16:00 UK TIME UPDATE:
Hope you purchased Jensen's card after this story went live, as (just as predicted) its value has risen throughout the day, with sites such as Joe picking up on our original report. At 1pm it was 31,250 coins, at 2pm 42,000, and at 3pm 48,000. That's around £7-9 (or $8-10) in real money.
ORIGINAL STORY:
You've almost certainly never heard of Mike Jensen, but if you play FIFA 17's Ultimate Team mode, Mike Jensen is about to become your new footballing hero.
The 28-year-old Danish midfielder with just three caps to his name has had his in-game stats upgraded by way of an in-form 'Team Of The Week' card – and as a result he's gone from anonymous Rosenberg workhorse to one of the best all-round players in the game. And the best part is: he's a silver card.
That means you can use him in competitions for which gold players are ineligible, despite having better stats than a number of much-better known contemporaries classed as gold. For instance, his overall stats are superior to household names such as Fernandinho, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Steven Gerrard, and – incredibly – Kevin de Bruyne.
Indeed, according to excellent third-party ranking site Futhead, he's the 38th best player in the entire game.
As an Ultimate Team addict, this news inevitably had me determined to capture the unknown-yet-great Dane – and, thanks to one parts good judgment and nine parts luck, I nabbed him for the equivalent of £3.42.
First I purchased 1050 FIFA Points – the equivalent of seven gold packs – for £7.99.
Within the first pack, I got super lucky, pulling both a Joel Matip gold card and a 'CDM > CM' position-change card. Those two finds alone were enough to raise 10,500 coins.
In the second pack, among a load of near-worthless junk, I drew a 'Healing: Foot' card worth 1,700 on the secondary market.
And the third pack delivered me 81-rated left-back Benoit Tremoulinas, worth 3,500 coins, and 600 worth of transfer market value in contract items. With those sold an hour later, and the other unneeded cards from the previous packs also shifting – mostly at 150 coins each – I finally had the 19,000 coins required to purchase Jensen.
So I purchased Jensen.
He didn't disappoint, immediately being installed as skipper of my European XI, and outperforming those around him such as central midfield partner Kevin Strootman. And his stats really are insane for a silver card: 82 ball control, 80 dribbling, 78 short pass, 87 shot power, 78 long shots, 81 vision, 83 composure, 87 stamina, and so on. He's the complete midfielder.
The catch here is that word is spreading, and therefore Jensen's price is rising. The cheapest buy-now price you can find for him is now 22,000 coins, and that's likely to ascend again the instant this story is published. Sorry about that. But know that for those who do cough up, the investment is more than worth it. Just, uh, don't accidentally buy his standard silver card when trying to snipe others for the in-form version.
Jensen isn't the only FIFA 17 Ultimate Team player who'll cost you a significant coin haul – want the best side possible and it will set you back more than £500 in real money.
