Moving onto the final section of these guides, here’s the first of two parts on strikers – first goalscorers, then target men. These are the guys you rely on week in, week out to get you the goals. Often they are quick, and these are the ones you want to combine with a decent target man. Some specialise in long shots, others are better from close range. Either way, you need at least one decent goalscorer in any team.
As always, in an attempt to make this relevant to as many players as possible, I have not included any goalscorers 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 Leandro is 7 OVR points better than Alexandr Kozlov and is the same age as him, yet is cheaper than him.
Anyway, here are my recommendations:
- Lucas Piazon
- Cenk Tosun
- Sergio Araujo
- Valentin Viola / Ignacio Colombini
Unfortunately, Lucas Piazon will be out of reach to anyone who is using the update squads on their career mode because he has been signed to the Chelsea academy – for this reason, I have included an extra recommended player for those players who will not be able to get him. (If you have downloaded the latest squads but want to get him, make the old squads your primary squad file, start a new career mode and use “current customized” squads.) Anyway, Piazon has quality finishing and long shots, but his dribbling is also excellent, meaning he can sit behind a main striker or be part of the main strike force, the choice is yours. He is quick, has incredible stamina, meaning he can be played game after game, and has four star skill moves and weak foot ability, making him even more useful. In short, he is a fantastic attacking player and it will be well worth your time to get him. Finally, his price drops to around £2.5m by the start of the second season (it rises to £8m during the first season), so this is the time to move for him.
If you can’t get Lucas Piazon, Cenk Tosun is the next best thing. Like Piazon, he is very pacey and both his finishing and dribbling skills are excellent. He starts at OVR 73, meaning he is good enough to slot into many teams, and he grows quickly as well, so he can make an instant impact. Best of all, you can get him for free! He is in the Turkish national team, but plays for Gaziantepspor in the Turkish top division, who are not in the game. So, to get him just go to the Turkish national team and replace him with another player. Then when you start a new career he’ll be in the free agents, enabling you to get him for free. Not bad for someone with potential 84!
Sergio Araujo is another technically gifted player and goes for a bargain price. He has excellent dribbling abilities (which improve further very quickly) and four star skill moves and weak foot stats, which makes him very difficult to tackle when he’s going forward as well. He quickly grows into a very fast player, so you can play him on the wing or up front, depending on what your team’s needs are. At £2.5m he’s very cheap, and his price doesn’t seem to rise very much over time (unlike Lucas Piazon!).
Finally, the bonus players, Valentin Viola or Ignacio Colombini. I have included both because they are so similar – Viola is slightly better in the air, Colombini is slightly better from distance, but other than that there’s not much between them. They are the same OVR, start at the same age, have the same potential, and cost the same (an absolute bargain at £1.8m). So pick either, whichever one you go for will give you excellent service for a knockdown price.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CF | Lucas Piazon | 65 | 85 | 17 | 4,300,000 | 7,000 | São Paulo | Left | 4 | 4 | Finesse shot | Price fluctuates greatly, so keep checking back |
| ST | Luc Castaignos | 72 | 85 | 18 | 6,000,000 | 15,000 | Inter | Right | 4 | 3 | ||
| ST | Willian José | 72 | 85 | 19 | 6,000,000 | 15,000 | São Paulo | Right | 4 | 3 | ||
| ST | Sergio Araujo | 68 | 84 | 19 | 2,500,000 | 10,000 | Boca Juniors | Right | 4 | 4 | ||
| CF | Leandro | 71 | 84 | 18 | 3,900,000 | 10,000 | Grêmio | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| ST | Alexandr Kozlov | 64 | 84 | 18 | 4,200,000 | 8,000 | Spartak Moskva | Right | 4 | 4 | ||
| CF | Filippo Boniperti | 64 | 84 | 19 | 4,300,000 | 9,000 | Ascoli | Right | 4 | 2 | ||
| ST | Fabio Borini | 72 | 84 | 20 | 6,000,000 | 20,000 | Roma | Right | 3 | 3 | On loan from Parma | |
| ST | Cenk Tosun | 73 | 84 | 20 | 9,000 | Right | 4 | 3 | Turkish national team – put in free agents | |||
| ST | Valentin Viola | 67 | 83 | 19 | 1,800,000 | 10,000 | Racing Club | Right | 2 | 3 | ||
| ST | Ignacio Colombini | 67 | 83 | 19 | 1,800,000 | 10,000 | Racing Club | Right | 2 | 2 | ||
| CF | Guido Marilungo | 71 | 83 | 21 | 3,700,000 | 15,000 | Atalanta | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CF | Heung-Min Son | 73 | 83 | 18 | 5,500,000 | 15,000 | Hamburger SV | Left | 3 | 3 | Injury prone | |
| CF | Dani Pacheco | 72 | 83 | 20 | 6,000,000 | 15,000 | Rayo Vallecano | Right | 3 | 3 | Finesse shot | On loan from Liverpool |
| ST | Nelson Oliveira | 69 | 82 | 19 | 2,400,000 | 10,000 | SL Benfica | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| ST | Alexandre Lacazette | 68 | 82 | 20 | 2,400,000 | 10,000 | Olympique Lyon | Right | 3 | 4 | ||
| ST | Eugene Starikov | 71 | 82 | 22 | 3,200,000 | 15,000 | Tom Tomsk | Right | 3 | 3 | Flair | On loan from Zenit |
| ST | Daniele Ragatzu | 65 | 82 | 19 | 4,200,000 | 7,000 | Gubbio | Right | 3 | 3 | Speedster, acrobat | On loan from Cagliari |
| ST | Chris Gadi | 64 | 82 | 19 | 4,200,000 | 10,000 | Marseille | Right | 4 | 3 | ||
| ST | Daniel Martínez | 65 | 82 | 17 | 4,300,000 | 7,000 | Palermo | Right | 2 | 2 | ||
| ST | Rodrigo | 72 | 82 | 20 | 5,500,000 | 8,000 | SL Benfica | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| ST | Dellatorre | 69 | 81 | 19 | 2,200,000 | 9,000 | I. Porto Alegre | Right | 4 | 3 | ||
| ST | Paco Alcácer | 68 | 81 | 17 | 2,400,000 | 9,000 | Valencia CF | Right | 4 | 3 | ||
| ST | Denis Alibec | 68 | 81 | 20 | 2,400,000 | 9,000 | KV Mechelen | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| ST | Sega Keita | 62 | 81 | 19 | 2,700,000 | 6,000 | ES Troyes | Right | 3 | 2 | Speedster | |
| CF | Jamie Murphy | 71 | 81 | 21 | 3,100,000 | 15,000 | Motherwell | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| ST | Diego Rubio | 71 | 81 | 18 | 3,400,000 | 10,000 | Sporting CP | Right | 3 | 2 | ||
| CF | Edigar | 71 | 81 | 20 | 3,400,000 | 15,000 | Atl. Paranaense | Right | 4 | 3 | ||
| ST | Kristian Kraus | 58 | 80 | 18 | 1,100,000 | 8,000 | Gubbio | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| ST | Emmanuel Mayuka | 64 | 80 | 20 | 1,300,000 | 7,000 | BSC Young Boys | Left | 3 | 4 | ||
| ST | Gabriel Hauche | 68 | 80 | 24 | 1,800,000 | 10,000 | Racing Club | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| ST | Anass Achahbar | 60 | 80 | 17 | 1,800,000 | 4,000 | Feyenoord | Left | 4 | 4 | Flair | |
| CF | José Baxter | 69 | 80 | 19 | 2,100,000 | 9,000 | Everton | Right | 3 | 3 | Power free kick | |
| ST | Joshua King | 68 | 80 | 19 | 2,100,000 | 9,000 | Bor. M'gladbach | Right | 2 | 3 | Flair, injury prone | On loan from Manchester United |
| ST | Henrique | 69 | 80 | 20 | 2,200,000 | 8,000 | São Paulo | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| ST | Jean-Christophe Bahebeck | 68 | 80 | 18 | 2,200,000 | 8,000 | PSG | Right | 4 | 3 | ||
| ST | Brian Montenegro | 63 | 80 | 18 | 2,700,000 | 4,000 | West Ham | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| CF | Niccolò Giannetti | 62 | 80 | 20 | 2,700,000 | 6,000 | Gubbio | Right | 4 | 2 | ||
| CF | Andrea Catellani | 71 | 80 | 23 | 2,800,000 | 15,000 | Catania | Right | 4 | 4 | Finesse shot | |
| ST | Nicky Maynard | 73 | 80 | 24 | 3,400,000 | 15,000 | Bristol City | Right | 3 | 3 | Long shot taker | |
| CF | Alexandr Kokorin | 71 | 80 | 20 | 3,400,000 | 15,000 | Dinamo Moskva | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| ST | Pavel Yakovlev | 70 | 80 | 20 | 3,400,000 | 15,000 | Krylya Sovetov | Right | 4 | 3 | Finesse shot | |
| ST | Riccardo Meggiorini | 73 | 80 | 25 | 3,700,000 | 15,000 | Novara | Left | 4 | 3 | ||
| ST | Pablo Mouche | 73 | 80 | 23 | 4,200,000 | 15,000 | Boca Juniors | Left | 3 | 4 | Injury prone | |
| ST | Mattia Destro | 72 | 80 | 20 | 4,700,000 | 10,000 | Siena | Right | 3 | 3 | ||
| ST | Federico Macheda | 73 | 80 | 19 | 5,000,000 | 20,000 | Manchester United | Right | 3 | 3 | Finesse shot | |
| ST | Nathan Delfouneso | 73 | 80 | 20 | 5,000,000 | 20,000 | Aston Villa | Right | 4 | 3 | Speedster | |
| ST | Khouma Babacar | 72 | 80 | 18 | 5,000,000 | 10,000 | Fiorentina | Right | 4 | 3 | Flair, power header |