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 16’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

Fiorentina (Tier 1)

Tier 1 aren’t odds-on favourites to win their leagues, but with a bit of luck and lots of skill can make it all the way to lift the trophy.

Contents

1. Why choose Fiorentina?
2. Lineups
   1. Strongest starting lineup
   2. Highest potential lineup
3. Recommended purchases
4. Suggested sales
5. Future considerations
   1. Get a new goalkeeper

Starting transfer budget: £14,000,000
Starting wage budget: £100,000
Default formation: 3-4-2-1
Board expectations: Qualify for the Champions’ Cup, reach cup quarter final
Key player: Borja Valero
Best young prospect: Federico Bernardeschi

Why choose Fiorentina?

As I mentioned in my Torino career mode guide, Serie A is a fantastic league for a career because it’s so hard to predict who is going to win. Of course, that means that practically every game is going to be a tough one, and there’s no guarantee that even the strongest team will win the league.

But on the other hand, that means that everything is up for grabs for you. Fiorentina are in a particularly good place because they’ve got tons of high potential players (22 with 75 potential or higher), plus a great budget of £14m. Put that to good use and you can mount a serious push for the title.

Fiorentina’s key player is Borja Valero. He’s an attacking midfielder, but I’d recommend you play him a little deeper and have him act as a holding playmaker. His 88 short passing, 86 long passing and 87 vision will provide pinpoint passes all game long, and he can take a decent free kick too. At 82 OVR, he’s Fiorentina’s highest OVR player.

The team’s most promising young player is Federico Bernardeschi. He’s got everything you want from a winger – he’s fast, has great dribbling and 4 star skills, he’s got high stamina and good crossing too. He starts at 76 at just 21 years old and has 82 potential, so don’t be surprised if he exceeds that and grows into the mid-to-late 80s.

Strongest starting lineup

Changing the formation very slightly to 3-4-3, here is Fiorentina’s strongest starting lineup, with OVRs in brackets:

Highest potential lineup

Keeping the formation the same, here is Fiorentina’s highest potential lineup, with potentials in brackets:

Recommended purchases

Key signings required: CB (x2), winger.

While Fiorentina have a very strong starting lineup, a lot of their best players are either on loan or getting older. The most obvious example of this is in defence – Astori is loaned in, Rodríguez is 31 and Marcos Alonso isn’t even a CB (but actually goes up in OVR if he’s played there). Similar, many of the side’s wingers are only loaned in, so I’d recommend looking for a new one soon.

No need to adjust the budget this time, so let’s have a look at the players I suggest you buy.

Ivan Ordets
Club: Shakhtar Donetsk
Position: CB
OVR: 75
Potential: 81
Age: 22
Cost: £4.7m
Wages: £25,000

We’ll want to find similar players to Astori and Rodríguez, as they have some useful stats – they’re strong, good in the air and have decent pace for centre backs.

So with that in mind, I recommend your first purchase is Ivan Ordets from Shakhtar Donetsk. Not only is he big and strong – 6’4″ and with 88 strength – but he’s also got 78 sprint speed, so he’s extremely quick for a centre back. That’ll mean he can outmuscle or outpace most strikers he comes up against. With 75 OVR and 81 potential, he’ll be taking a starting lineup spot in no time.

Shakhtar Donetsk want £6m for him but you can get him for around £4.7m. His wages are £25,000.

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Sven van Beek
Club: Feyenoord
Position: CB
OVR: 75
Potential: 80
Age: 20
Cost: £4.7m
Wages: £30,000

Considering he’s only 20 years old, Sven van Beek of Feyenoord has some fantastic stats. 82 marking, 80 stand tackle and 79 slide tackle give him a great chance when it comes to winning tackles, while his 72 sprint speed and 80 strength mean (like Ordets) he’ll be able to compete whether the opposition are fast or strong. He’s rated 75 and has 80 potential, but seeing as he’s just 20 years old I would expect him to easily exceed that potential.

Feyenoord want you to pay £6m for him but that can be brought down to around £4.7m. His wages are £30,000.

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Iñaki Williams
Club: Athletic Bilbao
Position: RW
OVR: 76
Potential: 84
Age: 21
Cost: £4.5m
Wages: £50,000

Although Fiorentina have a lot of wingers on paper, there are some problems. Cristian Tello and Jakub B?aszczykowski are only in on loan, while Josip Ili?i? is really more of an attacking midfielder. That leaves Federico Bernardeschi as the only true winger who will be with the club on a long-term basis.

I’d recommend you buy Iñaki Williams of Athletic Bilbao to solve this problem, as he is an absolute beast. 90 acceleration, 95 sprint speed and 85 strength will make him almost unstoppable going forward. His 78 dribbling and 4 star skills will help him run rings around defenders, and he’s also got good finishing and crossing, so can score goals and create them for his teammates.

Athletic Bilbao ask for £5.5m for him, and you can get that down to around £4.5m; his wages are £50,000. That’s a minuscule transfer fee to pay for such a devastating player.

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While those transfers leave you with £100,000 left over in transfer fees, the wages go £5,000 over budget. So in order to be able to afford these fantastic players, we need to sell some of those already on Fiorentina’s team. Let’s see who we should get rid of.

Suggested sales

I’d only really recommend selling two players in Fiorentina’s first team, as most players have decent potential. But you can sell Luca Lezzerini and Manuel Pasqual, who will bring you in around £300,000 and £800,000 respectively.

However, Fiorentina have an absolute ton of players out on loan – 17, to be precise. Keep Rossi, Gómez, Basanta, Gilberto, Rebi?, Gondo and maybe Capezzi and Báez; sell the rest when they come back from loan, as they’re not worth keeping hold of.

 

Future considerations – get a new goalkeeper

I mentioned selling Luca Lezzerini, a goalkeeper. His potential is 74, so it’s probably not worth developing him. However, while Ciprian T?t?ru?anu is a permanent team member, Luigi Sepe (the only other keeper) is loaned in. So once he’s gone, you’ll need another player to take his place.

I recommend you buy José Sá from FC Porto. He starts with OVR 75 so already is good enough to challenge for a first team place, and with 83 potential he’ll grow into a fantastic shot stopper. We all know how powerful training is when it comes to goalkeepers, so there’s every chance that he could keep growing well into the late 80s – or even higher.

FC Porto want £6.5m for him but you can negotiate that down massively to around £4.5m. His wages are £35,000.

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That wraps it up for this week’s article on good teams for career mode. Fiorentina are in a challenging team with plenty of other strong sides competing for the title, but they’ve got enough talent and enough money to make serious assault on the league trophy – can you mould them into champions?

I’d 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?

Don’t forget to connect with me on social media. I’m running the FIFA Scouting Tips YouTube channel, and you can follow me on Facebook or Twitter for all the latest updates.