FIFA 14 | Lower League Gems – Defensive midfielders

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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.

Here are my defensive midfielder recommendations:

• Levin Öztunali
• Andrés Robles
• Johannes Geis and Luiz Antônio

Levin Öztunali is first to be recommended, his phenomenal growth being the reason I chose him. Already his ball control and passing stand out and give him the appearance of a player with a much higher rating. He is well balanced, being able to dribble, pass and tackle equally well, and when he starts getting close to his potential this is going to make him an incredible player. You have to wait until January to get him, but his low wages and OVR of 61 mean he will be very affordable.

Andrés Robles from Wanderers in Chile is up next, and he’s the guy you want if you’re looking for a defensive rock. He may only be rated 61, but he has strength 82, jumping 79 and acceleration and sprint stats in the 70s. He’s going to be able to sweep up and stop opposition attacks whether they be in the air or along the ground, and for half a million pounds you’ll be getting yourself an accomplished defender whose OVR belies his true abilities.

I’ve chosen two players for my final recommendation – Johannes Geis and Luiz Antônio. This is because there is very little to choose between them, but the reason I thought they were worthy of selection is because they are both so brilliantly well rounded. They both have pace and power, they can pass, dribble, tackle, cross, even take free kicks and shoot from distance. Geis is a little younger but you can buy Luiz Antônio straight away, but whichever you opt for you will land yourself with a player able to play in multiple roles across the park, all for less than £1m.

The full list of CDMs is given below: