Moving on from goalkeepers, the next important step is to find some decent centre backs.
As before, listed below are some of the most promising young centre backs in the game. In an attempt to make this relevant to as many players as possible, I have not included any CBs whose OVR is above 73 – this way you can keep your costs down and have some cash left over for other purchases (be they real players or new scouts). Furthermore, I have listed the players by cost, with the cheapest at the top of each sub-group (players are grouped by potential). However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the lowest-OVR players are at the top – notice how Luiz Eduardo is £2.5m cheaper than Mark Connolly, despite being slightly younger, better, and having a higher potential.
I have three recommendations from this list:
- Luiz Eduardo
- Luca Caldirola
- Sergei Bryzgalov
Luiz Eduardo is sensationally cheap for his potential, and better still, his price remains the same into the start of the 2nd season! So if you don’t have the funds (or don’t feel like buying him) at the start of the campaign, you should still be able to purchase him for the same price a year later!
Luca Caldirola develops into one of the best CBs in the game, and for £2.2m you’d be mad not to make a move for him. Beware though, his price does rise almost immediately, so if you want to get him make sure you move fast.
Finally, Sergei Bryzgalov starts off relatively expensive, but by the second season his price can drop to anywhere between £1m and £2m. Make sure you keep checking, because his price seems to fluctuate between transfer windows, and you don’t want to miss the chance to grap a bargain of this quality!
I wouldn’t recommend buying Roderick Miranda unless you have serious amounts of cash. As with Thibaut Courtois in the So You Want A Goalkeeper article, he is on loan for the first season, meaning you can’t buy him. When he returns to SL Benfica his price balloons, quickly reaching £9m – £10m by the end of the first season, and rising further after that.
Please bear in mind that these figures may not be exactly the same on your game. These stats are taken from my own personal experiences, but are likely to be very similar to those on your own game. The best thing to do is to make sure you keep checking these players, as their prices may drop radically after a while.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CB | Roderick Miranda | 65 | 89 | 20 | 4,100,000 | 20,000 | Servette FC | Right | 2 | 2 | - | On loan from SL Benfica |
| CB | Simone Benedetti | 64 | 86 | 19 | 4,100,000 | 15,000 | Gubbio | Right | 2 | 2 | Power header | |
| CB | Bruno Uvini | 66 | 86 | 20 | 5,500,000 | 9,000 | São Paulo | Left | 2 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Luca Caldirola | 69 | 85 | 20 | 2,200,000 | 10,000 | Inter | Left | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Francesco Acerbi | 72 | 85 | 22 | 4,700,000 | 15,000 | Chievo Verona | Left | 3 | 2 | Power header | |
| CB | Jeffrey Bruma | 72 | 85 | 19 | 5,500,000 | 15,000 | Hamburger SV | Right | 3 | 2 | Long shot taker | On loan from Chelsea |
| CB | Luiz Eduardo | 67 | 83 | 18 | 1,600,000 | 8,000 | São Paulo | Right | 4 | 3 | - | |
| CB | Stefan de Vrij | 69 | 83 | 19 | 2,100,000 | 9,000 | Feyenoord | Right | 3 | 2 | Long passer | |
| CB | Raphaël Varane | 71 | 83 | 18 | 3,300,000 | 15,000 | Real Madrid | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Aleksandar Dragović | 73 | 83 | 20 | 4,800,000 | 20,000 | FC Basel | Right | 3 | 2 | Power free-kick | |
| CB | Saimon | 69 | 82 | 20 | 2,100,000 | 9,000 | Grêmio | Right | 2 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Steven Caulker | 70 | 82 | 19 | 3,300,000 | 15,000 | Swansea City | Right | 2 | 2 | - | On loan from Tottenham |
| CB | Mobido Diakité | 73 | 82 | 24 | 3,600,000 | 20,000 | Lazio | Right | 2 | 2 | Strength, long throw-in, injury prone, power header | |
| CB | Sergei Bryzgalov | 64 | 82 | 18 | 4,200,000 | 8,000 | Spartak Moskva | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Lorenzo Ariaudo | 72 | 82 | 22 | 4,300,000 | 15,000 | Cagliari | Left | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Eliaquim Mangala | 72 | 82 | 20 | 4,800,000 | 15,000 | FC Porto | Right | 4 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Fabricio | 72 | 82 | 21 | 4,800,000 | 15,000 | Atl. Paranaense | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Edson | 66 | 81 | 23 | 1,400,000 | 7,000 | UD Leiria, SAD | Left | 2 | 2 | - | |
| CB | François Affolter | 68 | 81 | 20 | 2,000,000 | 9,000 | BSC Young Boys | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Pulido | 70 | 81 | 20 | 3,300,000 | 15,000 | Atlético Madrid | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Felipe Lopes | 73 | 81 | 23 | 3,400,000 | 15,000 | CD Nacional | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Marek Suchý | 72 | 81 | 23 | 3,900,000 | 15,000 | Spartak Moskva | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Mathias Zanka Jørgensen | 73 | 81 | 21 | 4,100,000 | 15,000 | FC København | Right | 2 | 2 | Long throw-in | |
| CB | Mark Connolly | 64 | 81 | 19 | 4,100,000 | 7,000 | Bolton | Right | 2 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Mário Fernandes | 73 | 81 | 20 | 4,500,000 | 15,000 | Grêmio | Right | 4 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Sebastián Coates | 72 | 81 | 20 | 4,800,000 | 15,000 | Liverpool | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Carlo Breda | 56 | 80 | 17 | 800,000 | 8,000 | Cittadella | Right | 2 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Marco Chiosa | 54 | 80 | 17 | 800,000 | 1,000 | F. Torino | RIght | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Antonio Magli | 54 | 80 | 19 | 800,000 | 1,000 | Brescia | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Kristian Alvarez | 65 | 80 | 19 | 1,200,000 | 7,000 | Guadalajara | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Felice Natalino | 65 | 80 | 21 | 1,200,000 | 7,000 | H. Verona | Right | 2 | 2 | - | On loan from Inter |
| CB | Diego Polenta | 66 | 80 | 19 | 1,400,000 | 6,000 | Bari | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Ilori | 67 | 80 | 18 | 1,500,000 | 7,000 | Sporting CP | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Muniesa | 67 | 80 | 19 | 1,500,000 | 9,000 | FC Barcelona B | Left | 3 | 2 | Injury prone | |
| CB | Yohan Benalouane | 69 | 80 | 24 | 1,600,000 | 8,000 | Cesena | Left | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Shkodran Mustafi | 68 | 80 | 19 | 1,900,000 | 10,000 | Everton | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Dalton | 69 | 80 | 21 | 2,000,000 | 8,000 | I. Porto Alegre | Right | 2 | 3 | - | |
| CB | Kyle Bartley | 68 | 80 | 20 | 2,000,000 | 9,000 | Rangers | Right | 3 | 2 | Injury prone | On loan from Arsenal |
| CB | David Abraham | 71 | 80 | 24 | 2,200,000 | 10,000 | FC Basel | Right | 3 | 2 | Power header | |
| CB | Ricardo Chará | 63 | 80 | 21 | 2,600,000 | 4,000 | Empoli | Right | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Federico Fernández | 70 | 80 | 22 | 2,700,000 | 15,000 | Napoli | Right | 2 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Kostas Manolas | 70 | 80 | 20 | 2,800,000 | 10,000 | AEK Athens | Right | 2 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Marc Bartra | 70 | 80 | 20 | 2,800,000 | 15,000 | FC Barcelona | Right | 3 | 3 | - | |
| CB | Danny Wilson | 71 | 80 | 19 | 2,900,000 | 15,000 | Liverpool | Left | 2 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Lucas Mendes | 70 | 80 | 20 | 2,900,000 | 10,000 | Coritiba | Right | 4 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Juan | 70 | 80 | 20 | 3,100,000 | 10,000 | I. Porto Alegre | Left | 2 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Gil | 72 | 80 | 24 | 3,300,000 | 10,000 | Valenciennes FC | Right | 3 | 2 | Strength | |
| CB | David Wheater | 73 | 80 | 24 | 3,400,000 | 15,000 | Bolton | Right | 3 | 2 | Aerial threat, power header | |
| CB | Fontás | 73 | 80 | 21 | 4,100,000 | 20,000 | FC Barcelona | Left | 3 | 2 | Long passer | |
| CB | Neuton | 72 | 80 | 21 | 4,500,000 | 15,000 | Udinese | Left | 3 | 2 | - | |
| CB | Eric Mathoho | 67 | 80 | 21 | - | 9,000 | - | RIght | 3 | 2 | - | South African national team - put in free agents |