FIFA 13 | Lower League Gems – Target men


The idea behind these articles is providing quality players to teams limited funds. With that in mind, none of the players in these articles cost more than £1m.

As before, remember that player contracts have a huge impact. The fewer years left on the contract, the more likely you are to get a good deal. So if a player only has 1 year left on his contract you can get him for much less than his asking price. As such, I’ve added a column that says how many years are left on each player’s contract, and whether you can get him in the first transfer window. That’s the “Avai?” column (short for “available?”). To save space I’ve formatted it like this: Y/3 would mean yes, you can buy this player in the first window, and he has 3 years left on his contract. If it says something like “N/5? that means he has a 5 year contract and you can’t get him at first (the “N” is because he’s just joined the club), but you may be able to get them in the next window. The ones to look out for are Y/1 or Y/0, as some players only have months left on their contracts. Players who are on loan will have a “-” in this column because information on their contracts is not available.

This has been a great year for cheap players on FIFA. So much so in fact, that I’ve had to make the minimum potential 76 (last year it was 74) because there are just so many cheap, talented players out there! So the players on these lists will have a minimum potential of 76, will cost no more than £1m and will be aged no older than 25.

For the final article in this series we’ll be looking at target men. These players are big, strong strikers who can hold the ball up and support other attacking players. They’re also usually very good in the air, so will score plenty of goals as well providing they receive lots of quality service.

Here are my recommendations:

  • Matt Lecointe
  • Jack Sampson
  • Vladimir Obukhov

Matt Lecointe is my first recommendation, simply because he’s such a bargain you can’t afford not to buy him. He’s cheap as it is, but he’s also only got one year left on his contract, so you can get him for around £130,000! Considering how much he’ll be worth when he’s at his peak, that’s an incredible price.

Next up is Jack Sampson, and like Lecointe (and Obukhov) he only has a year left on his contract, making him available for around £450,000. He’s already one of the strongest players in this article and has great stamina. His finishing is as good as his heading, so it’s not like he’s a one-trick-pony either. He’s not the quickest, but that’s more than made up for by his ability to bully defences and create as well as score goals.

My final recommendation is for Vladimir Obukhov. What really sets him apart is that he is such a good all-rounder. He’s not only got power and aerial ability, but he’s got pace as well, and is just as good with his feet. He’s equally adept at holding the ball up as he is turning defenders and scoring goals. Thanks to his expiring contract you can get him for around £150,000, which is an absolute steal.

Special mentions also go to Arkadiusz Milik for having the best heading accuracy stat (76) and Salim Cissé for having the best finishing/heading accuracy combination (73 and 72). They’re both definitely worth considering.

Players are ordered by potential, then cost, so it should be pretty simple to find someone who meets both your budget and ability/potential requirements.

Finally, if you’ve had any experiences of good players’ prices changing wildly (especially if their price drops), please post it in the comments!

Now here’s the complete list:

[table id=60 /]