A teenage prospect with a big reputation, usually from Football Manager, where 'wonderkid' is a category. Real-world wonderkids are judged against their FM potential rating for the rest of their careers, which is unfair and constant. Online it is both a compliment and a sentence.
Championship Manager 01/02 gave me Cherno Samba and I still believe in him. That is what the word does: it is faith with a potential rating attached.
Seen this week: a 17-year-old with four senior minutes described as a 'generational wonderkid' by an account with a Football Manager avatar. The minutes were a substitute appearance in a cup game.
The word predates the game but the game owns it. Football Manager's scouts flag a 16-year-old as a wonderkid and a real transfer rumour follows within a season. The list of FM wonderkids who became FM regrets is longer than the list who made it.
What does it mean? Write it the way you would say it out loud.
