Alright, FIFA 13 is out and you’ve started a career mode. If you need a goalkeeper who will become a world-beater but won’t cost the Earth, you’ve come to the right place.
The aim of this series, as last year, is to provide a shortlist of players that meet this requirement. All players have at least potential 80, and all will have an OVR of 73 or lower. The original intention of this (in the FIFA 12 series) was to keep costs down, but looking at this list I’m not sure that’s a problem any more! Still, I’ll stick to 73 or lower for the sake of avoiding overwhelming you with options.
The first thing you’ll probably notice are the prices – £2.8m for Leali, with potential 88?! He cost £5.5m in FIFA 12, almost twice as much. Just over half a million for Cragno, who grows to 85?! Yes my friends, this is going to be a good year for cheap players. The rest of the “So You Want A…” series is much the same.
A new addition this year is that player contracts have a huge impact. The fewer years left on the contract, the more likely you are to get a good deal. So if a player only has 1 year left on his contract you can get him for much less than his asking price. As such, I’ve added a column that says how many years are left on each player’s contract, and whether you can get him in the first transfer window. That’s the “Avai?” column (short for “available?”). To save space I’ve formatted it like this: Y/3 would mean yes, you can buy this player in the first window, and he has 3 years left on his contract. If it says something like “N/5” that means he has a 5 year contract and you can’t get him at first (the “N” is because he’s just joined the club), but you may be able to get them in the next window. The ones to look out for are Y/1 or Y/0, as some players only have months left on their contracts. Players who are on loan will have a “-” in this column because information on their contracts is not available.
Finally, if you see that a team is low on this position when you go to buy a player, don’t be put off. On FIFA 12 this meant, essentially, that you’d never be able to buy this player, as his team would never buy backups and thus would always refuse to sell him. In FIFA 13, however, it just means that you have to pay a little extra to get him.
Anyway, enough yapping, onto the recommendations:
- Nicola Leali
- Alessio Cragno
- Simon Sluga
This one is more or less self explanatory – Nicola Leali. You can get the chance to have a goalkeeper who will be one of the very best in the world, and all for around £3m! That was totally unheard of in FIFA 12, so don’t miss this chance. Just be aware that you may need to wait until the winter transfer window (or possibly longer) to get him. A loan to buy deal may work though. Either way, you will never regret buying him.
Perhaps even more incredible is that you can get Alessio Cragno – potential 85! – for less than £1m. Don’t be put off by his OVR, as I’ve been informed that on FIFA 13 you can buy a player and loan him out in the same year (like in real life), so buy Cragno, loan him out and give him a chance to grow, then bring him back and reap the rewards.
Holy moly look at that – Simon Sluga has potential 80 and costs £240,000! What is the world coming to? In FIFA 12 I was stunned when a goalkeeper like Joseph Hu (potential 80) cost £775,000. Sluga costs less than a third of that, and isn’t even the only one to be way under a million on this list alone. You’d be a fool not to get him. Even if you loan him out to grow him and then sell him, you’ll still have made loads of money. I don’t know why players are so cheap this year, but I love it! Take advantage of it and get Sluga.
As in FIFA 12, make sure you keep checking these players, as their prices and OVR may fluctuate radically after over time. If you’ve had any experience of this (especially if a player’s price drops), please post it in the comments.
Anyway, here’s the complete list:
| Pos | Name | OVR | Pot | Age | Cost (£) | Wages (£) | Club | Avai? | Foot | Weak foot | Skills | Traits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Nicola Leali | 71 | 88 | 19 | 2,800,000 | 1,000 | Lanciano | N/5 | Right | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Alessio Cragno | 60 | 85 | 18 | 375,000 | 1,000 | Brescia | Y/2 | Right | 1 | 1 | ||
| GK | Jack Butland | 69 | 85 | 19 | 1,300,000 | 3,000 | Birmingham City | Y/3 | Right | 3 | 1 | ||
| GK | Nikolay Zabolotnyy | 71 | 84 | 22 | 2,000,000 | 6,000 | FC Rostov | - | Right | 3 | 1 | On loan from Spartak Moskva | |
| GK | Alberto Frison | 72 | 84 | 23 | 2,700,000 | 6,000 | Catania | N/5 | Right | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Jeroen Zoet | 72 | 84 | 21 | 2,900,000 | 6,000 | RKC Waalwijk | - | Right | 3 | 1 | On loan from PSV | |
| GK | Gabriel | 66 | 83 | 19 | 1,200,000 | 4,000 | Milan | Y/5 | Right | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Stefanos Kapino | 72 | 83 | 18 | 2,700,000 | 4,000 | Panathinaikos FC | Y/2 | Right | 3 | 1 | ||
| GK | Alphonse Aréola | 65 | 82 | 19 | 900,000 | 3,000 | PSG | Y/4 | Right | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Ádám Bogdán | 73 | 82 | 24 | 2,300,000 | 9,000 | Bolton | Y/2 | Right | 3 | 1 | ||
| GK | Koen Casteels | 64 | 81 | 20 | 925,000 | 2,000 | 1899 Hoffenheim | Y/3 | Right | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Anthony Lopes | 68 | 81 | 21 | 1,200,000 | 5,000 | Olympique Lyon | Y/1 | Left | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Sergio Padt | 71 | 81 | 22 | 1,700,000 | 6,000 | KAA Gent | Y/3 | Right | 3 | 1 | ||
| GK | Mika | 71 | 81 | 21 | 1,700,000 | 8,000 | SL Benfica | Y/4 | Left | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Simon Sluga | 59 | 80 | 19 | 240,000 | 1,000 | H. Verona | Y/4 | Right | 3 | 1 | ||
| GK | Rubén Blanco | 58 | 80 | 16 | 240,000 | 2,250 | Celta Vigo | N/5 | Right | 3 | 1 | ||
| GK | Simone Colombi | 65 | 80 | 21 | 725,000 | 2,000 | Modena | Y/3 | Right | 1 | 1 | ||
| GK | Mattia Perin | 67 | 80 | 19 | 850,000 | 4,000 | Pescara | - | Right | 2 | 1 | On loan from Genoa | |
| GK | Rafael | 68 | 80 | 23 | 1,000,000 | 4,000 | Cruzeiro | Y/1 | Left | 2 | 1 | GK long throw | |
| GK | Alex Smithies | 68 | 80 | 22 | 1,100,000 | 4,000 | Huddersfield Town | Y/1 | Right | 2 | 1 | GK long throw | |
| GK | Lys Gomis | 68 | 80 | 22 | 1,100,000 | 4,000 | Torino | Y/3 | Right | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Joris Delle | 69 | 80 | 22 | 1,100,000 | 4,000 | OGC Nice | Y/4 | Right | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Renan Ribeiro | 71 | 80 | 22 | 1,700,000 | 6,000 | Atl. Mineiro | Y/2 | Right | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Sergey Pesyakov | 72 | 80 | 23 | 2,100,000 | 9,000 | Spartak Moskva | Y/2 | Right | 2 | 1 | ||
| GK | Neto | 73 | 80 | 22 | 2,400,000 | 10,000 | Fiorentina | Y/3 | Right | 2 | 1 | GK long throw |