FIFA 20 Wonderkids: Best Asian Players to Sign in Career Mode

With three Asian wonderkids at top La Liga clubs, there are plenty of future stars coming up through the Asian confederation.

Author:

Ben Chopping

Started off as a sports writer with a focus on football, ice hockey, boxing, and American football. After leaving RealSport, I diversified my writing substantially, kept with sport, but also learned much more heavily into pop culture, iGaming, travel, business, tech, and especially gaming. Later, I co-founded Outsider Gaming, was the primary writer and editor-in-chief, and helped to train and bring on the writing talents who also had a passion for gaming. Now, I’m writing everything and anything, from sports to gaming, SEO-optimised content to reviews and previews.

Published on: Feb 22, 2020 | Updated on: Mar 20, 2023

Contents

1 Choosing FIFA 20 Career Mode’s best Asian wonderkids
2 Takefusa Kubo (OVR 71 – POT 87)
3 Kang-in Lee (OVR 76 – POT 86)
4 Takehiro Tomiyasu (OVR 73 – POT 84)
5 Hiroki Abe (OVR 70 – POT 83)
6 Jacob Italiano (OVR 61 – POT 82)
7 All the Best Asian Wonderkids in FIFA 20

Asia, which has included the Oceanic nation of Australia since 2006 in football standings, doesn’t boast the most prolific record on the World Cup stage, but the Korea Republic in 2002 and DPR Korea in 2010 certainly went further than many expected – making it to the semi-finals and quarter-finals, respectively.

Australian
players Mark Schwarzer, Johnny Warren, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell, and Mark
Viduka have all put their stamp on the game, as have the likes of Park Ji-sung
(Korea Republic), Kazuyoshi Miura (Japan), Hidetoshi Nakata (Japan), Keisuke
Honda (Japan), Cha Bum-kun (Korea Republic), Shunsuke Nakamura (Japan), Ali
Daei (Iran), Younis Mahmoud (Iraq), Shinji Kagawa (Japan), and Jong Te Se (DPR
Korea).

Some of
those above are still active in the world of football, extending their
legacies, but there is a new batch of wonderkids breaking out of Asia to pick
up the mantle.

There’s a
full slate of all of the best wonderkids from Asia and Australia in FIFA 20 at
the foot of the article: those with the highest potential overall ratings
feature in the main body of the article.

Choosing FIFA 20 Career Mode’s best Asian wonderkids

The most
important aspect considered when picking the best Asian and Australian
wonderkids in FIFA 20 Career Mode is the potential overall rating.

Those that feature in the body of the article have the highest POT, with the others listed in the table at the foot of the article having a potential rating of at least 80. All players in the article are 22-years-old or younger at the start of FIFA 20 Career Mode.

All of the players who feature in this article are from nations within the continent of Asia or the nation of Australia.

Takefusa Kubo (OVR 71 – POT 87)

Team: RCD Mallorca (on loan from Real
Madrid)
Best Position: LW, LM, LAM, CAM, RAM, RM, RW
Age: 18
Overall/Potential: 71 OVR / 87 POT
Value (Release Clause): £4.4 million (N/A)
Skill Moves: Four-Star
Best Attributes: 89 Acceleration, 86 Agility, 85 Balance

Takefusa Kubo was on the fast-track to stardom from the age of ten,
blazing through the FC Barcelona youth system. But in 2015, he became ineligible
to play for Barça due to the club having breached FIFA’s international transfer
policy on young players.

So, Kubo returned to Japan, joining FC Tokyo and making it into the first-team
at 15-years-old. The teenage winger dazzled fans with his incredible speed,
silky skills, and drive on the ball, convincing Real Madrid to sign him this
summer.

To get him game time, Los Blancos loaned Kubo out to RCD Mallorca for
the season, who have given him 21 La Liga games so far – in which he’s scored one
goal and two assists.

In FIFA 20, Kubo looks set to develop into an incredibly user-friendly
player, already boasting a four-star weak foot, four-star skill moves, 89
acceleration, 82 dribbling, 86 agility, 77 sprint speed, 85 balance, 75
stamina, and 80 ball control.

Kang-in Lee (OVR 76 – POT 86)

Team: Valencia CF
Best Position: LW, LAM, CAM, RAM, RW
Age: 18
Overall/Potential: 76 OVR / 86 POT
Value (Release Clause): £10.5 million (£23.8 million)
Skill Moves: Four-Star
Best Attributes: 87 Balance, 85 Agility, 81 Free-Kick Accuracy

With one of the most unique origin stories of any of the wonderkids,
Kang-in Lee started his career as a seven-year-old on a Korean reality
television show. It was a kids and celebrities football show called ‘Shoot Dori,’
and in 2007, Lee ran rings around the others, earning the nickname of ‘Little
Park Ji-sung.’

Still only
18-years-old now, Lee joined Valencia CF’s youth set-up in 2011 and has since
played 28 games for the first-team. He has one La Liga goal to his name so far,
but the young Korean midfielder has impressed in his time on the pitch.

In FIFA 20,
Lee is likely just about rated highly enough to play in a squad rotation role
for most top-flight teams, toting a 76 OVR from the start of Career Mode.

With four-star
skill moves, 87 balance, 85 agility, 81 free-kick accuracy, 80 dribbling, 80
vision, 78 curve, 78 ball control, and 74 short passing, the Korean wonderkid
is already a useful player to have in the team.

Takehiro Tomiyasu (OVR 73 – POT 84)

Team: Bologna FC 1909
Best Position: LCB, CB, RCB
Age: 20
Overall/Potential: 73 OVR / 84 POT
Value (Release Clause): £5.5 million (£11.1 million)
Skill Moves: Two-Star
Best Attributes: 78 Strength, 75 Standing Tackle, 74 Aggression, 74 Sliding
Tackle

Having
amassed 41 games for Sint-Truidense VV in Belgium, Bologna FC 1909 saw it fit
to snap up Japanese wonderkid Takehiro Tomiyasu for £8.1 million over the
summer.

After
switching to the Serie A outfit, Tomiyasu immediately became Bologna’s starting
right-back. The 6’2’’ defender has played a few times at centre-back this
season, but has found his best form out wide.

In FIFA 20,
Tomiyasu is more than a simply taller-than-average full-back, boasting a
medium/high work rate and five-star weak foot.

The Japanese
defender starts Career Mode with plenty of favourable attribute ratings,
including his 74 aggression, 78 strength, 72 defensive awareness, 75 standing
tackle, and 74 sliding tackle.

Hiroki Abe (OVR 70 – POT 83)

Team: FC Barcelona
Best Position: LW, LM, RM, RW
Age: 20
Overall/Potential: 70 OVR / 83 POT
Value (Release Clause): £3.1 million (£8.2 million)
Skill Moves: Three-Star
Best Attributes: 90 Acceleration, 90 Sprint Speed, 84 Balance

Hiroki Abe was a part of the Kashima Antlers first-team from 2017
onwards, racking up ten goals and seven assists through 79 games before FC
Barcelona came knocking.

Over the summer, Abe moved to the Catalan giants for just under £1
million. Featuring for FC Barcelona B in Segunda División B, the Japanese wonderkid
was just finding his feet with four goals in 20 games when he sustained an
untimely torn hamstring, which required surgery.

Abe’s speed,
skill, and fleet-footedness certainly didn’t escape the FIFA 20 attribute
rating selectors, with the left-wing magician boasting 81 dribbling, 90
acceleration, 90 sprint speed, 81 agility, and 84 balance.

Jacob Italiano (OVR 61 – POT 82)

Team: Borussia Mönchengladbach
Best Position: LW, LM, RM, RW
Age: 17
Overall/Potential: 61 OVR / 82 POT
Value (Release Clause): £500,000 (£1.3 million)
Skill Moves: Three-Star
Best Attributes: 84 Agility, 78 Acceleration, 77 Balance

After
impressing in Australia’s FFA Centre of Excellence program, Jacob Italiano was
snapped up by Perth Glory of the A-League in the summer of 2017. Just a few
months after signing for Perth, Italiano was brought into the first-team.

The Australian
wonderkid caught the eye of European clubs in his first season, eventually agreeing
to sign for Borussia
Mönchengladbach, but being loaned back to Perth until the summer of 2019. Since
his switch to Germany, Italiano has been playing on the left wing for Borussia
Mönchengladbach II in the Regionalliga West.

In Career
Mode, Italiano has a long way to go before he becomes a viable first-team
player, given his 61 OVR, but he does show promise with his 82 POT.

The Aussie
wonderkid has some strong base stats for a 17-year-old, with his 78
acceleration, 72 sprint speed, 84 agility, 77 balance, 66 ball control, 68
dribbling, 68 shot power, and 64 jumping boding well for the future.

All the Best Asian Wonderkids in FIFA 20

Here’s the
complete list of all of the best Asian and Australian
wonderkids in FIFA 20 Career Mode.

Name	Nation	Team	Age	Overall	Potential	Position
Takefusa Kubo	Japan	RCD Mallorca (on loan from Real Madrid)	18	71	87	RM, CM, CAM
Kang-in Lee	Korea Republic	Valencia CF	18	76	86	CAM, LM, RM
Takehiro Tomiyasu	Japan	Bologna FC 1909	20	73	84	CB, RB
Hiroki Abe	Japan	FC Barcelona	20	70	83	LW, RW
Jacob Italiano	Australia	Borussia Mönchengladbach	17	61	82	LM, CAM
Ritsu Doan	Japan	PSV Eindhoven	21	73	82	RW, CAM
Jun Nishikawa	Japan	Cerezo Osaka	17	59	81	CAM, CF
Keito Nakamura	Japan	FC Twente (on loan from Gamba Osaka)	18	65	81	LW, CAM
Kim Min Jae	Korea Republic	Beijing Sinobo Guoan FC	22	74	81	CB
Younes Delfi	Iran	Sporting de Charleroi	18	65	80	RM
Jeong Woo Yeong	Korea Republic	SC Freiburg	19	66	80	RM, LM
Hwang In Beom	Korea Republic	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	22	72	80	CM, LW, CAM