FIFA 14 | Best Free Transfers – Left midfielders

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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 have a look at my recommended left midfielders.

Recommendations

The elite option

It was pretty simple for me to pick Diego Perotti as my elite option. He’s got the highest potential in this article and his wages are less than half that of Jérémy Menez, his closest competitor. He’s got a five star weak foot and four star skill moves, both of which will be fantastic assets to your team. While he is injury prone, I think that’s a risk worth taking considering you don’t have to pay any transfer fee and considering the ability he possesses.

In terms of stats, he starts with 86 dribbling, 85 acceleration and excellent crossing and long shots. After a year of development at Boca Juniors he should be unstoppable and close to 80 OVR. All that for £25,000 a week? Fantastic bargain.

The mid-range option

Although he is a left midfielder, you could easily play Dani Pacheco anywhere across midfield and even further forward. He’s got good pace and dribbling, but can also pick a pass and has excellent finishing. Added to that are his powerful shots from distance, and the result is that you could play him at centre midfield, attacking midfield or out wide and he’d take it all in his stride.

He also comes with another nice perk: fantastic free kicks. After a year of growth he could well be close to gaining the FK Specialist speciality, which will be absolutely invaluable. And as a final bonus, a lot of people have found him to glitch and grow way over his potential, so there’s a chance he could arrive at your club much better than you were expecting.

The budget option

While I generally don’t like recommending players aged 28 or over due to the way FIFA makes older players decline, I feel I have to make an exception in Mark González. He brings so much for £750 in weekly wages – for one thing, he’s a speedster with 91 acceleration and 90 sprint speed. He’s got 80 crossing, 75 finishing and 73 dribbling, while his shots from distance are so good that he’s only a few points away from the Distance Shooter speciality.

While he may only last a year or so before he starts declining, I feel that’s absolutely worth it for the opportunity to have him on your team. For £750 in weekly wages you don’t exactly lose much! He’ll have a fantastic impact in the short term, and for lower league teams struggling for funds that can often prove vital.

NOTE: Although Juande Aranguren (a clone of Juan Arango) is in the game, it seems impossible to find him. Searching his name, Venezuelan left midfielders or 32-year-old LMs still brings up nothing, but I’ve decided to keep him in the article just in case someone manages to work out how exactly you’re supposed to find him! If you do, make sure you share your method in the comments below.

Furthermore, because Aranguren is a free agent, I’ve left his wage and club entries blank. His wages will depend entirely on the team he is assigned to, as will his contract length. Although the game says he should have a one year contract, it doesn’t always work out that way, so he could have more than just a year left and therefore will be unavailable for a free transfer (if you can find him).

Finally, 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.

Now, here’s the list in full:

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