Football Manager Focuses on the Coach's Experience, From Squad Formation to Tactics
Manchester United and English national team idol, Wayne Rooney, revealed in an interview with The Times that he uses the popular simulator Football Manager to search for talent in South America. Currently serving as coach for DC United, the former player also mentioned that the American club has partnerships with various talent scouts responsible for producing and evaluating player ratings within the game created by Sports Interactive.
The former footballer and around 12 Football Manager talent scouts work together with the coaching staff of DC United to find new talents: "There is a big market in South America and we have an agreement with Football Manager in which we give them advertising in exchange for access to talent scouts, around eleven or twelve, that they use in different parts of the world to help create the game. Something similar has been done in the past by José Mourinho (Roma coach)."
Revealed by Santos and currently loaned to Fluminense, Gabriel Pirani is in advanced negotiations with DC United to buy the player, who has already been released by the Rio de Janeiro club to sign the contract. The midfielder has a high potential rating in Football Manager, something that probably led Wayne Rooney to give the green light to the agreement.
But what is Football Manager?
Produced by Sport Interactive, and distributed by SEGA, Football Manager is a soccer simulator different from what is popularly known in FIFA or eFootball. The game focuses on the coach and manager's experience of a soccer team, from squad formation to tactics, without directly controlling the players on the field, but with real-time guidance and commands.