FIFA 16 | Good teams for career mode – Real Oviedo

Introduction: How do these articles work?

Each Sunday I examine a different team in detail and look at why they’re a good team for FIFA 16’s career mode. The teams are broken down into the following categories:

  • Tier 1: Teams in tough divisions that can push on to challenge for silverware
  • Tier 2: Teams that will have to fight for survival in a challenging division
  • Tier 3: Teams that start in a lower division but can hope to get promoted and work their way up higher leagues
  • Tier 4: Teams that start right at the bottom of the pile, with few funds or high potential players

FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real OviedoReal Oviedo (Tier 4)

Tier 4 sides like Real Oviedo really have a hard time – few high potential players, tight budgets or lots of retiring players make careers like this a real challenge.

Contents

  1. Why choose Real Oviedo?
  2. Lineups
    1. Strongest starting lineup
    2. Highest potential lineup
  3. Recommended purchases
  4. Suggested sales
  5. Future considerations
    1. Get another new centre back

Starting transfer budget: £1,000,000
Starting wage budget: £20,000
Default formation: 4-4-1-1
Board expectations: Finish mid table, reach cup round of 32
Key player: Esteban
Best young prospect: Christian Rivera

Why choose Real Oviedo?

Given their budget, Real Oviedo may not seem an immediate choice for a tier 4 team, but I’ve chosen them for a few reasons. First, their team is stacked with old players, so while things may seem OK now, in a year or two you’re going to be hit with a bit of a crisis. Second, they’re really lacking in high potential players, with Christian Rivera one of the only exceptions. Combine that with a ton of players retiring and you could struggle in the future.

On the plus side, they do have a decent budget, so you’ve got enough to bring in a few players. But you won’t be able to plug all the holes straight away, so this will be no walk in the park.

Real Oviedo’s key player is Esteban. Embodying the problem of older players in the team, Esteban is 40 and will retire almost straight away, but while he’s with you he will be vital. Even at his age, he’s the highest OVR player on the team, and his handling and positioning are truly excellent – ensuring he’s not going to be spilling shots in the area. He’s a brick wall in goal, but you’ll need to replace him soon before he declines and retires.

The team’s most promising young player is Christian Rivera. With 79 potential he’s got a very promising future, and his 74 short passing and 71 ball control mean he can control the ball quickly and start attacks with ease. Once he gets near his potential he’s going to be a pass master and a superb playmaker.

Strongest starting lineup

Changing the formation slightly to 4-4-2, here is Real Oviedo’s strongest starting lineup, with OVRs in brackets:

FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real Oviedo

Highest potential lineup

Adjusting the formation again to 4-3-3, here is Real Oviedo’s highest potential lineup, with potentials in brackets:

FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real Oviedo

Recommended purchases

Key signings required: GK, CB, LB.

Real Oviedo’s real weak spots are in defence. Obviously Esteban will need replacing soon, while the team’s two left backs are 34 and 31 respectively, so you’ll need a new LB. Finally, the only young centre back on the team has 67 potential, so we’ll need to do better than that if we want to have a solid defence going forward.

First of all, adjust your budget ratio to 70:30. This will give you £1,428,000 in transfer funds and £11,769 in wages. Now let’s go buy some players.

FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real Oviedo

Sondre Løvseth Rossbach is a worthy future replacement for Esteban

FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real Oviedo

Sondre Løvseth Rossbach
Club: Odds BK
Position: GK
OVR: 65
Potential: 75
Age: 19
Cost: £600,000
Wages: £5,000

While Esteban is about to retire, it’s not a desperate problem in the sense that 1) you’ve still got a full season to find a replacement, and 2) you can massively boost goalkeepers through training. So that’ll enable us to get a cheap goalkeeper and rapidly improve him.

My choice is Sondre Løvseth Rossbach of Odds BK in Norway. What I like about him is he’s very well balanced – there isn’t any one area of his goalkeeping ability that is seriously lacking. While he’s set to grow 10 points, he’s also only 19, so there will be plenty of opportunity to help him exceed his potential through training.

Odds BK want £775,000 for him but you can get him for a little less at around £600,000. His wages are £5,000.


FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real Oviedo

Nordi Mukiele is super cheap considering his potential

FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real Oviedo

Nordi Mukiele
Club: Stade Lavallois
Position: CB
OVR: 62
Potential: 81
Age: 17
Cost: £475,000
Wages: £1,700

Real Oviedo’s current first choice centre backs, Jonathan Vila and Borja Gómez, are solid enough, but at 29 and 27 it won’t be long until they start declining. Unfortunately, there’s no ready-made replacement in the squad, as Real Oviedo are distinctly lacking in high potential centre backs. That’ll need fixing urgently.

You may remember Nordi Mukiele from my Lower League Gems article on centre backs. I recommended him then because he is fantastically cheap for a player with 81 potential, but don’t think that’s because he’s useless right now. He’s got decent pace for a centre back, he’s good in the air and his strength isn’t bad either. Just make sure you don’t over-train him (it’ll stunt his physical growth) and you’ll have a superb young centre back who will grow rapidly thanks to his high potential.

Stade Lavallois will ask for £625,000 for him, but you can get him for around £475,000. His wages are just £1,700.


FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real Oviedo

Abner will hold down the left back spot for years to come

FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real Oviedo

Abner
Club: Real Madrid
Position: LB
OVR: 64
Potential: 76
Age: 19
Cost: £350,000
Wages: £5,000

Although I’ve put both Fernández and Peña at left back on the images above, neither is really ideal. Peña is 31 and 68 OVR, so not much use going forward, while Fernández is actually a right back – and only on loan as well. So we really need a dedicated, high potential left back to nail down that position.

My choice is Abner of Real Madrid. Yes, I know what you’re thinking – how can we afford a player from Real Madrid? I’ll come to that. But Abner is a great choice for left back – he’s fast, has good stamina, he can cross, dribble and tackle and he’s also very cheap. While his defensive stats may need a little work, they’ll greatly improve as he nears his potential. He’s also very flexible – not be shy to play him on the wing if you need to.

Despite the top club he plays for, Real Madrid only want £500,000 for him because his contract is expiring. You can get him for as little as £350,000; his wages are £5,000 and he wants the ‘squad rotation player’ squad role. That kind of deal is too good to pass up.


Those transfers will leave you with just £3,000 in transfer funds and a mere £69 in wages – how’s that for getting bang for your buck? Anyway, if you want to buy any more players or scouts, you’ll need to sell some players first. Let’s see who we can get rid of.

Suggested sales

FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real Oviedo

Jon Erice really isn’t needed and can be sold

With a new goalkeeper on board you can sell Gorka Magunazelaia, as he’s only got 66 potential. He’ll get you around £150,000.

Josete, Kike Torrent, Dani Bautista and Nacho López can all be sold. They’ll get you about £570,000 in total.

Jon Erice isn’t needed, so you can sell him for about £400,000. Finally, Diego Cervero is definitely surplus to requirements and can be sold for about £100,000.

Selling all of those players would bring in about £1,220,000, which is pretty good going – it’s more than you start out with at the beginning of a Real Oviedo career.

Future considerations – get another new centre back

FIFA 16 good teams for career mode: Real Oviedo

While Nordi Mukiele is obviously a fantastic buy, you really still need another centre back to secure your defence, as most other defenders at Real Oviedo have potential 70 or less.

My suggestion is Keziah Veendorp of FC Groningen. In a way he’s like a slightly more developed version of Mukiele. He’s got good pace, he’s strong and he’s great in the air, not to mention having good tackling stats. He starts at 63 OVR at 18 years old and has 77 potential, so a combination of him and Mukiele will make your defence watertight in a few years’ time.

FC Groningen want £625,000 for him but you can get him for £500,000. His wages are £1,800. That makes him only fractionally more expensive than Mukiele, so he makes a good alternative if you don’t want to get Mukiele in the first place.


That’s it for this week’s article on good teams for career mode. Real Oviedo have a real age problem, so you need to address that quickly or you’ll have a much-depleted squad. Luckily they have the budget to partly address that, but there’s still plenty of work for you to do to help them grow into the future.

I’d like to hear if you have any thoughts about the format of the article itself. Did you find it useful? Conversely, do you think it was missing something that you’d have liked me to include?

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