Welcome back to our countdown of the top 25 CM9798 players. You can see the first part featuring 25-21 here or 20-16 here.

Onto number 15…

15. Freddy Leon

A Colombian striker you say? Freddy Leon is a classic CM striker in that everything about him sounds good. What you might not know is that his ability and potential are both 153, making him the real deal from the start, but also most of his stats are random. The only ones set in stone are pace (18) and the hidden consistency stat (19), which sums him up. Consistently brilliant. Nath has more:

Freddy is one of the best out and out strikers on the game. If you need goals straight away then Freddy needs to be you’re first signing. He starts at Millionarios and can be bought for between £900k and £1million. You can get 3-5 seasons out of him and he is a 25-30 goal a season player. Every once in a blue moon Freddy loads with terrible stats but on the whole he usually has 18 for finishing and pace. Freddy is another of those players who can play in any team in any division.

14. Graeme Tomlinson

Another man for all seasons is next as we welcome Graeme Tomlinson to the list. A fee transfer who will do the job up and down the football pyramid, though you’ll be hard pushed to keep him lower down due to the big club release clause he will inevitably ask for. Zak has more on the legendary freebie:

Tomlinson was a CM9798 go-to player for me as an eleven year old Man United fan and remains the same today. As a ‘Forward Centre’, rather than a Striker Tomlinson can slot in behind the front two or play as the main man – equally adept as either.

Tomlinson’s football career started at Bradford City as a teenager featuring in Division 2 (New money League One). Aged 18 Tomlinson secured a £100k move to Man Utd and got an early appearance in playing in the League Cup. A horrific leg-break in 1996 would keep Tomlinson out for a year and take us up to the 9798 season where the game and Tomlinson’s career overlap. IRL Tomlinson would have another season on the books at Old Trafford before stints at Macclesfield, Exeter and then dropping into non-football.

Tomlinson’s Futera collectors card from 1997 lauded him at “the next Ryan Giggs”, though fans of CM9798 would put him on a higher goalscoring pedestal. Tomlinson will sign for clubs in Division Three for £1000 p/w and become an instant hero. Keep him for a few seasons (if you can) and he’ll have Glenn Hoddle calling for England. His pedigree earned him a place in our greatest Strikers list.

13. Tom Youngs

Number 13 is but a boy – Youngs by name, young by nature. 16 is the youngest a player can be on CM9798 but with -1 potential, Tom Youngs of Cambridge can soon be a very useful player to fire you up the leagues. It’s telling that his only set stats in the game are Creativity (16), Flair (17), Shooting (17) and technique (15). It’s clear what sort of player they thought Youngs was, in a Cambridge squad lavished with attacking quality for some reason. Fun fact, I tried to get an interview with the Cambridge researcher but despite them agreeing, it never came to fruition. One day. Anyway, here’s Philip with more on Tom Youngs:

Imagine you start playing this wonderful game for the first time. You search the internet and social media for tips and tricks and you quickly find a list of the best players. You notice a 16-year old boy called Tom Youngs from Cambridge appears nearly always on those lists. And you give him a try.

Back in 1997 those lists did not exist. But if you were an addict to game, like I was and still am, you didn’t need a list to discover very quickly how good this 16-year old boy could become.

He is one of my go-to players, especially when playing the English league. He will be one of the cornerstones in your future squad that you are taking to national and international glory.

12. Rai

It’s a veteran in at number 12 as Rai joins the party. All of his vital stats are high which obviously helps a lot but his advancing years means you probably won’t get him in season 1, although he is often on a free transfer at the end of the first season or two. What I like about him is that he doesn’t seem to decline over the years and he was still a top performer at 37 in my Mulhouse team. His regen is definitely useful too but will generally regenerate over 20 and at a club in Brazil, so not always the easiest to get a hold of.

11. Marcio Santos

It’s another Brazilian at 11 as Marcio Santos takes his place in the rankings. Found at Ajax in the original database, he’s off to Sao Paulo in the patch but he usually ends up being available. With ability of 175 (matching his potential of 175) he’s already the finished article and will be a rock in the centre of your defence, just as he was for the Retirement Home. Little known fact, he has a 1 for right and left so he can actually play all across your back 4. Nath would like to say a few words:

An absolute colossus at the back for any team. He starts life in Brazil and is a steal at £1.7-£2 million. He’s an ever present in the Brazil squad surrounded by the embarrassing talent they have. The only drawback to having Santos in the team is his FGN status which could be problem in certain leagues however he is more than deserving of one of those slots. He’s strong and quick and will pair up well with anyone.

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