We’ve all heard the age-old phrase. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” - used commonly when describing a child’s likeness to one or more of their parents, and though this is often true in most walks of life, it’s not always the case in football and while traditionally it’s common for a footballer’s son to take up the same sport and attempt to follow in their father’s footsteps, the degree of their success has very much varied through the years and there are no guarantees that talent indeed runs in the family.
Peter & Kasper Schmeichel
Of course we have seen some great examples in recent years - Cesare & Paolo Maldini, Peter & Kasper Schmeichel, Ian Wright & Bradley/Shaun Wright-Phillips, Enrico & Federico Chiesa - all successful footballing sons emulating their father’s success, however the ratio of successful sons in comparison to their more famous fathers is exceedingly low and only a handful generally make it to the very top level and truly follow in their father’s footsteps accordingly.
That said - recently we are seeing more and more prodigies of famous ex-footballers emerge at big clubs, which may just mean that this ratio will likely increase with improvements in technology, player development and coaching etc. Today we will use FM24 to hopefully identify some of these early, so that we can better nurture these players’ development in-game and potentially look back in years to come knowing that we saw them first before they made it to the big time.
FM players when a wonderkid makes it IRL
Recently MaddFM treated you to a thread of footballing sons (aged 21 and under) of famous ex-footballers who can be found in #FM24, a list which doubled in size once the FM community got involved - you can find the full definitive list below 👇
FM24 Sons of Famous Footballers
Not a bad list eh? Let us know in the comments below if you have been successful in managing any of the players above, and of course if we are missing any then be sure to share below and we will update accordingly! The apple may not fall far from the tree but player development is the fruit of our labour - enjoy FM24 🚀.
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