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Please welcome our guest contributor Olly! This is his first article for FIFA Scouting Tips. If you’d like to contribute an article, simply get in touch with your idea!
Hello everyone, and welcome to this article on amazing pre-contract players you can sign in your first season managing your desired club in FIFA 17 career mode. Today will be reviewing central defenders who can be picked up for absolutely no transfer fee whatsoever, only paying their wages.
What is a pre-contract?
A pre-contract is an agreement by a player and an agreeing to take his registration at a later date. A club may sign a pre-contract with a player while he is still with another club, by which the player agrees to move to the club at a future date, usually after his contract with his current club expires. Under the Bosman ruling, a player can sign a contract with a new club up to six months before his existing contract expires. There is no transfer fee involved in FIFA 17, and you have the January transfer window only to sign pre-contract players.
“Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles” quoted Sir Alex Ferguson, and who are we to argue? It’s important to have a very strong defence in career mode as well as in football itself, so finding your Ferdinand and Vidi? for absolute steals will dramatically increase your chances of success in career mode. Hopefully this article will help you find a great centre back to fulfill your team’s needs.
I’ve reviewed players of at least 78 potential and narrowed my list below down to 3 players who I feel will really benefit your side. I have taken into account age, OVR rating, potential, and wages mainly to give my honest opinion on who will fit your side.
Laurent Koscielny – 85 overall, 85 potential
Laurent Koscielny should be your first choice if you can afford him
Labelled a “Championship player” by The Sun’s football editor Charlie Wyatt in his first season at Arsenal, it’s safe to call Frenchman Laurent Koscielny a ‘late bloomer’. He ground it out the French Ligue 1 before joining Lorient when he was already 24, and a year later joined the Gunners. He was sent off on his debut against Liverpool, but has since gone from strength to strength.
He’s interestingly my first option, ahead of the notoriously dirty but undoubtedly talented Pepe, who is 3 OVR ratings higher. Reason being, he’s 3 years younger, and also his £125,000 a week salary at Arsenal is less than the extortionate £260,000 a week Los Blancos pay Pepe in game. For any top team, I’d definitely sign the France international, as he has at least 3-4 years in him at the very top.
André Pinto – 77 overall, 80 potential
André Pinto is a great option for any mid-tier team
At 26 years of age, André Pinto still has 3 overall ratings to grow to reach that benchmark 80 overall. A relative unknown to many outside of his native Portugal, the tall centre-back is a straightforward player. He was called up by Portugal and given his debut against the Cape Verde Islands, but his international career was over before it had begun. Sent off on the hour, he sent Portugal to a disappointing (and, more relatable to me, a six fold £73 accumulator-destroying) 2-0 defeat.
Well, it took a lot of forgiving from me to recommend him, but he is great in-game. I signed him with Bristol City and had him in the Premier League as a dominant 78 overall defender, who wins everything in the air. His strength is fantastic, but he needs a quicker partner alongside him. For £13,500 a week though, you would be getting yourselves a great deal.
Federico Barba – 72 overall, 80 potential
Federico Barba is an unbelievably cheap player
Empoli defender Federico Barba is another relative unknown, but like Pinto can hit 80 overall. Twice capped by Italy U-21s, Barba is a regular in the Empoli starting XI this season, but you could lure him elsewhere for as little as £5,800 a week.
He’s a great defender in FIFA 17 with over 75 for marking, standing and sliding tackles. His physical stats aren’t great with 74 strength and pace in the 50’s, but those will grow as his OVR rating does. He does however stand at 6 feet 2 inches, which is always nice. He’s on the list mainly for his affordability, and his ironic name considering his attempted quiff.
Now here are the best free, high potential centre backs in FIFA 17.
| Name | OVR | Potential | Age | Wages (£) | Club | Nation | Foot | Weak foot | Traits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pepe | 88 | 88 | 33 | £260,000 | Real Madrid | Portugal | Right | 3* | Tackling, tactician |
| Laurent Koscielny | 85 | 85 | 30 | £125,000 | Arsenal | France | Right | 3* | Tackling, power header |
| John Terry | 84 | 84 | 35 | £105,000 | Chelsea | England | Right | 4* | Tactician, power header, one club player |
| Gonzalo Rodríguez | 83 | 83 | 32 | £62,000 | Fiorentina | Argentina | Right | 3* | Tactician, long passer, power header |
| Per Mertesacker | 83 | 83 | 31 | £97,000 | Arsenal | Germany | Right | 3* | Aerial threat, tactician, strength |
| Federico Barba | 72 | 80 | 23 | £5,800 | Empoli | Italy | Left | 2* | |
| Pedro Henrique | 73 | 80 | 23 | £7,500 | V. Guimarães | Brazil | Left | 2* | Strength |
| André Pinto | 77 | 80 | 26 | £13,500 | SC Braga | Portugal | Right | 2* | Strength, long passer |
| Harry Maguire | 72 | 80 | 23 | £16,500 | Hull City | England | Right | 3* | |
| Marios Oikonomou | 76 | 80 | 23 | £36,000 | Bologna | Greece | Right | 3* | Long passer |
| Serdar Tasci | 80 | 80 | 32 | £46,500 | Spartak Moscow | Germany | Right | 4* | Injury prone, power header |
| Víctor Cuesta | 77 | 79 | 27 | £19,000 | Independiente | Argentina | Left | 3* | Power header |
| Martín Demichelis | 79 | 79 | 35 | £20,500 | RCD Espanyol | Argentina | Right | 3* | Power header |
| Vitorino Hilton | 79 | 79 | 38 | £20,500 | Montpellier HSC | Brazil | Right | 3* | Long passer, team player |
| Kolo Touré | 79 | 79 | 35 | £38,000 | Celtic | Ivory Coast | Right | 3* | |
| Robin Knoche | 76 | 79 | 24 | £40,000 | Wolfsburg | Germany | Right | 4* | |
| Vasiliy Berezutskiy | 79 | 79 | 34 | £57,000 | CSKA Moscow | Russia | Right | 3* | Long passer, one club player |
| Holger Badstuber | 79 | 79 | 27 | £80,000 | Bayern | Germany | Left | 3* | Injury prone, long passer |
| Luisão | 78 | 78 | 35 | £8,800 | SL Benfica | Brazil | Right | 2* | Strength, power header, one club player |
| Ximo Navarro | 76 | 78 | 26 | £10,500 | UD Almería | Spain | Right | 3* | |
| Alessandro Gamberini | 78 | 78 | 34 | £11,500 | Chievo Verona | Italy | Right | 3* | Power header |
| Weligton | 78 | 78 | 36 | £15,000 | Málaga CF | Brazil | Left | 3* | |
| Luca Caldirola | 75 | 78 | 25 | £18,000 | Bremen | Italy | Left | 3* | Power header |
| Mauro Dos Santos | 77 | 78 | 26 | £18,500 | SD Eibar | Argentina | Right | 3* | Power header |
| Sergiy Kryvtsov | 74 | 78 | 25 | £20,000 | Shakhtar Donetsk | Ukraine | Right | 3* | |
| Thomas Heurtaux | 78 | 78 | 27 | £25,000 | Udinese | France | Right | 3* | Long throw-in, injury prone |
| Oleksandr Kucher | 78 | 78 | 33 | £25,000 | Shakhtar Donetsk | Ukraine | Right | 3* | |
| Emir Spahić | 78 | 78 | 35 | £26,500 | Hamburg | Bosnia Herzegovina | Left | 4* | |
| Álvaro Domínguez | 77 | 78 | 27 | £29,500 | Mönchengladbach | Spain | Left | 3* | Injury prone, long passer |
| Renato Civelli | 78 | 78 | 32 | £35,000 | LOSC Lille | Argentina | Right | 3* | Strength, power header |
| Salvatore Bocchetti | 78 | 78 | 29 | £37,000 | Spartak Moscow | Italy | Left | 2* | Power header |
| Marco Andreolli | 78 | 78 | 30 | £48,000 | Inter | Italy | Right | 3* | Power header |
Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you all have enjoyed my second article on FIFA Scouting Tips. If you haven’t seen my first article, it’s on pre-contract goalkeepers and is the first part of a series in which I will cover all positions in which your team can be strengthened by pre-contract signings, in order to reach your career mode dream.
Have a good day,
Olly.