Click here to skip straight to my recommendations
You don’t always have to pay a hefty transfer fee to get quality players
In fact, sometimes you don’t have to pay any transfer fee at all. There are plenty of high potential and high OVR players in FIFA 15 who will join your team for nothing, and the only payments you have to make are for their wages. That can be especially useful if you’re doing a career with a lower league team where money is tight, but any team can benefit from free transfers.
So if you’ve never tried getting players for free in FIFA 15 before, I’ve put together this series to help you find the best free players available to buy.
How do I get players for free in FIFA 15?
That’s easy – once you’ve found the player you want, just find them in the January transfer window and press ‘approach to sign on contract expiry’. Just wait a couple of days for them to mull over the contract, and if they accept then they will join your team at the end of the season.
But you can’t sign any player this way – they must be aged 23 or above by the time the January transfer window ends and have a year left on their contract (i.e. it will expire at the end of the season).
How do I find these free players?
Well, you could send your scout to various countries looking for players whose contracts are expiring. Of course, the problem with that is that it all depends on the quality of your scout – poor scouts might miss plenty of free players.
But given how unreliable that is, you’re much better off coming here and checking out my guides. Just have a browse of the list below – I’ve included every player who can be signed for free and has a minimum potential of 75, so you know you’re getting top quality players all round (and check out my other guides in this series for more free players).
All the OVRs listed below are true at the start of a career. When they join your team their OVR is likely to have changed, so you can expect the players to be even better than how they’re listed below, provided they’re not aged over 30. If they are, don’t be surprised if their OVR has declined.
Let’s check out my recommendations.
Recommendations
Sami Khedira is an incredible defensive midfielder and well worth the money
The elite option
If you’ve got a good budget, I’ve got one piece of advice for you: get Sami Khedira. You won’t find a better free defensive midfielder, and here’s why: 88 stand tackle, 89 strength, 88 stamina and 89 interceptions make him unbeatable in the middle of the park. He’s great in the air and has a powerful shot, so can score goals too, while his 85 short passing and superb vision make him an excellent playmaker.
Yes, he’s expensive (his wages are £150,000), but he is easily worth that. If you’re looking for a defensive rock to boost your central midfield but don’t want to pay a transfer fee, they don’t come any better than Khedira.
Stefan Reinartz wil lbe running the midfield thanks to his stellar stats
The mid-range option
If Khedira’s wages are too high for your team, Stefan Reinartz of Bayer 04 is the next best thing. With 91 stamina he is ideally suited to central midfield, which combined with his 86 strength and 85 aggression mean opposition midfielders won’t have a minute’s rest when he’s near them.
81 stand tackle, 78 slide tack and 79 marking will see him win the ball back against even the best opponents, and his 84 interceptions will shut out their passing game too. He’s a brilliant player if you want to keep things tight in midfield and put an end to opposition attacks. His wages are £60,000.
Taras Stepanenko is the perfect option if you’re on a restrictive budget
The budget option
Not every team can afford the wages of Khedira and Reinartz, however. If you find yourself in that situation, an excellent player to go for is Taras Stepanenko of FC Shakhtar. He’s basically like a slightly lower-rated Reinartz, so he has impressive tackling, stamina, strength and interceptions. His passing and ball control are also very good, so he can be used as a deep-lying playmaker as well.
For a player with 75 OVR, he’s very affordable, so should be able to make a great impact at all sorts of teams. His wages are £30,000.
Now let’s check out the list in full:
| Pos | Name | OVR | Pot. | Age | Wages (£) | Club | Foot | Weak foot | Skills | Traits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDM | Sami Khedira | 84 | 86 | 27 | 150,000 | Real Madrid | Right | 4 | 2 | Tactician, strength |
| CDM | Steven Gerrard | 81 | 81 | 34 | 80,000 | Liverpool | Right | 3 | 3 | Crosser, long passer, long shot taker, one club player, team player |
| CDM | Rio Antonio Mavuba | 79 | 79 | 30 | 50,000 | LOSC Lille | Right | 3 | 2 | Team player |
| CDM | Stefan Reinartz | 77 | 79 | 25 | 60,000 | Bayer 04 | Right | 3 | 2 | Strength |
| CDM | Nigel de Jong | 79 | 79 | 29 | 80,000 | Milan | Right | 3 | 2 | |
| CDM | Mikel Arteta | 79 | 79 | 32 | 80,000 | Arsenal | Right | 4 | 3 | Injury prone |
| CDM | Vincent Pajot | 72 | 78 | 23 | 20,000 | Stade Rennais | Right | 3 | 3 | |
| CDM | Esteban Cambiasso | 78 | 78 | 33 | 30,000 | Leicester City | Left | 4 | 2 | Team player |
| CDM | Taras Stepanenko | 75 | 78 | 24 | 30,000 | FC Shakhtar | Left | 3 | 2 | |
| CDM | José Baena | 75 | 78 | 25 | 30,000 | Rayo Vallecano | Right | 3 | 2 | Injury prone |
| CDM | Seydou Keita | 78 | 78 | 34 | 50,000 | Roma | Left | 3 | 2 | |
| CDM | Sebastian Kehl | 78 | 78 | 34 | 50,000 | Bor. Dortmund | Left | 3 | 2 | Injury prone, one club player, team player |
| CDM | Simon Rolfes | 78 | 78 | 32 | 60,000 | Bayer 04 | Left | 4 | 2 | Team player |
| CDM | Atiba Hutchinson | 77 | 77 | 31 | 45,000 | Beşiktaş JK | Right | 4 | 2 | Engine |
| CDM | Claudio Yacob | 77 | 77 | 26 | 60,000 | West Brom | Right | 3 | 2 | |
| CDM | Victor Sánchez | 73 | 76 | 26 | 35,000 | RCD Espanyol | Right | 3 | 3 | |
| CDM | Youssouf Mulumbu | 76 | 76 | 27 | 50,000 | West Brom | Right | 4 | 2 | |
| CDM | Papa Kouli Diop | 76 | 76 | 28 | 50,000 | Levante UD | Right | 3 | 3 | |
| CDM | Adam Matuschyk | 71 | 75 | 25 | 20,000 | 1. FC Köln | Right | 4 | 2 | Long shot taker |
| CDM | Leon Andreasen | 75 | 75 | 31 | 30,000 | Hannover 96 | Right | 3 | 2 | Power free-kick, injury prone |
| CDM | Lucas Deaux | 73 | 75 | 25 | 30,000 | FC Nantes | Right | 2 | 2 | Engine |
| CDM | Anatoliy Tymoshchuk | 75 | 75 | 35 | 35,000 | Zenit | Right | 2 | 2 | Power free-kick, long shot taker, team player |
| CDM | Landry N'Guemo | 75 | 75 | 28 | 40,000 | Saint-Etienne | Left | 3 | 3 | Injury prone |
| CDM | Cristian Ledesma | 75 | 75 | 31 | 40,000 | Lazio | Right | 4 | 2 | Long passer, long shot taker |
| CDM | Stéphane M'Bia | 75 | 75 | 28 | 50,000 | Sevilla FC | Right | 3 | 2 | Power header |
| CDM | Mathieu Flamini | 75 | 75 | 30 | 50,000 | Arsenal | Right | 3 | 2 | |
| CDM | Abou Diaby | 75 | 75 | 28 | 60,000 | Arsenal | Right | 3 | 3 | Injury prone, flair |
Thanks for reading! I’d like to hear if you have any thoughts about the format of this article. Did you find it useful? Conversely, do you think it was missing something that you’d have liked me to include? Make sure you leave all your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.
And don’t forget to connect with me on social media. I’m running the FIFA Scouting Tips YouTube channel, and you can follow me on Facebook or Twitter for all the latest updates.