Today I am going to help you find a goalkeeper. This is the foundation of any strong team, so it’s essential you find yourself a good one.
When starting a new career mode you may be tempted to simply go into the free agents, pick up J. Smith (OVR 77) and stick with him (this is especially true if you are using a lower league team). But where’s the fun in that? He only peaks to about 78 or 79 anyway.
So, listed below are some of the most promising young goalkeepers in the game. In an attempt to make this relevant to as many players as possible, I have not included any GKs whose OVR is above 73 – this way you can keep your costs down and have some cash left over for other purchases (be they real players or new scouts). Furthermore, I have listed the players by cost, with the cheapest at the top of each sub-group (players are grouped by potential). However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the lowest-OVR players are at the top – notice how Joris Delle is almost £1m cheaper than Rémi Pillot, despite being the same age and 7 OVR points better.
I have three recommendations from this list:
- Vid Belec
- Alex Smithies
- Scott Loach
Vid Belec would seem to be the more obvious choice, although he is expensive. However, if you are patient and wait until the start of the 2nd season, his price drops to around the £2m mark, a fantastic bargain for such a promising keeper.
Alex Smithies is an absolute steal at £1.3m. His price does rise over the seasons, but only very gradually – he is around £3.5m by the start of the 3rd season.
Finally, Scott Loach is a strong contender because he seems to grow so quickly. However, this means that you have to move fast, as his price goes up as fast as his OVR does.
Despite being slightly cheaper than Belec, I would not recommend buying Thibaut Courtois unless you have a lot of cash. This is because he is on loan for the first season, so you can’t buy him, then when he returns his price just rises and rises, taking him out of the reach of many players.
Please bear in mind that these figures may not be exactly the same on your game. These stats are taken from my own personal experiences, but are likely to be very similar to those on your own game. The best thing to do is to make sure you keep checking these players, as their prices may drop radically after a while.
Finally, if you’ve had any experiences of good players’ prices changing wildly (especially if their price drops), please post it in the comments.
So, without further ado, here are the players:
| Pos. | Name | OVR | Pot. | Age | Cost (£) | Wages (£) | Club | Foot | Weak foot * | Skills * | Specialities/Traits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Thibaut Courtois | 73 | 87 | 19 | 5,000,000 | 25,000 | Atlético Madrid | Left | 4 | 1 | - | On loan from Chelsea |
| GK | Vid Belec | 67 | 85 | 21 | 5,500,000 | 10,000 | Crotone | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Alberto Frison | 73 | 83 | 22 | 3,700,000 | 15,000 | Vicenza | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Alex Smithies | 66 | 82 | 21 | 1,300,000 | 7,000 | Huddersfield Town | Right | 2 | 1 | GK long throw | |
| GK | Scott Loach | 71 | 82 | 23 | 2,200,000 | 10,000 | Watford | Right | 3 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Bernd Leno | 70 | 82 | 19 | 2,900,000 | 15,000 | Bay. Leverkusen | Right | 3 | 1 | - | On loan from VfB Stuttgart |
| GK | Alphonse Aréola | 65 | 81 | 18 | 1,100,000 | 6,000 | PSG | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Renan Rocha | 73 | 81 | 24 | 2,500,000 | 15,000 | Atl. Paranaense | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Koen Casteels | 63 | 81 | 19 | 2,600,000 | 5,000 | 1899 Hoffenheim | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Mika | 70 | 81 | 20 | 2,900,000 | 15,000 | SL Benfica | Left | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Fraser Forster | 72 | 81 | 23 | 3,400,000 | 15,000 | Celtic | Right | 3 | 1 | - | On loan from Newcastle United |
| GK | Jeroen Zoet | 64 | 80 | 20 | 1,000,000 | 7,000 | RKC Waalwijk | Right | 2 | 1 | - | On loan from PSV |
| GK | Rafael | 67 | 80 | 22 | 1,200,000 | 9,000 | Cruzeiro | Left | 3 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Jan Oblak | 66 | 80 | 18 | 1,400,000 | 5,000 | UD Leiria, SAD | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Joris Delle | 69 | 80 | 21 | 1,600,000 | 8,000 | FC Metz | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Renan | 69 | 80 | 20 | 1,800,000 | 8,000 | Corinthians | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Grzegorz Sandomierski | 68 | 80 | 21 | 1,800,000 | 9,000 | KRC Genk | Left | 4 | 1 | Strength | |
| GK | Pär Hansson | 72 | 80 | 25 | 2,400,000 | 10,000 | Helsingborgs IF | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Samir Ujkani | 70 | 80 | 22 | 2,400,000 | 15,000 | Novara | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Rémi Pillot | 62 | 80 | 20 | 2,500,000 | 5,000 | AS Nancy | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Andrea Consigli | 73 | 80 | 24 | 2,700,000 | 15,000 | Atalanta | Right | 3 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Renan Ribeiro | 71 | 80 | 21 | 2,700,000 | 10,000 | Atl. Mineiro | Right | 2 | 1 | - | |
| GK | Kasper Schmeichel | 73 | 80 | 24 | 2,900,000 | 15,000 | Leicester City | Right | 2 | 1 | - |