On to the central midfielders now. There are some familiar faces up at the top – Josh McEachran and Afriyie Acquah maintaining their places at the top of the list – but there are also a lot of changes. Many players have had very decent potential boosts, such as Sergi Roberto, Jordan Mutch and especially Lorenzo Crisetig.
Here are my recommendations:
- Afriyie Acquah
- Lorenzo Crisetig
- Granit Xhaka
Afriyie Acquah is a great all-round central midfielder. His passing and ball control are superb, and his long shots pack a punch. As well as that, though, his tackling is very good, as is his reading of the game. Finally, he has fantastic stamina (85). This guy will develop into a very complete midfielder, and is an essential addition to your squad. At £5.5m he’s slightly more expensive than his main competitors, Xhaka and McEachran, but he’s worth every penny.
Lorenzo Crisetig is an exemplary attacking mifielder, best played behind the front two and used to create chances for them. His great passing abilities mean this Granit Xhaka. I picked out this guy mainly because of his great ability from range – his shot power 87 will trouble even the best goalkeepers. Add to that his excellent vision (82) and his talent for picking a pass, and you have a great forward-thinking midfielder on your hands.
Finally, if you’ve had any experiences of good players’ prices changing wildly (especially if their price drops), please post it in the comments.
So, without further ado, here are the players:
| Pos | Name | OVR | Pot. | Age | Cost (£) | Wages (£) | Club | Foot | Weak foot * | Skills * | Specialities/traits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CM | Granit Xhaka | 71 | 85 | 18 | 3,700,000 | 10,000 | FC Basel | Left | 4 | 3 | ||
| CM | Josh McEachran | 71 | 85 | 18 | 3,700,000 | 10,000 | Swansea City | Left | 3 | 3 | On loan from Chelsea | |
| CM | Afriyie Acquah | 73 | 85 | 19 | 5,500,000 | 20,000 | Palermo | Right | 4 | 2 | ||
| CM | Lorenzo Crisetig | 68 | 84 | 18 | 2,400,000 | 10,000 | Inter | Left | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Sergi Roberto | 70 | 84 | 19 | 3,700,000 | 15,000 | FC Barcelona B | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Jordan Mutch | 72 | 84 | 19 | 5,500,000 | 15,000 | Birmingham City | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CM | Joe Allen | 73 | 83 | 21 | 5,000,000 | 15,000 | Swansea City | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Barry Bannan | 73 | 83 | 21 | 5,000,000 | 20,000 | Aston Villa | Left | 2 | 3 | Long passer | |
| CM | Bruno Zuculini | 61 | 82 | 18 | 1,800,000 | 10,000 | Racing Club | Right | 2 | 2 | ||
| CM | Jonjo Shelvey | 71 | 82 | 19 | 3,500,000 | 15,000 | Liverpool | Right | 3 | 2 | Long passer | |
| CM | Gary Gardner | 70 | 82 | 19 | 3,500,000 | 15,000 | Aston Villa | Right | 3 | 3 | Long shot taker, injury prone | |
| CM | Alejandro Faurlín | 73 | 82 | 24 | 4,100,000 | 15,000 | QPR | Left | 3 | 2 | ||
| CM | Rúben Micael | 73 | 82 | 24 | 4,100,000 | 20,000 | Real Zaragoza | Right | 3 | 3 | Long shot taker | On loan from Atlético Madrid |
| CM | Ivo Pekalski | 73 | 82 | 20 | 4,700,000 | 15,000 | Malmö FF | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Giacomo Bonaventura | 73 | 82 | 21 | 5,000,000 | 15,000 | Atalanta | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CM | Jonathan Dos Santos | 73 | 82 | 21 | 5,000,000 | 20,000 | FC Barcelona | Right | 4 | 2 | Long shot taker | |
| CM | Andrea Romanò | 61 | 81 | 17 | 1,800,000 | 5,000 | Inter | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CM | Francesco Della Rocca | 70 | 81 | 23 | 2,900,000 | 10,000 | Palermo | Left | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Campaña | 71 | 81 | 18 | 3,300,000 | 10,000 | Sevilla FC | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Fillipe Soutto | 71 | 81 | 20 | 3,300,000 | 10,000 | Atl. Mineiro | Left | 2 | 2 | ||
| CM | Henri Lansbury | 70 | 81 | 20 | 3,500,000 | 10,000 | West Ham | Right | 3 | 2 | On loan from Arsenal | |
| CM | Sung-Yeung Ki | 73 | 81 | 22 | 4,300,000 | 15,000 | Celtic | Right | 3 | 2 | Power free-kick, long passer, long shot taker | |
| CM | Alessio Esposito | 56 | 80 | 16 | 825,000 | 7,000 | Lecce | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CM | Enzo Réale | 65 | 80 | 19 | 1,200,000 | 7,000 | US Boulogne | Right | 3 | 3 | On loan from Olympique Lyon | |
| CM | Eddy Gnahoré | 59 | 80 | 17 | 1,200,000 | 8,000 | Birmingham City | Right | 3 | 2 | Flair | |
| CM | Emin Makhmudov | 65 | 80 | 19 | 1,300,000 | 8,000 | Spartak Moskva | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Joel Valencia | 64 | 80 | 16 | 1,300,000 | 5,000 | Real Zaragoza | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CM | Leonardo Bittencourt | 64 | 80 | 17 | 1,300,000 | 5,000 | Energie Cottbus | Right | 5 | 3 | Acrobat | |
| CM | Isaac Cofie | 66 | 80 | 20 | 1,400,000 | 7,000 | Sassuolo | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Gianluca Musacci | 69 | 80 | 24 | 1,700,000 | 9,000 | Parma | Right | 3 | 2 | On loan from Empoli | |
| CM | Nicola Bovi | 60 | 80 | 18 | 1,800,000 | 4,000 | Cagliari | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CM | Manuel Giandonato | 69 | 80 | 19 | 2,100,000 | 8,000 | Lecce | Right | 3 | 2 | Finesse shot | |
| CM | Pedro Obiang | 68 | 80 | 19 | 2,100,000 | 9,000 | Sampdoria | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CM | Nejc Praprotnik | 63 | 80 | 18 | 2,700,000 | 4,000 | Atalanta | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Fabio Sciacca | 70 | 80 | 22 | 2,800,000 | 10,000 | Grosseto | Right | 4 | 3 | Long shot taker | On loan from Catania |
| CM | Adrien Silva | 70 | 80 | 22 | 2,800,000 | 10,000 | Académica | Right | 4 | 2 | On loan from Sporting CP | |
| CM | Victor Wanyama | 70 | 80 | 20 | 3,300,000 | 10,000 | Celtic | Left | 3 | 2 | ||
| CM | Denilson | 73 | 80 | 23 | 3,700,000 | 15,000 | São Paulo | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Harmeet Singh | 73 | 80 | 20 | 4,200,000 | 15,000 | Vålerenga | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CM | Jay Spearing | 73 | 80 | 22 | 4,300,000 | 20,000 | Liverpool | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CM | Markus Henriksen | 72 | 80 | 18 | 4,600,000 | 7,000 | Rosenborg BK | Right | 4 | 3 | Long shot taker |