Introduction: How do these articles work?
Each Sunday I examine a different team in detail and look at why they’re a good team for FIFA 14’s career mode. The teams are broken down into the following categories:
- Tier 1: Teams in tough divisions that can push on to challenge for silverware
- Tier 2: Teams that will have to fight for survival in a challenging division
- Tier 3: Teams that start in a lower division but can hope to get promoted and work their way up higher leagues
- Tier 4: Teams that start right at the bottom of the pile, with few funds or high potential players
Today we’ve got a brilliant team full of talented players and high potential youngsters – Derby County in the English Championship.
Derby County (Tier 3)
Contents
- Why choose Derby County?
- Lineups
- Recommended purchases
- Suggested sales
- Future considerations
Starting transfer budget: £2,800,000
Starting wage budget: £20,000
Default formation: 4-3-3
Board expectations: Fight for promotion, reach cup round of 32
Key player: Johnny Russell
Best young prospect: Will Hughes
Why choose Derby County?
I chose Derby County for a number of reasons. Firstly, they have a great amount of high potential players and the largest number of players with 80+ potential in the Championship (four in total). They have some outstanding players already on their roster (that I’ll cover in a minute), and a budget that allows you to improve the team without making it too easy. You don’t even need to achieve promotion at first, just come close. They’re the perfect team to shape for the future before a bid at top flight promotion.
That said, there are a number of challenges that you’ll face. They are seriously lacking in the goalkeeper and left back positions, areas that will need to be urgently improved if you are to stand any chance of promotion. You’ll also find yourself in one of the most competitive divisions in the game, with at least nine or ten teams that could realistically achieve promotion and many more with the financial power to outspend you. This means pretty much every game will be a tough test, and you’ll need to make rapid progress in order to compete.
Derby County’s key player is Johnny Russell, an old favourite of mine. He excels at practically every aspect of attacking, whether that be shooting from distance, heading, finishing at close range or dribbling. He has incredible pace and stamina for days, and takes a good penalty as well. Keep him fit and injury free and he should be firing you towards promotion.
I’ve also picked out Will Hughes as the team’s best young prospect. He’s only 18 but already is one of the squad’s best players, and has by far the best potential at Derby County. He is superb at passing and dribbling, and will be providing and scoring important goals throughout the season. Like many of Derby’s midfielders he makes a great box-to-box centre midfielder, with strong stamina and equally good defending and attacking stats. Keep hold of him if possible, because he’ll develop into one of your most important assets.
Strongest starting lineup
Here’s Derby County’s strongest lineup, with OVRs in brackets. It’s a pretty strong base from which to move on.
Suggested formation and starting lineup
Now here’s their highest potential lineup, still using the 4-3-3 formation. One of the nice ‘problems’ Derby have is that they have tons of high potential strikers – Russell and Bennett are actually strikers, not wingers, but can play out wide. A less pleasant issue is the lack of potential in goal and at left back, which I will address in the ‘Recommended purchases’ section.
Recommended purchases
Key signings required: GK, LB, RW
Before spending any money, adjust your budget ration to 76:24, giving you £2,918,400 in transfer funds and £17,723 in wages. This will allow us to afford the next three purchases.
Just as a word of warning, teams may or may not accept the prices I’ve listed here. They are the lowest prices I could get, so you may need to reload a bit if the team is stubborn. If you don’t want to do that, it shouldn’t take a much higher bid to get the player. Just remember to enquire first, then bid a little lower than the price I’ve listed here. If they team ask for more, edge your bids up until they accept. This helps you get the best price possible.
Paul Nardi
Club: AS Nancy
Position: GK
OVR: 68
Potential: 81
Age: 19
Cost: £1,000,000
Wages: £6,000
Derby County actually have plenty of goalkeepers already – four to be precise – but with potentials ranging from 63 to 68, they’re not going to last well into the future. If you want to get into the Premier League and survive, you’ll need a better stopper.
To solve this problem, I bought Paul Nardi from AS Nancy in France’s Ligue 2. At 19 he’ll be better than any of your goalkeepers, and his 81 potential will make him truly brilliant in a few years time. His diving and reflexes are his standout stats, meaning he’ll be a superb shot stopper and should make some excellent reaction saves. His other goalkeeping stats aren’t far behind though, so he should be well equipped to shut out opposition attempts on goal.
AS Nancy asked for £1.6m for him, but I was able to drive that down to £1m. His wages are £6,000, and he has no hesitation about joining because Ligue 2 is rated lower than the Championship. No wage increases or squad roles to worry about here.
Grimaldo
Club: FC Barcelona B
Position: LB
OVR: 67
Potential: 78
Age: 17
Cost: £900,000
Wages: £2,000
Like the goalkeeper situation, Derby County lack a truly high potential left back. They actually already have three, but in another parallel with the goalkeepers, they won’t grow much. The highest potential one is Craig Forsyth with potential 70, quite a long way off what some of the other outfield players will grow to.
What the team therefore needs is a young left back with bags of potential, and that player is Grimaldo. He’s only 17 but is already as good as Forsyth, and it won’t take much for him to become your first choice. He’s fast and has fantastic crossing, so will present a real danger down the left flank. I’d expect him to easily outgrow his potential, as that implies he’ll only grow about one point a year. With his ability and young age, that certainly won’t be the case.
Like Paul Nardi, Barcelona B wanted £1.6m for Grimaldo. I got his price down to £900,000, and with wages of £2,000 he is extremely affordable. He too will be keen to join, the Spanish second division being ranked lower than the Championship.
Geuvânio
Club: Santos
Position: RW
OVR: 69
Potential: 83
Age: 21
Cost: £1,000,000
Wages: £7,000
Now although all looks well in this position on the suggested lineup, that’s because I’ve had to put a striker on the right wing. In reality, Derby County only actually have one right midfielder (Paul Coutts), and if he gets injured or tired you’ll nee a replacement. In addition, his potential is only 73, so really you want another player in this position to build for the future.
The highest potential player in this section, Geuvânio is my suggestion. Not only is he very fast, but his abilities run the gamut of attacking skills. His strengths range from dribbling and penalties to long shots and finishing, and this means he can be played up front if required. Although you probably won’t need to do this given Derby’s attacking prowess, it nevertheless means he can be a deadly player in his own right whilst playing out wide.
Santos quoted me £1.4m for him and wouldn’t budge lower than £1m, but given his obvious talent and potential this really isn’t a bad price to pay. His wages are £7,000.
Here’s how much those players cost:
Starting transfer funds: £2,918,400
Starting wage funds: £17,723
Total spent on transfer fees: £2,900,000
Total spent on wages: £15,000
After that we’re left with £18,400 in transfer funds and £2,723 in wages. It’s not a whole lot but there are still one or two areas that could be improved, and selling players could free up funds and wages. The latter is especially important if you want to sign free players, so let’s see who gets the axe.
Suggested sales
Lee Grant can be sold to free up some cash
Bringing in Paul Nardi leaves Derby with five goalkeepers, so you can sell at least one. I’d suggest Lee Grant – Adam Legzdins is just as good but you can get almost twice as much for Grant. Furthermore, Grant is 30 and so will only last a couple of years before he starts declining. You should be able to get around £300,000 for Grant, and that’ll free up £6,000 in wages.
Another area that can be lightened up is up front, with either Conor Sammon or Chris Martin being the prime candidates. As Derby have so many good strikers, there’s probably not room for both of these players, so you may as well sell one to make some money. Sammon has excellent physical stats while Martin is better technically, so whichever you sell is up to you. You can make around £800,000 for Martin and £450,000 for Sammon, with their sales freeing up £7,000 and £6,000 in wages respectively.
Future considerations – buy a new centre back
Daniel Amartey is highly flexible and has some amazing stats
Those sales should free up a decent amount to shore up your team in the future. There are two key areas that I’d suggest you look at, centre back and centre midfield. Although Derby have some decent players here, several are at or approaching 30 and will be declining soon. As for the others, many simply don’t have enough potential.
The centre back I’d suggest you get is Daniel Amartey of Djurgårdens IF in Sweden. He has fantastic physical stats, with 84 sprint speed, 82 strength and 89 jumping among his most impressive attributes. But one thing that really makes him useful is that he’s able to play as a CDM or CM, so can address both of Derby’s problems in this section if needed. With 80 potential he’s going to become a great player wherever you put him.
Djurgårdens IF want £1.7m for him, but I was able to get him for £1m. His wages are very cheap at £2,000.
Future considerations – buy a new centre midfielder
Sherman Cárdenas is free and too good to miss out on
While Derby do have some good centre midfielders, it’s only really Hughes and Hendrick who will really develop into great players over the next few seasons. Bryson has reached his potential and the other players aren’t really up to scratch, but with Amartey costing £1m you’ll have to get real value for money on this one.
So in that respect I suggest you get a player on a free transfer. There’s one player here who really stood out to me, and that’s Sherman Cárdenas of Atl. Nacional in Colombia. Aged 23, he’s rated 75 and has 80 potential, so when he arrives at the start of the second season he could well be around the 77 OVR mark. Like Amartey he has brilliant physical stats, and he can shoot, pass and dribble with fantastic quality. His wages are £8,000 and there’s no transfer fee, so you’d be almost foolish to pass him up.
So with Amartey and Cárdenas combined costing £1m in transfer fees and £10,000 in wages, you’ve got a target to aim for when selling players!
So that’s it for my in-depth guide to Derby County. As you can see, they should be great fun for a FIFA 14 career, so if you want to try them out be sure to let us know in the comments below.
I’d also like to hear if you have any thoughts about the format of the article itself. Did you find it useful? Conversely, do you think it was missing something that you’d have liked me to include?
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