Strategy for Buying Old Players

written by Guldmann

To get you going and improve your team in the first couple of weeks, I recommend buying old players, as you can get those very cheap. Look for players who are 30-32 years or older as the price take a steep dive around there. Keep your eye on CO (constitution, the player's stamina) and look for weak, but he will need decent to finish a match without getting tired.

Key for using the Transfer List and this guide:

30-39 weak
40-49 dec
50-59 good
60-69 exc
70-79 sup
80-89 bri
90-100 awe

Central defenders (CB)
Try looking for at least: 60 Tackling, 60 Defensive positioning. If you can get 70+ it is good, but 60+ together with some experience will do just fine to start with. Some AE is nice, but usually not necessary in the lowest divisions.

Backs (LB, RB, LWB, RWB)
50 tackling, 60 defensive positioning, 40 constitution, 50 passing (and if you want them to not lose the ball) 40 ball control and 30 offensive positioning.

Centre midfielders (CM, OM, DM)
Pretty much the same as the above will give you a good well-rounded midfielder. You will need more passing though, so go for 60+ at least. 40+ Ball control and 30 Tackling.

Side midfielders (LM, RM, LW, RW)
These need more offensive positioning, so set the requirement at 50+. Other than that, they are the same as central midfielders (and backs). Positioning is more important on the flanks/sides of the pitch, so you can have lower Ball Control when buying side midfielders.

Attackers (FW, ST)
There are several kinds of attackers.

Offensive positioning attacker: Go for 70+ offensive positioning and 50+ Scoring and 40 Ball Control.

Ball control attacker: Go for 70+ Ball control and 50+ scoring and 50 Offensive Positioning.

Well-rounded attacker: Go for 60+ Ball control, 60+ offensive positioning and 60+ scoring.

Aerial attacker: Go for 60+ aerial, 50+ scoring and 50+ offensive positioning and 60 ball control.

Goalkeepers (GK)

70+ Reflexes, 60+ goalkeeper positioning, 40+ interceptions, 50+ control, 30+ organisation. The first two (RE, GP) are easily the most important, then CT, IN, OR.

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Keep in mind that these examples are the minimum, current numbers for players at least 30 years old. I would go for 32 years of age though. Don't pay more than 1,000 a player (except Goalkeepers) and actually, try to keep it lower than that.