There's Something Really Wrong With Per Mertesacker's FIFA 10 Card

Moments before an Ultimate Team game, there's no better feeling that witnessing a wild Per Mertesacker in your opponents squad. it really is one of life's greatest gifts but once upon a time, in a land far far away, things were different.

Believe it or not, Per Mertesacker once had pace. Back in FIFA 10, EA Sports clearly didn't watch the defender that much because they gave the Werder Bremen defender 75 pace. I repeat, EA Sports gave the actual Mertesacker 75 pace.

If you look back at his previous cards, it makes absolutely no sense.

In FIFA 10 he was given 75 pace. Then in FIFA 11 he was downgraded to 61 pace, and a year later, when he signed for Arsenal back in August 2011, FIFA 12 decided to hand the tall German a massive -22 pace downgrade.

They may not have been able to fit his name on the card, but Mertesacker was exceptional in FIFA 10:

Then a -14 pace downgrade happened in FIFA 11, because you know, you do get slower when you turn 25-years-old.

Then FIFA 12 happened. Mertesacker signed for Arsenal and his pace stats, well, evaporated:

In that rather bizarre period, from FIFA 10 to FIFA 12, Mertesacker's pace went from 75 to 39 in the space of two years.

In FIFA 17, the 6ft 6in centre-back was given an abysmal 27 pace on his normal card.

He remains one of the slowest players on the game, of course.

Featured Image Credit:

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

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