FIFA 14 | Lower League Gems – Attacking midfielders


Welcome to the Lower League Gems for FIFA 14! If you want promising players for an absolute bargain, you’re in the right place.

If you’re not sure what these articles are all about, click the bold link below. Otherwise, let’s get straight in to the recommendations.

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These articles aim to highlight young, high potential players that are priced at £1m or less. Most articles will showcase players with a minimum potential of 78. However, in some cases I lowered the minimum potential to 77 to ensure there were a good number of players for you to choose from.

The ‘Cost’ column refers to the price your scout will bring back after he’s looked at the player. The ‘They want’ column refers to the price you will be quoted by the team if you enquire about their player. These enquiry prices are negotiable, so don’t be afraid to bid below what they want.

Sometimes teams will refuse to quote a price for their player because he has only just joined them. In these cases, I have not given a price in the ‘They want’ column. Where this is the case, I have included a player if their scouted price is £500,000 or less, as this usually equates to a price of around £1m being quoted by the player’s team.

The ‘Avai?’ column is short for ‘Available?’ and refers to whether the player is available to buy in the first transfer window. The first letter indicates this (Y for yes, they are available and N for no, they are not), whilst the number refers to the length of their contract. The ones to watch out for here are those with Y/1 or Y/0 next to their names. This means the player’s contract is about to expire, so you should be able to get them for a discount price.

Finally, because EA release update squads every week, this could mean that some of the players listed in the article below are slightly different on your game. Furthermore, players sometimes exceed their potential, while it has been noted that occasionally players don’t grow as hoped. Therefore these stats are a guide only.

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Here’s who I’ve picked out for the central midfielders article:

  • Farès Bahlouli
  • Pedro Castro
  • Zé Rafael

I’ve put down Farès Bahlouli on this recommendations list because he has a couple of absolutely fantastic stats for his OVR. Besides his potential of 80, and despite his OVR of 63, here are some of his starting attributes: 76 acceleration, 81 sprint speed, 78 strength, 78 dribbling, 73 ball control, 75 shot power, 77 agility, 73 balance. He’s fast, can dribble, and possesses remarkable balance and ability, meaning he’ll be wriggling and tricking his way through defences with ease. But add to that his strength and his shot power and you have a real handful on your hands, someone who can use his dribbling skills or his power depending on his situation. That’s rare, and it’s why I’ve picked him out.

Second up is Pedro Castro. His 76 short passing stat makes him one of the best passers in this article, and his pace and dribbling mean he’s going to consistently get into positions to make the most of his distribution skills. Decent crossing, finishing and long shots mean he’ll be a threat to the opposition’s goal as well, chipping in with goals and assists on a regular basis. The glut of CAMs at Santos mean that you can actually get him for much less than your scout estimates his value to be, and an offer of about £300,000 should do the trick.

Zé Rafael rounds off the recommendations, and I chose him because he is going to be a goal machine for you. His 75 finishing and 77 long shots mean I’d be almost tempted to play him as a striker, but then you’d be missing out on an excellent passer and dribbler to create chances for other forwards. Nevertheless, his shooting prowess will get you goals right from the off, and as he starts growing this is only going to get better. Hell, he can even tackle pretty well, so sit him just behind a striker or two and he’ll be breaking up attacks, setting up goals and even scoring plenty himself. £500,000 or so should be enough to get him on your team.

Now let’s have a look at the list in full:

[table id=103 /]