Introduction

Daniel Braaten will be a familiar name to Bolton fans after he spent the 2007-8 season at the Reebok. FMers will have fonder memories of the Norwegian winger-cum-striker, however, if they played CM03-04 as he was one of those players that were inexplicably world-class in the early versions of the game. Available at a very reasonable price and willing to join a raft of average sides, Braaten was the subject of much love on forums such as this one becoming something of a must buy.

When was he great?

Back when SI and Eidos were working together, they released CM03-04 - the last time the two companies would combine to produce a game. Whilst it was a good game and, as with every CM and FM ever, I bought a copy; I did find one problem with the game: there were too many amazing bargains. The likes of Maxim Tsigalko, Cherno Samba, Todorov et al were all CM 03-04 one version wonders. You could pick up these strikers for pennies then sit back and watch them back in goal after goal. Braaten, or Braathen as he was in game, was my bargain of choice.

Why I love him

Braaten was just my sort of player. Quick and skillful, his dribbling was a joy to watch on the 2d engine that was still fairly new, having been introduced in CM4. He would regularly waltz past entire defences and scored ridiculous amounts of goals for me.

Back in 2003, I didn't venture outside Britain when managing much, in fact I tended to stick to Aberdeen and Southampton... then back to Aberdeen again. If I could sign just one player it would be Braaten and I would pull out all the stops to get my man. At Southampton this wasn't much of an issue but Aberdeen was different. I knew, though, that he was all I needed. 50+ goal seasons weren't uncommon and he would lay on a fair portion for his team-mates too. I even made up my own chant for him, for shame.

Braaten's golden moment for me came during an Aberdeen game when I had him and a newgen called Darwin Johnstone up front. Darwin had 18+ for pace, strength, dribbling and finishing - and everything else under 10. However, with him on the right of the front two and Mr Braaten on the left I couldn't go wrong. As soon as the ball was fed into either of them they would sprint sideways to the touchline, then sprint with it down the line to the by-line, then cut inside along the by-line and batter it high into the net. I'm not sure if there was some glitch in the engine but each of them scored over 50 for me that season. For that alone, I still love Daniel Braaten.

What's he done in real life?

Well... not a lot really. Just like many of the "wonderkid" players of CM 03-04, Braaten hasn't hit the heights that you may have predicted basing football on the game alone. However, he has done somewhat better than the likes of Tsigalko and Samba.

He started his career at Skeid in Norway, where you would sign him from, before moving on to Rosenborg. This move ruined him for me in-game as I could never prise him away from the Norwegian champions. Here he made his name a tricky, flamboyant and, above all, pacy winger; becoming known for attempting such tricks as the seal dribble.

His good form earned him a move to Bolton in 2007 but he wouldn't make the breakthrough under Gary Megson which, given the latter's love of all things dull and defensive, isn't a great surprise really. In 2008, he was included in the deal which took Johan Elmander to Bolton from Toulouse and Daniel going in the other direction., becoming a regular in the Ligue 1 side.

Whilst he hasn't gone onto the world domination that CM 03-04 "predicted" of him that is a fairly respectable career to date and, at 28, there may be a big move left in Braaten.

What's he like in FM these days?

He's still a very capable winger, in all honesty. He's not going to score 50 goals a season for you but then there's not many players who will since FM has become a lot more "stable" since the split from Eidos.

I always take a look at Braaten whenever a new game comes out but I've never brought myself to take the plunge since the halcyon days of old. He quite often gets a move to a bigger club as I've seen the likes of Aston Villa and Stuttgart pick him up. He's gone on to do a decent job without doing anything spectacular.

I think he'd be most effective playing as the right winger in a Chelsea-esque 4-5-1 / 4-3-3, using his pace and dribbling to get in behind or drive at the defence. If he wasn't such an important player to Toulouse then I'd definitely have taken the punt on him by now but, currently, his squad status makes him too expensive for him. Besides, he'd never live up to my expectations would he?!

In honour of better times, here's a little Braaten montage. He's definitely a talent.