Vieri / Kuyt: Initial Build & Rating
🇳🇱 Kuyt: 4-2-10-10-10-2-0 + Agility
As a relatively popular new Legend, this card is essentially a "mascot" (collector's item). His Engagement and Defensive Awareness are around 70, which barely manages to replicate his real-life reputation as a "Defensive Forward."
However, in the current meta, Defensive Awareness affects acceleration while defending. For every point below 70, it’s like taking a -1 penalty to your Acceleration. With Kuyt’s Defensive Awareness at 60, he’s effectively playing with a -10 Acceleration debuff. Perhaps he caught a bug from Vieri (who released alongside him), but Kuyt’s Weak Foot Usage is only "Medium." If you want to use this card, I recommend playing him at SS (Second Striker) as a versatile utility sub.
🇮🇹 Vieri: 7-1-9-10-8-4-0 + Breakthrough
This new Vieri from the 50-player pool is a blatant example of "reverse powercreep" (nerfing a new version). Compared to the previous "Blitz Curler" Vieri: Dribbling stats: Down by 3 Speed/Acceleration: Down by 2 Kicking Power: Down by 5 Physical Contact: Down by 8
His impact as a "ground tank" has been significantly nerfed. His only saving grace is a +5 to Heading, making him slightly better at converting crosses. Truthfully, even the previous "strongest" Vieri barely cracked the Top 15 for Center Forwards.
He faces two major issues:
Weak Foot "Medium": This is a fatal flaw for a top-tier CF.
The Meta: Top-tier Target Men are now pushing 195cm. Facing CBs like Ferdinand or Van Dijk, a 185cm Vieri doesn't have an aerial advantage (see image below). His only selling point is being a "Ground Tank." Even though his dribbling isn't great, I still put +9 into the Dribbling category to hit the 87 threshold, which helps his ball retention on the ground.
Posted Feb 26, 2026, 8:11 AM UTC