by MaddFM.
Everyone loves a bargain right? In 2014, Napoli signed Kalidou Koulibaly from Genk for €7.75 million. They got seven incredible seasons out of him and then sold him to Chelsea for €40 million. His replacement? Kim Min-Jae, who they signed for €18 million from Fenerbahçe and one season later looks set to move to Bayern for a fee of €45 million. There are others of course; Pau Torres (bought by Villareal for 500k from Malaga, sold for €35 million to Aston Villa), Sven Botman (bought by Lille for €8 million from Ajax, sold for €37 million to Newcastle). You get my drift - the list goes on, so why not see if you can replicate this in Football Manager by signing a potential world-class defender at a cut-price fee, who either goes on to run your backline for years to come, or who you can flip a few seasons later for a massive profit. This is what FM is all about right? Here are 5 affordable centre-backs for you to sign in Football Manager 2023 🔥🔥.
1. Mario Hermoso (Atletico Madrid)
Normally a Spanish international Centre-Back playing for Atletico Madrid would never be considered affordable, however the fact that Hermoso is 27 with only 1 year remaining on his contract opens up plenty of possibilities depending on the club you are managing. There is plenty to like about Hermoso - great Pace, Tackling, Positioning and Marking, Left-Footed, in his prime and only valued between £5.2m - £7.6m..this one is a no brainer if you can manage to lure him into contract talks either before or upon his contract expiring. He also enjoys a tackle or two…
2. Jerry St. Juste (Sporting)
Slightly higher up the value column at £12.5m - £15m but with good reason. Jerry St. Juste is a former Feyenoord & Mainz defender who has just completed his first IRL season at Sporting - this means it might be slightly trickier signing him early in FM23, but he is worth the wait and still extremely good value for what is an all-round solid-as-f*ck defender who also has rapid Pace & Acceleration in addition to his defensive and technical attributes, not to mention a ready-made Ball-Playing Defender who likes bringing the ball out from the back. The man is a saintly defender to say the least.. #JusteDoIt.
3. Josip Šutalo (Dinamo Zagreb)
We peak on the value spectrum at Josip Šutalo, the young Croatian defender valued between £14m - £21m and being honest, the player who inspired me to write this blog such was how impressed I was when I first stumbled across him in-game. In addition to being a Croatian international (who recently played in the Nations League final against Spain in real life), Šutalo is a 6’3’’ rock-solid defender with 16 tackling, 16 Jumping Reach, 17 Anticipation and 15 each for Positioning and Marking - remember, the lad is only 22! We are looking at a potential world-class defender if you can develop him right from the word go in-game, and although he isn’t strictly a cheap option he is very much attainable for most mid-tier Top 5 league clubs in Europe.
4. Mika Mármol (FC Andorra)
Call me lazy but because I already wrote about this chap in our “8 Left-Sided Centre Backs” piece a few months ago, I am going to regurgitate what I wrote previously as he is both an interesting and very affordable high-potential centre-back option in FM23. An ex-Barcelona graduate currently enjoying a breakout season with Gerard Pique’s FC Andorra - this has FM narrative written all over it and we are here for it. 21-year-old Mika Mármol rose through the ranks at La Macia to make his full first team debut in 2022, before moving to FC Andorra in the Spanish Segunda Division on a free transfer at the start of the season (if you think Barcelona don’t have a buy-back clause then you are sorely mistaken).
In FM23, 20-year-old Mármol is contracted at Andorra until 2024 and is both ready and affordable if you are in the hunt for a progressive left-sided CB; at 5’11” he is shorter than most but with decent Heading and Jumping Reach this shouldn’t be an issue - it certainly isn’t for Lisandro Martinez 😉.
5. Denis Vavro (FC København)
Now we are talking. A 6’2” centre-back with 16 Strength, 16 Bravery, 16 Aggression, 16 Jumping Reach and 16 Determination not to mention 15 Tackling, 15 Marking and 15 Pace - who is this guy?! The Slovakian international had a relatively unsuccessful spell at Lazio before København turned his loan into a permanent deal - that said, his FM attributes definitely reflect more of a Serie A defender rather than the Danish Superliga (no offence lads), and what’s even more interesting is that this lad has a serious eye for goal judging by his in-game player traits of Shoots from Distance, Shoots with Power and Tries Long Range Free Kicks..at £700k - £7.8m this lad is a steal at 26-years-old and could be great fun in the match engine. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
There we have it, 5 rock-solid quality centre-backs who offer a great value option if you are in the market for a defender who can either become a mainstay in your defensive line, or could be flipped for considerable profit a few years down the line. Why spend £70m on Gvardiol when you could pick up all 5 of the above for less? Take a chance and spend the rest of your budget elsewhere - you might just find that the juice is worth the squeeze a few years down the line 👌.
Thanks for reading - let us know if you have had any experience with any of the above so far in FM23 and also who else deserves to make this list either on Twitter or in the comments below 👇
Interested in becoming a Guest Writer on 5StarPotential.com? Drop us a DM on Twitter or reach out to MaddFM for more info 👌.
