Unearthing a wonderkid in Football Manager can be highly satisfying, particularly if they go on to become a world-class player who spearheads your success or if you manage to cash in with a lucrative transfer fee when a bigger club comes calling.
Football Manager 2023 is here and, to help you refine your scouting, GOAL takes a look at some of the best young players with high potential to sign on the game, listed according to their value.
Note: We have limited the list to the best strikers, midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers aged 20 and under, with players' ages matching those at the start of the game.
Football Manager 2023 wonderkid strikers: Best young forwards
Player | Age | Club | Nat. | VA. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Karim Adeyemi | 20 | Borussia Dortmund | Germany | £54m - £80m |
Jeremy Doku | 20 | Rennes | Belgium | £51m - £63m |
Fabio Silva | 19 | Wolves | Portugal | £48m - £71m |
Mathys Tel | 17 | Bayern Munich | France | £38m - £55m |
Ansu Fati | 19 | Barcelona | Spain | £38m -£55m |
Gabriel Vidovic | 18 | Bayern Munich | Croatia | £34m - £51m |
Joao Pedro | 20 | Watford | Brazil | £30m |
Youssoufa Moukoko | 17 | Borussia Dortmund | Germany | £25m - £29m |
Mohamed-Ali Cho | 18 | Real San Sebastian | France | £23m - £34m |
Joe Gelhardt | 20 | Leeds United | England | £23m - £33m |
Dane Scarlett | 18 | Tottenham | England | £21m - £31m |
Jon Karrikaburu | 19 | Real San Sebastian | Spain | £20m - £25m |
Jamie Donley | 17 | Tottenham | Northern Ireland | £19m - £28m |
Benjamin Sesko | 19 | RB Salzburg | Slovenia | £16m - £24m |
Vitor Roque | 17 | ATP | Brazil | £12m - £14.5m |
Marcos Leonardo | 19 | SAN | Brazil | £11.5m - £17m |
Endrick | 15 | SEP | Brazil | £11m - £13.5m |
Sekou Mara | 19 | Southampton | France | £11m - £13m |
Evan Ferguson | 17 | Brighton | Ireland | £10.5m - £15.5m |
Rodrigo Ribeiro | 17 | Sporting CP | Portugal | £9.4m - £13.5m |
Ricardo Pepi | 19 | Augsburg | USA | £8.8m -£13m |
Emre Tezgel | 16 | Stoke City | England | £6.4m - £8m |
Julian Rijkhoff | 17 | Borussia Dortmund | Netherlands | £6m - £8.8m |
Alex Tibidi | 18 | Stuttgart | France | £4.6m -£6.8m |
Iker Bravo | 17 | Bayer Leverkusen | Spain | £2.6m - £5.2m |
Rory Wilson | 16 | Aston Villa | Scotland | £900k - £1.9m |
Some of the best strikers and forwards on Football Manager 2023 will set you back a significant fee, so you will need a hefty transfer budget to sign those at the top end, such as Borussia Dortmund duo Karim Adeyemi and Youssoufa Moukoko.
The likes of Ansu Fati at Barcelona and Bayern Munich's 17-year-old Mathys Tel will also be hard to sign unless you are prepared to make a major transfer bid. Nevertheless, many wonderkids are open to loan moves, particularly if they are not featuring for their parent club and this is a definite option if you are managing a financially-restrained club.
Fifteen-year-old Brazilian wonderkid Endrick is considered one of the best young strikers to sign on Football Manager 2023 and has a transfer tag of £11 million to £13.5 million, which makes him somewhat more affordable, but he will not be able to leave Brazil until he turns 18.
Getty ImagesFootball Manager 2023 wonderkid midfielders: Best young DMs, CAMs & wingers
Player | Age | Club | Nat. | VA. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jude Bellingham | 18 | Borussia Dortmund | England | £106m - £126m |
Pedri | 19 | Barcelona | Spain | £67m - £83m |
Florian Wirtz | 19 | Bayer Leverkusen | Germany | £66m - £98m |
Jamal Musiala | 19 | Bayern Munich | Germany | £62m - £77m |
Noni Madueke | 20 | PSV | England | £60m - £87m |
Eduardo Camavinga | 19 | Real Madrid | France | £55m - £68m |
Giovanni Reyna | 19 | Borussia Dortmund | USA | £55m - £66m |
Gavi | 17 | Barcelona | Spain | £55m - £66m |
Yeremy Pino | 19 | Villarreal | Spain | £52m - £77m |
Harvey Elliott | 19 | Liverpool | England | £44m - £55m |
Nico Williams | 19 | A. Bilbao | Spain | £35m - £51m |
Romeo Lavia | 18 | Southampton | Belgium | £28m - £41m |
Alfie Devine | 17 | Tottenham | England | £25m - £31m |
Ilaix Moriba | 19 | RB Leipzig | Guinea | £25m - £30m |
Fabio Miretti | 18 | Juventus | Italy | £24m - £36m |
Rayan Cherki | 18 | Lyon | France | £24m - £30m |
Hannibal | 19 | Manchester UFC | Tunisia | £29m - £29m |
Carney Chukwuemeka | 18 | Chelsea | England | £23m - £29m |
Warren Zaire-Emery | 16 | PSG | France | £20m - £30m |
Alejandro Garnacho | 17 | Manchester UFC | Argentina | £19m - £28m |
Harvey Vale | 18 | Chelsea | England | £18.5m - £23m |
Charlie Patino | 18 | Arsenal | England | £17m - £35m |
Julio Enciso | 18 | Brighton | Paraguay | £16m - £20m |
Shola Shoretire | 18 | Manchester UFC | England | £13m - £16.5m |
Jordan James | 17 | Birmingham City | Wales | £13m - £16.5m |
Julien Duranville | 16 | Anderlecht | Belgium | £12.5m - £15.5m |
Luka Sucic | 19 | RB Salzburg | Croatia | £12.5m - £14.5m |
Paul Wanner | 16 | Bayern Munich | Germany | £12m - £17.5m |
Ben Doak | 16 | Liverpool | Scotland | £11m - £16m |
Leo Castledine | 16 | Chelsea | England | £11m - £16m |
Archie Gray | 16 | Leeds | England | £11m - £13.5m |
Yaser Asprilla | 18 | Watford | Colombia | £11m - £13.5m |
Fabio Blanco | 18 | Barcelona | Spain | £9.8m - £12m |
Luka Romero | 17 | Lazio | Argentina | £9.4 - £11.5m |
Angelo | 17 | SAN | Brazil | £9m - £13.5m |
Ewan Simpson | 15 | Aston Villa | Scotland | £9m - £13.5m |
Noel Aseko Nkili | 16 | Bayern Munich | Germany | £8.8m - £11m |
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens | 17 | Borussia Dortmund | England | £8.6m - £13m |
Alvaro Bastida | 18 | Cadiz | Spain | £8.6m - £10.5m |
Arda Guler | 17 | Fenerbahce | Turkey | £8.6m - £10.5m |
Charlie Webster | 18 | Chelsea | England | £8.6m - £10m |
Eyup Aydin | 17 | Bayern Munich | Germany | £8m - £12m |
Roony Bardghji | 16 | Kobenhavn | Sweden | £6.4m - £9.4m |
Jobe Bellingham | 16 | Birmingham City | England | £5.8m - £7.2m |
Lovro Zvonarek | 17 | Bayern Munich | Croatia | £5.6m - £6.6m |
Arijon Ibrahimovic | 16 | Bayern Munich | Germany | £3.7m - £7m |
Simone Pafundi | 16 | Udinese | Italy | £3.2m - £6.2m |
Kenan Yildiz | 17 | Juventus | Turkey | £600k -£4m |
Wesley Dual | 16 | Barcelona | Spain | £500k - £1.1m |
Jude Bellingham, Pedri and Florian Wirtz are wonderkid midfielders who are effectively unattainable unless you are managing one of the biggest clubs in the world and have a transfer kitty to match. Signing such players would be a statement, but if you have to work with a small budget, there are still plenty of options available.
Alejandro Garnacho is the type of bright talent that could be available to sign on loan, given that he is not yet a first-team player for Manchester UFC (Manchester United).
Watford's Yaser Asprilla has potential to shine and has already been capped at senior level for Colombia, while Jobe Bellingham - brother of Jude - could follow in his elder sibling's footsteps. Brazilian youngster Angelo could represent value for money if you negotiate a decent deal, while Wesley Dual at Barcelona and Kenan Yildiz at Juventus have fairly low price tags.
You can see more wingers, defensive midfielders and attacking midfielders in the table above.
Football Manager 2023 wonderkid defenders: Best young centre-backs & full-backs
Player | Age | Club | Nat. | VA. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Tino Livramento | 19 | Southampton | England | £70m - £84m |
Nuno Mendes | 20 | PSG | Portugal | £69m - £101m |
Josko Gvardiol | 20 | RB Leizpig | Croatia | £69m - £82m |
Destiny Udogie | 19 | Tottenham | Italy | £43m - £53m |
Giorgio Scalvini | 18 | Atalanta | Italy | £35m - £43m |
Devyne Rensch | 19 | Ajax | Netherlands | £27m - £32m |
Antonio Silva | 18 | Benfica | Portugal | £24m - £30m |
Kaiky | 18 | Almeria | Brazil | £21m - £31m |
Joe Scally | 19 | Borussia M'gladbach | USA | £17m - £21m |
Jesus Vazquez | 19 | Valencia | Spain | £16m - £23m |
Alejandro Balde | 18 | Barcelona | Spain | £13.5m - £20m |
Reuell Walters | 17 | Arsenal | England | £10m - £12m |
Diego Coppola | 18 | Verona | Italy | £9.8m - £14.5m |
Conor Bradley | 18 | Liverpool | Northern Ireland | £9.4m - £14m |
Stefan Bajcetic | 17 | Liverpool | Spain | £8.8m - £13m |
Calvin Ramsey | 18 | Liverpool | Scotland | £8.8m - £13m |
Tayo Adaramola | 18 | Crystal Palace | Ireland | £7.2m - £8.8 |
Jayden Meghoma | 15 | Southampton | England | £6.6m - £10m |
Adam Aznou | 16 | Bayern Munich | Spain | £5.6m - £6.8m |
Arnau Martinez | 19 | Girona | Spain | £4.2m - £6.2m |
Maldini Kacurri | 16 | Arsenal | Albania | £2.9m - £5.6m |
Mateusz Jasinski | 16 | Wolfsburg | Poland | £2m - £3.9m |
Taylan Bulut | 16 | Schalke | Germany | £1.2m - £2.5m |
Paulo Fritschi | 17 | Stuttgart | Germany | £1.1m - £2.2m |
Leandro Morgalla | 17 | 1860 Munchen | Germany | £950k -£2m |
Vincent Manuba | 16 | Bayern Munich | Germany | £950k - £2m |
Joshua Uwakhonye | 16 | Borussia M'gladbach | Germany | £850k - £1.7m |
Benfica have a brilliant young centre-back called Antonio Silva and he could well be the next Ruben Dias, but he'll cost you. Germany, meanwhile is packed full with talented defenders, such as Paulo Fritschi at Stuttgart, Leandro Morgalla of 1860 Munich and Bayern Munich's Vincent Manuba.
Arsenal have a youngster by the name of Maldini in their ranks - 16-year-old Maldini Kacurri - and if he's anything like his namesake from Milan, you'll have a cracking defender on your hands.
Check out the best young centre-backs and full-backs on Football Manager 2023 in the table above.
Football Manager 2023 wonderkid goalkeepers
Player | Age | Club | Nat. | VA. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Gavin Bazunu | 20 | Southampton | Ireland | £33m - £49m |
Anatoli Trubin | 20 | Shakhtar | Ukraine | £30m - £44m |
Gabriel Slonina | 18 | Chelsea | USA | £12.5m - £18.5m |
Josh Griffiths | 20 | West Brom | England | £6.2m - £7.4m |
Ted Curd | 16 | Chelsea | England | £5.4m - £6.4m |
Dennis Seimen | 16 | Stuttgart | Germany | £4m - £6.2m |
Iker Alvarez | 20 | Villarreal | Andorra | £4m - £5.8m |
Luca Podlech | 17 | Schalke | Germany | £1.3m - £2.6m |
Martin Turk | 18 | Parma | Slovenia | £900k - £1.9m |
Maarten Vandevoordt | 20 | Genk | Belgium | £800k - £4.3m |
Tommy Setford | 16 | Ajax | England | £750k - £8.2m |
Alex Padilla | 18 | A. Bilbao | Spain | £450k - £6.2m |
Dogan Alemdar | 19 | Rennes | Turkey | £325k - £3.3m |
Ferran Quetglas | 17 | Real Madrid | Spain | £250k - £2.5m |
Marcelo Pitaluga | 19 | Liverpool | Brazil | £250k - £750k |
If you are a believer in promoting young goalkeeping talents, then you can't go far wrong with Gavin Bazunu or Gabriel Slonina, though you'll likely have to pay a premium. Sixteen-year-old Dennis Seiman at Stuttgart is highly regarded, as is Alex Padilla at Athletic Club.
Marcelo Pitaluga is the Brazilian understudy to Alisson at Liverpool, while Rennes' Turkish shot-stopper Dogan Alemdar is relatively affordable for a full international with lots of senior experience under his belt already.