1 AC Milan Player Whose FIFA 2016 Stats Underestimate Him

Many soccer fans have two days early in the season that they look forward to. The first is the opening day of the league campaign. The second is the day that EA Sports releases the next installment of FIFA.

The wildly successful soccer video-game franchise saw its latest edition, FIFA 16, released on September 22. As soon as they started playing, fans did what they always do with sports games: started debating whom the game had overrated and underrated.

AC Milan fans are no different. The game got a lot of things right when it came to the Rossoneri's players, even if they did overrate a few of Sinisa Mihajlovic's men.

There aren't a lot of players on the other end of the spectrum, though. Milan hasn't really played well enough over the last few years to say many of their players haven't gotten justice from EA Sports. But there is one exception to that.

That player is Giacomo Bonaventura.

Bonaventura, rated a 78 when the game came out with the potential to reach as high as 82, has arguably been Milan's best outfield player since the start of the 2014-15 season. Whether it was in Filippo Inzaghi's 4-3-3 last season—in which he sometimes played out of position as a winger—or this term in Mihajlovic's 4-3-1-2, Bonaventura has worked hard and been one of the more creative men in the team.

He's also been one of the few players to avoid the malaise that has descended on the team. As last season wore on, Milan's players grew increasingly disheartened, and they looked it on the field. They gave every impression of a team that had given up.

But Bonaventura endeared himself to supporters by refusing to let his head drop. He battled every week, and the fans loved him for it. That has continued into this season, when he has easily been one of the best in a group whose belief in itself seems to fade in and out on a regular basis.

OLIVIER MORIN/Getty Images

There are a lot of things FIFA gets right about Bonaventura. His stand tackle and slide tackle skills, marked at 66 and 68 respectively, accurately reflect the defensive difficulties he's had over the last few seasons. According to WhoScored.com, he's only averaging 0.7 tackles per match. Last term he posted a similarly low 1.4 average.

On the positive side, his stamina, rated 84, and his penchant for long shots, rated 81 and with a shot power of 81 as well, are accurately reflected. His high work rate scores are also pretty spot on.

But there are a few areas where Bonaventura has been given a short shrift. The most prominent of them is free kicks.

When he's been on the field this year, Bonaventura has been one of Milan's regular set-piece takers, both on corner kicks and free kicks. He's notched a pair of assists off corners this season, against Empoli and Udinese. But it's his free kicks that are truly underrated.

Bonaventura has hit the target with free kicks on two occasions this season. The first was a beautiful curled goal against Palermo that briefly put Milan back ahead in their eventual 3-2 win. The second, in garbage time during the team's 4-0 beating at the hands of Napoli, was a clever effort that was meant to go across the face of goal but didn't get close enough to the far post and was saved fairly easily by Pepe Reina.

That is why his free kick accuracy score of 67 is so mystifying. For a player who has already shown so much ability delivering set pieces into the box and being accurate in direct situations to not only start at 67 but stay there during subsequent updates is mystifying.

Other attributes, such as positioning, at 75, and finishing, at 73, are probably a tad too low, but not to the huge degree Bonaventura is.

Given the way his skills have developed, it looks like playing for a bad team last season pulled Bonaventura down. He deserves a lot more out of his skill stats and his overall rating, which ought to start out at 80.

Of all the members of Milan's team who might be underrated, Bonaventura is top of the list.