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.
You were there. What happened?
