Squad Rating - 89
Pack Return - Rare Electrum Players Pack

This is an expensive card that really seems to be fluctuating in price right now. On the initial release, the card was priced at 600k. It dipped down to around 450k but has since seemed to rise back up to around 525k. It will be interesting to see where this price goes as time passes by. But we only have less than a week to craft this card. Things could change as Champs rewards are opened but regardless. This card is expensive and a lot of coins to let go of on Day 1 of the promotion.

Starting XI

So the lineup used for this review had Araujo partnered up at the back with Flashback Ramos. But was he just as good? Well for a card that has near enough better stats all around, you would certainly expect so. He fought hard in defense to really show what he could do, battling off attackers left right, and center.

How did he perform in-game?

+ One of the standout feats for this card for me was his positioning. He really worked hard to get into the right space to Intercept the ball when under threat. I would also find him pushing back quickly as soon as a counter-attack would start from my opponent. 
+ Strength on this card is absolutely solid. When defending it felt like my opponents were running into a brick wall.
+ Aggression is not something I would usually talk up, but Araujo seemed to absolutely manhunt opponents as they approached the box.
+ At 6’4 he was winning almost every cross handed to him followed by some great heading ability.
- Dribbling for me was the main downfall. As you would typically expect with most defenders, he wasn’t very agile on the ball. His balance and agility are relatively low which meant it was crucial to gain possession and quickly pass it off up the field.

How does he compare to others?

There was a good reason I paired him with Ramos. Sergio is the creme de la creme of defenders this year. So for me it was important to compare the two. Araujo isn’t quite on Ramos level but he certainly is up there. However, what we are seeing a lot with some of these cards is that the upgrades from previous versions seem to be very minimal. Take Araujo’s Future Stars item. It’s only a +2 overall upgrade with very minimal stats upgraded, which for me just isn’t worth the 350k difference in price. But he certainly is a solid CB option for your LaLiga side.

Ronald Araujo - Cop or Flop?

This SBC currently has 65% upvotes which for me still shows that a lot of people are really indecisive about this card. For me it’s important to consider that there is so much more to come and I don’t think we should be pulling the trigger this early.

Let’s not forget, often with TOTS, we find squads drastically changing as more and more cards from various leagues suddenly enter the power curve. Take the new TOTS Geertruida card as an example. An absolutely solid item that is mega cheap due to the league he is in. 

That being said... We probably need to consider how much would this card cost on the market. Currently, TOTS Ake is coming in at around 400k. So that makes me feel like this card may actually be pretty well valued. For me this is a really reluctant cop, this being that if you run a La Liga team, this is a great defensive option for your team and will certainly be an upgrade to your squad. But as I have said, it’s hard parting with these coins this early into TOTS and not being able to sell if I change my mind.

...COP