And at the center of this renaissance is a teenager who hadn’t even made his senior debut when the game was released: .
By the touchline historian
In PES 2017, with that specific face and that specific chaotic hair, Gavi doesn't just play like a destroyer—he looks like a kid who just finished his GCSEs and decided to embarrass Sergio Busquets in training. PES 2017 PABLO GAVI FACE HAIRSTYLE 2022
In video game terms, hair is everything. A generic face scan is forgivable; bad hair is a crime.
By late 2022, EA Sports had Gavi locked down with a decent face in FIFA 23. eFootball had a passable version. But the PES 2017 faithful felt left behind. They had the best gameplay on the market, but their virtual Gavi looked like a default “Player_123” with a crew cut. And at the center of this renaissance is
The video preview showed the infamous "false nine" run—Gavi picking up the ball near the center circle, the messy brown fringe bouncing in sync with the Fox Engine’s physics. The face had the scruffy eyebrows. The slight gap in the teeth (a detail most would miss). And the hair... the hair moved like a separate living entity.
If you scroll through the modding forums of Evo-Web or PES-Patch in 2022 (and even today), you will find a specific, almost obsessive thread title repeated ad nauseam: “Wanted: PES 2017 Pablo Gavi face + hairstyle 2022.” A generic face scan is forgivable; bad hair is a crime
In the chaotic, hyper-realistic world of modern football gaming, where Unreal Engine 5 ray-tracing and 4K sweat droplets are the norm, there is a strange, quiet rebellion happening. It is taking place in a nearly decade-old game: .