I use Diomande and Branthwaite on an Everton save. Use Branthwaite as a battering ram for near post corner routines, so far he's got 38 goals in 3 seasons just from corners including 17 in season 3 so far. Build a big physical team with jumping reach and height, flood the box with crosses and play for set pieces, works really well (maybe too well!)
Al Chidaille Bitshiabu and Alan Matturro have both been smashing it for me. Bitshiabu is a speed demon (faster than Maxence Lacroix at only 20 years of age) & Matturro can also play as a WB, giving him so much value. Neither cost more than £10m (i think Matturro was actually around 6, with bonus/clauses taking it to 8)
Pavlovic is a beast of a defender. Had him in my save before my laptop needed a factory reset. Now my defense is scalvini and Diomande. Two great players aswell. Pavlovic is at city in my new save 😢
Alessandro Circati is so so good. Starts at 19 at Parma in Serie B and cost me under 5m in my 2nd season with Leeds. Was signing Vitik but he came up and I couldn’t pass on him so signed him aswell. Ended up outperforming Vitik and being my starting cb by the end of the season. Just won the premier league in my 4th season with 1 defeat and the best defence itl with a back 3 of Vitik Circati and Diomande, also conceded the least goals by a distance. I like the fact he’s from a less common nation in Australia too; also barely ever has to go on international duty because they basically only play friendlies. Those 3 with Jan Paul Van Hecke rotating in are impenetrable, highly recommend every one of them.
looked through all the comment's and can't believe no one mentions Abakar Sylla , dude is a monster CB .... got him with Guéhi on my palace save and have the best defence in the prem
Pavlovic is good, but lack of ball playing abilities means he struggles at the top level. Plus the engine loves dribbly passy CBs and punishes "traditional" CBs.
i use Jean Paul van Hecke almost in my evety save. And let me tell you. He is SUPERB. His contract runs out in the first year and usually you can get him before brighton renews his contract.
How about the same serise, players by position but with either players under 1M or (even better) players with expiring contracts. This is one of my favourite tactics in the transfer market, usually because my teams have no money 😞
I signed milenkovic for about £20m in my first ever fm save with brighton and he scored 30 goals over 3 seasons (almost exclusively from corners). He is amazing
In my beta save with Man United I began season 2 with a 4 man cb rotation of the top 4 guys here after the Saudi clubs came and took every aging overpaid player I had for way more than they were worth… those were good times
picked up Souter in the championship got me 20 something goals that season purely from corners and was my second best scorer, 6'6 beast, he was okay in the poem the next season too.
People always sleep on Tanguy Nianzou and Maxence Lacroix these two as a pair are one of the most underrated ball playing defenders in the game. Nianzou is an FM legend for all my saves since FM20, He is so elite🔥
Maybe not for the first season but I signed Zeno Debast from Anderlech for 28M (release clause for teams playing continental tournaments) and makes a great BPD
I managed to pick up Eder Militao for £35m for my Man Utd save in season two. I was made up. He has been awesome and helped us win the CL. So glad he was unhappy at Real as that meant I could sign him for a low fee.
Surprisingly a very mainstream list! Both striker videos were really not so mainstream and were great, this one is full of defenders everyone is aware of. Sorry for criticizing, we just know you can do better! We need more suggestions like Dragusin, etc. Thank you for your work anyway, great job!
All good. Thanks for delivering this in a positive manner, genuinely appreciate that. Noted. I just go with my genuine top 10 for these things, if they’re mainstream or niche, I’m not really considering, just my personal favourites. Perhaps if it ends up pretty ‘obvious’ I could include a little segment of “these are pretty mainstream, so here are some bonus obscure picks” or something.
Id have Zeno debast up there somewhere. You can get the guy for less than 10 million and hes a great player. Currently 6 year's in and my 2 top Centre backs are Guehi L, Debast R
Mine were Erakovic and Katinic , last few FMs but they both got new transfers so they don't wanna join 1st season so I go for Pavlovic or M.Ilic unless I play with someone rich
I have minervino anel ahmedozic and Alan matters as my 3 rotating centre backs, all pretty cheap and they have got me into the champions league with preston
Fun Fact: Barcelona loaned Todibo to Benfica back in 20/21 with the option to buy for 20m. Benfica rarely played him and now looking back 20m would have been a bargain for him.
You'll need to make sure the leagues are loaded when you start the save. Bit shit for FM touch/Ipad players as I'm sure there's a five league limit. But it's what it is.
Besides English players i almost agree with all. English players values are over inflated and have high wages. Unless you play in the Prem, you never sign them.
