FIFA 14 | So You Want A… Centre back

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Need a rock at the back to protect your leads and seal out the opposition? Look no further, because today we’re looking at centre backs.

Let’s get straight to the recommendations – three very different players, so there should be one for whatever player type you’re after:

• Fabian Schär
• John Anthony Brooks
• Fontàs

First on the list is Fabian Schär. Not only is he a great defender, but he brings a whole range of extra skills with his performances. He’s strong, can tackle and read the game excellently, just as you’d expect. But as well as that he’s got pace in the 70s, 77 stamina and great ball control. He can pass too, so he’ll be starting attacks as well as breaking them up, and he can even take penalties. Add in his high potential and his 84 heading accuracy, the best on this list, and you can see why he’s my number one pick. Don’t be intimidated by his price, as Basel will accept an offer of around £4.5m for him.

Next is John Anthony Brooks. This player has that fantastic combination of pace and power that is so effective in a centre back. His height of 6’4″ and 84 jumping stat mean that not much is going to get over him, but if the opposition do manage to loft a ball past him, his 78 sprint speed should easily enable him to recover. His strength and tackling will do the rest. Put in a bid of just over £3m and he should be yours.

Fontàs is my final main choice, and he’s a little different to the other two in that he is an absolute pass master. His 80 long passing stat will be incredibly useful if you like to play counter-attacking football, so combine him with a target man and a couple of pacey wingers and you’ll have a very potent attack. Unfortunately you can’t get him in the first window, but wait until January and hopefully you will be able to get him. But if you play fast, attacking football then you should certainly give him some thought.

It’s also worth mentioning a couple of others – Nathan Aké and Jonathan Tah. Nathan Aké has been a perennial favourite among FIFA players for a couple of years now because of his fantastic versatility. The reason he’s not one of my main recommendations is because he is 5’10” and not hugely strong, so may be better suited to CDM. His range of abilities and potential make him a very good prospect, though. Tah, although only young, is strong – 85 strength, to be precise. His OVR isn’t great, but this stat alone should make him very useful for any lower league team looking for a real bargain.

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The articles in this series should give you some ideas if you’re looking for a new signing in a key area. There is one article for each position on the pitch to make it easy for you to quickly find players to bolster your squad.

All of the players given here have a minimum potential of 80, so you know you’re getting quality. The maximum OVR for each player is 73, both to keep transfer prices down and to avoid presenting you with too many options and thus making it too difficult to choose the player you need.

The ‘Avai?’ column is short for ‘available?’ and refers both to whether or not you can buy the specified player at the start of the first season and how long their current contract is. Let’s take Y/2 as an example – Y means that yes, you can buy him at the start of a new career, and the number means he has two years left on his contract. Similarly, N/3 would mean that no, you can’t buy the player straight away, and he has three years left on his contract. These ‘no’ players are often available for transfer if you wait until the January transfer window, however. For some players this column is blank – this means that they are out on loan at the start and are therefore unavailable for purchase until the second season.

Initial player costs may seem very low this year. The figure in the player cost column refers to the price you are given if you scout the player. But I’ve also added a new column this time round – ‘They want’. This refers to the price the other team want for the player if you enquire about him. Often there is a large difference between the player cost obtained through scouting and that obtained through an enquiry. This leaves a lot of room for negotiation, so don’t be put off if a price in the ‘They want’ column is high, as you can usually get the player for much less. Try bidding lower than what you think will be accepted – you may be surprised at their response. If the ‘They want’ column is blank it’s because the team refused to give a price, either because the player has just joined them or because they are loaning him in.

And as a final note, in FIFA 14 EA update player OVRs and potentials every week. Mose of the time these are very minor changes, and most players won’t be affected at all unless they have had a very noteworthy week. Furthermore, some players occasionally disappear if they have been put in the reserve squad that week. So just bear in mind that these figures should be read as a guide only and not a definitive account of player costs, potentials, etc, for the entire season.[/expand]

So, here is the complete list: