FIFA 14 | Best Free Transfers – Centre backs

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What better way to try something new before FIFA 15 hits the shelves than delve into the free transfer market? There are tons of high quality players out there that you don’t even need to pay a fee for, provided you make a move for them at the right time. If you’ve never tried it before you’re in luck, because I’m here to guide you through the best free transfers in FIFA 14, position by position.

How do I get players for free in FIFA 14?

It’s actually really straightforward to purchase players for free in FIFA 14 – at least, once you know who you’re looking for. They just need to be aged 23 or over when the January transfer window rolls around, and must have less than a year left on their contract (i.e. it will expire at the end of the season).

If you’ve identified the player you want, find them using the ‘Search Players’ option in the Transfer tab, click on them then click ‘Approach to sign on contract expiry’. You then just need to offer them a contract and wait a few days to see if they accept. If they do, they will join your team at the end of the season.

That’s the easy bit – the hard part is finding players who match those criteria. You can send your scout to find players in a certain country who have a year left on their contract and are 23 or older, but if you don’t have a very good scout you may not find many matching players.

Luckily I’ve done the heavy lifting for you. Simply browse the list below or have a look at the other articles in this series and decide who you want to go for, then follow my steps above to get them to join your squad. All the players in these articles will have a minimum potential of 75, so you know you’ll be getting quality for a fantastic price.

The OVRs listed here are true for the start of a career. When the player joins you the next year it is highly likely these will be different, as they can grow (or decline) during their first season. This can be great if they grow a lot, but just be aware that any player over the age of about 30 may well be worse than you expect when they arrive.

Let’s check out my centre back recommendations.

Recommendations

The elite option

The problem with both Nemanja Vidi? and Alex is they are 31 years old, so by the time they arrive at your club they will probably have declined a few points already. That’s not the ideal start to their time at your club. In contrast, Mateo Musacchio will still have years and years of growth left in him. He should arrive at your club with an OVR in the late 70s or even early 80s, making him a much wiser choice than his older counterparts.

He comes with everything you need from a centre back – amazing tackling stats, brilliant interceptions and great aerial ability. He’s strong but fast too, while he’s even got decent passing and ball control. That’s just based off his starting stats, after a season of growth at Villarreal he will be even better and a great addition to your squad.

The mid-range option

While Musacchio fantastic, you may find his wages a tad pricey. If that’s the case, go for Shaun Hutchinson instead. He is an absolute steal, with wages of just £6,000. For that you get a player who already starts out with the Strength speciality, but has real pace as well. He’s unlikely to get beaten physically, either challenging for the ball or chasing strikers. Added to that is the aerial threat that he poses, which all combines to make him a dominating defender.

He should arrive at your club with his OVR around the 75 mark, which is amazing considering he’ll only need a few more points of growth to meet his potential. It also means that you have every chance of growing him past that, and when you consider you could make him an 80+ rated player without having to pay a transfer fee, he looks like a very attractive option indeed.

The budget option

If money’s a real concern for you then you don’t need to worry about missing out, because Darryl Lachman is available for just £1,750 in wages. He’s very much like a cheaper Shaun Hutchinson in that he combines pace and power to great effect. However, his tackling and passing stats are actually better than Hutchinson’s, as are his stamina and interceptions. He’s a brilliantly well-rounded player available for a miniscule cost.

Although his potential is 75, his starting OVR is only four points away from that. You may therefore find that with a good run of form and plenty of game time, he actually exceeds that. Whether he does or not, you’ll still have an excellent player on your hands who will be able to handle anything that’s thrown at him.

NOTE: Although I mentioned earlier that players have to be 23 to be eligible, there may be some entries in these articles whose age is 22. That’s because they start a career aged 22, but by the time January arrives they are 23 and can be signed for free.

If there is a 22-year-old whose date of birth (‘DOB’) is given in the Notes column, this is because you can only sign him on or after that date. So if a player has ‘DOB: 27 January’ in the Notes column, you can only move to sign him for free on or after 27 January.

Let’s have a look at the complete list:

Have you tried any of these free centre backs in your career? Is there a centre back not in this article that you’d thoroughly recommend? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

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