FIFA 14 | Lower League Gems – Left backs

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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 recommendations for left backs:

• Vinícius
• Declan John
• Grimaldo

First on my recommendations list is Vinícius of Lazio. I’ve chosen him because he’s just so well balanced. Here are some of his main stats: 77 acceleration, 79 sprint speed, 74 strength, 70 dribbling, 64 stand and slide tackle, 68 crossing, 82 agility. He’s even got decent free kicks, which with a few years of growth will make him a very useful dead ball specialist. His combination of pace, strength and tackling, plus his height (6’0″) means that he’ll be useful all along the back line. Try putting an offer in for him in January and he could be yours for a snip.

Declan John is next, and he’s a very similar player to Vinícius, albeit with a few changes here and there. He’s not quite as strong but is a bit faster, and has a powerful shot to boot. If you’re looking for a left back who can do just about anything that’s asked of him, but don’t want to wait for Vinícius to become available, go for Declan John. With a bit of bartering you should be able to get him for around £700,000.

Grimaldo rounds off the recommendations, and it’s not hard to see why. Only 17 years old and already rated 67, I would be extremely surprised if he didn’t easily exceed his 78 potential. Much like Manquillo in the right backs article, Grimaldo really excels at crossing, making him a threat when going forward. Even better, his contract is about to expire at Barcelona B, meaning you will be able to get him for much less than his £975,000 asking price.

Here’s the complete list of left backs: