FIFA 14 Tips More Future Stars

Football journalist and FIFA fan Darren Cross is back with more wonderkids for you to sign up in Career Mode…

If you caught our Future Stars series here on the Backpage back in October then you’ll already know about 40 great young players that all go on to become world class in FIFA 14’s Career Mode. I hope you’ve saved some room on your shortlist though, because over the next week or so we’ll look at another 20 wonderkids you won’t want to miss out on.

Whether you’re playing on current or next-gen consoles, you’ll be able to find all of these players using the latest squad download and most of them are available for around £1 million or less right from the start. There are a couple you will have to wait for, as they only just joined their clubs, and one or two that will cost a few million pounds more, but everyone here is well worth it.

So take a look at the first ten below then come back next week for more. If you missed the original Future Stars then you can find Part One here: http://www.ea.com/uk/news/fifa-14-future-stars and Part Two here: http://www.ea.com/uk/news/fifa-14-future-stars-part-2

DALE JENNINGS
LW * Barnsley * 20

 STARTING OVR: 64
POTENTIAL OVR: 82+
As well as shortlisting forward Dale Jennings as soon as you can, keep an eye out for him in real life too. He moved to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich from Tranmere back in 2011 and is a player with bags of potential, which is unsurprisingly reflected in game. Jennings starts off on-loan at MK Dons from Barnsley with an Overall of 64, but by the time I noticed him in the year 2020 of one of my saves he was at 82 and still climbing.

I was England manager by then and he quickly became one of my top players, thanks to his incredible pace – he had very high ratings for both Acceleration and Sprint Speed – and his ability on the ball. I used him mainly as a striker or just behind the front two, where his dribbling and long shots led to a lot of goals.

SAMED YESIL
ST * Liverpool * 19

 STARTING OVR: 64

 POTENTIAL OVR: 82+
Like very fast strikers that only need half a chance to beat the keeper? Then Samed Yesil is going to fit right into your team.

At age 26 in one of my games the Liverpool star had become one of the best strikers around, with almost unstoppable speed and absolutely lethal finishing ability. He wasn’t just a sprinter though; Yesil was also a fantastic dribbler with great technical abilities, so you can see why he’s made it on to this list. If that sounds good to you then skip the enquiry and go straight in with a bid of £1.1 million. I couldn’t get The Reds to sell for a penny less at the start of my most recent game.

OLUWASANMI ODELUSI
ST * Bolton * 20

 STARTING OVR: 63

 POTENTIAL OVR: 79+
Odelusi is another player here that I found when I became England manager about six or seven seasons into a save. I was looking for a very fast, powerful striker to lead the line and, although his Overall was lower than some of the other strikers I could pick from, he had all the attributes I was looking for… very high Acceleration and Sprint Speed, plus Strength, Finishing and Dribbling all 80 or above – he was a goal machine for me and I was so impressed that I signed him up for my club side too.

You can buy him straight away in the first window, but you probably won’t get Bolton to move too far away from their £1 million valuation. If you can get him for around £800k then you’ve done well.

NEAL MAUPAY
ST * Nice * 16

 STARTING OVR: 63

 POTENTIAL OVR: 82+
Maupay popped up on my radar after he moved to Real Madrid for a giant fee when he was 24, so I shortlisted him and bought him for my club team a season or so later. By then his key stats – Acceleration, Sprint Speed, Ball Control, Dribbling and Finishing – were incredible, and he had an Overall rating of 82 that was showing no signs of slowing down.

At the start of a new save he feels good enough on the ball to put straight into the team, that’s if you can tempt his club Nice into selling. They barely budged on the asking price when I started a new game recently and signed him up, eventually taking £780k after a negotiation that went on for most of the window, but I know that’s a massive bargain having already seen what a fantastic player he becomes.

MASON BENNETT
ST * Derby * 16

 STARTING OVR: 61

 POTENTIAL OVR: 77+
I’m pretty sure Derby wonderkid Bennett could easily push his Overall rating into the 80s if you get him in your team early on, which you can do if you’ve got at least £550k to spend at the start of the game. When my scouts found him he was 25 years old with an Overall of 77 and some very impressive numbers for attributes like Acceleration, Sprint Speed, Reactions, Dribbling and Ball Control that were all still climbing. By that stage he felt great on the ball because he reacted so quickly to changes of direction with the left stick, so it was that bit easier to dribble past defenders.

ROSS BARKLEY
CAM * Everton * 19

 STARTING OVR: 76

 POTENTIAL OVR: 85+
I almost left Barkley off this list because I imagine that everyone knows by now that he’s a fantastic player who’s going to get even better, but I decided to include him in the end simply because he became my favourite player to use in one of my best Career Mode save games, so I highly recommend buying him.

He was the main man in my team, playing just behind a strike partnership and causing havoc with his range of passing, stinging long shots and ability to dribble past defenders like they weren’t even there. He’s 25 in that game and boasts great ratings for Acceleration, Sprint Speed, Vision, Ball Control, Long Passing, Short Passing, Long Shots and Dribbling, so Barkley’s perfect for that advanced playmaker role.

He’s well worth the £12 million you’ll need to pay to bring him in from Everton in season one.

JACOB MURPHY
RM * Norwich * 18

 STARTING OVR: 53

 POTENTIAL OVR: 79+
Don’t be put off my Murphy’s relatively low Overall rating at the start of the game, he improves quickly with matches so you can expect that to be well into the 70s and rising after a few seasons in your team.

I didn’t spot him until 2021 and by that time he’d become an extremely fast winger with awesome Acceleration and Sprint Speed which, combined with high Dribbling and Crossing ratings, made him perfect for taking full-backs on and supplying strikers with quality deliveries.

In a save game I just started I couldn’t persuade Norwich to sell him to me straight away, so he’s on my shortlist and will hopefully now make it on to yours too.

JAMAAL LASCELLES
CB * Nottingham Forest * 19

 STARTING OVR: 63
POTENTIAL OVR: 80+
You can sign centre-back Lascelles right from the start for about £500k, which is an absolute bargain considering he’ll be worth ten times that after a few seasons of action. The Forest star, who can also play at right-back, feels more solid to use as the seasons go by and he grows into a quick, strong, dominant defender. He’s also great in the air and becomes a very good ball winner, so he’s pretty much got everything you need in a centre-back.

KORAY GÜNTER
CB * Borussia Dortmund * 18
STARTING OVR: 62

POTENTIAL OVR: 82+
Günter is similar to Jamaal Lascelles in that he becomes a very powerful centre-back with an Overall that will climb nicely into the 80s, but is perhaps an even better buy because he’s quite a bit faster and you can sign him for around half the price of the Forest defender. Dortmund wanted £600k when I made an initial enquiry for Günter, but accepted £360k after a few rounds of negotiation and after a handful of seasons he was one of the top defenders in my save game.

ERIC DIER
CB * Sporting CP * 19

 STARTING OVR: 73

POTENTIAL OVR: 83+
Dier is very highly rated in real life, which explains why his club Sporting really don’t want to sell him in FIFA 14. They can be persuaded, but you may have to go back and forth with a number of offers before they accept, which they eventually should do for around £3.5 million.

For that price you get a tall, strong centre-back who’s very good in the air, comfortable on the ball and will eventually become one of the best defenders in the game. Dier is 27 years old in my current save and has world-class ratings for Strength, Aggression, Interceptions, Standing Tackle and, very interestingly, Long Shots. He’s excellent at testing the keeper from distance and takes a great free-kick too so, basically, he’s brilliant.

That’s all for this week. As always, please comment below or tweet me @darren_cross if you know of any more great signings you’d like to tell FIFA players about, and don’t forget to come back next time when we’ll be looking at another ten you won’t want to miss out on.

Darren
@darren_cross