Game Guides

The Best Free Agents in FIFA 19

12 October 2018

When taking charge of a lesser club in FIFA 19 without much financial backing during the season, free agents are there waiting to be signed for free. These are players you only pay for with wages – no transfer cash needed.

I’ll be looking at the best free agents in FIFA 19 across a range of positions front to back, from Goalkeeper to Striker in the lower league traditional 4-4-2 formation.

Remember this list is for lower league clubs only, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a free agent higher than 70 OVR (overall rating).

Goalkeeper

Dávid Gróf shares the highest rating GK you can find on the free agents list with another. His OVR is 69 with no movement in potential given his age of 29 years. He’s an experienced and highly rated keeper if you’re, say, in English Sky Bet League 2. Whether you have enough for his wages though is another matter – £6,000.

Failing at an attempt for Dávid Gróf for whatever reason, you have a rather aged back up in 69-rated Sherif Ekramy. He will also cost £6,000 in wages, but is 34 years old. Expect him to decline quicker than Gróf will, but maybe Ekramy can come in for a season while you train up a young goalkeeper.

Full Backs

Oscar Ribera is your first choice at RB for free agents. He’s got a 66 OVR with a potential of 69. Get used to seeing 69 potentials among this free agent list. He’s 26, which gives him a small amount of room to grow with training. For such a low rating he has impressive stamina at 81 – which would be invaluable in those lower leagues with hectic schedules. He’ll be available for £4,000 in wages. If you’re looking for a higher overall instantly, then Gergő Lovrencsics has 68 overall with 68 potential.

For LB, Nilson Loyola will fit in nicely. Despite the fact he’s only got a 65 OVR, his potential is 69 – and he’s only 23 years old which gives him plenty of room to outgrow that with training. He shares Ribera’s 81 stamina, and the two on either side would be two great full backs for a league 2 team. He will only cost £3,000 in wages.

Centre Back

Vinícius could be half of your centre back partnership. He’s 28 and has an overall/potential of 69 as well. This guy is £7,000 in wages, but having a player with 78 strength in a low league is useful.

Partnered with him could perhaps be Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson. He too has 78 strength and has a overall of 68 with potential of 69. But perhaps most crucially, he’s 6’3” – I am always for tall centre backs especially in lower leagues to head out the many crosses you’re likely to face. He’s a year younger than Vinícius at 27, and will cost £6,000 in wages.

Wingers

At RM and LM is a pretty barren list of players in comparison to other positions. For RM, you have a pick of three players, but Peruvian Horacio Calcaterra is the best of the lot. He’s got a 68 overall/potential at 29 years old. He’s not quite got the speed you’d want on the wings, but not many players do at this level. Luckily though, he has good passing ability and sufficient crossing.

At this level I don’t recommend playing with RW/LW given the few numbers and low abilities of those available, so on the left is LM Ayman Ashraf. Osvaldo Ruisalvo is also an option with good balance and agility, but Ashraf is slightly quicker, stronger, and capable of playing LM, LW, and CAM. Both players have overall/potential of 69. Ashraf is 27, Ruisalvo is 26, and both players though are £7,000 in wages. For me, Ashraf is the better option.

Centre midfield

Here you have two options: either a 26 year old with a 67 overall/potential, and a 23 year old at 63 overall but with 69 potential. Why not both?

The 26 year old is Marcelo Rivoredo. He’ll cost £7,000 in wages, but with slightly lax physical stats bar a useful 79 stamina.

The 23 year old poses an interesting opportunity: New Zealander Cameron Howieson. Though he only has a 63 OVR, he has better overall physical stats and will only cost £2,000 in wages. This could be one you grow and sell to someone for a bit of extra cash, but with training he’ll quickly grow past Rivoredo.

Strikers

There are quite a few options in the striker position among the free agents. For consistency I’ll stick with the two strikers that have a potential of 69. Though that comes with a detriment in their initial overall.

Myer Bevan has only 59 overall but a potential of 69. The plus side is he’ll be cheaper than anyone else, at only £1,500 in wages. With a high attack work rate though you can count on Bevan to get forward in most situations. Of all players in the squad, probably train this one first.

Jasse Tuominen starts at 61 overall, but his potential is also 69. He can also play in the CAM position which is always an extra added option. He shares Bevan’s high attacking work rate and the players are 6’0” and 6’1” respectively, which is tall enough to be a danger in the air, but not too tall to suffer from a loss of speed.