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Ryan Pessoa's FIFA 22 Career Mode guide: the best young midfielders
Ryan reveals the emerging talents and shrewd investments he thinks will thrive in your team's engine room.
FIFA 22 Career Mode should be an impressive upgrade over what has come before, boasting the ability to build your own club from scratch for the first time, something the developers admit is one of the game's most requested features. But how do you make sure your club reaches for the stars rather than rolling in the mud?
Looking for young players with high potential is a good start...
"Whether you're new to Career Mode for FIFA 22 or a veteran of many past campaigns, it's important to understand the value of young players to club-building," says Ryan Pessoa. "This isn't the sort of mode where you can just go and buy Messi, Mbappé and Neymar on day one. You will need to make sensible decisions about who you sign. Looking for young players with high potential is a good start. Midfield is a particularly key area for this, as a solid midfielder or wide player can keep you going for years."
We've been digging through the database ahead of the launch of FIFA 22 to identify some good candidates to build teams around, and the below line-up of midfielders should give you something to invest in. Each one of these folks is 20 years old or younger at the start of the game cycle, giving you years of potential to unlock as they make strides in FIFA 22 Career.
Ansu Fati (LW) - Barcelona - Potential Rating 90, Current Rating 76
A product of Barcelona's famous La Masia academy, Ansu Fati is one of the bright sparks still glowing in a season of turmoil at Camp Nou. Already capped four times for the senior Spanish squad, with a goal to his name against Ukraine in September 2020, Fati is a diminutive wide forward who can play on the left side of midfield or attack in FIFA 22.
Bukayo Saka (LB) - Arsenal - PR 88, CR 80
Arsenal fans don't have a lot of reasons to be cheerful going into the 2020-21 season, but Bukayo Saka is definitely one. The immensely talented young full-back is another who likes to play on the attack, and his strong performances in the summer made him part of the squad that took England to the final of Euro 2020.
Billy Gilmour (CM) - Norwich City - PR 86, CR 72
One of the best young Scottish midfielders in recent memory, 20-year-old Gilmour is a Chelsea player currently on loan at fellow Premier League side Norwich City. His first international start for Scotland was in his country's 0-0 draw against England at Wembley in Euro 2020 -- talk about a baptism of fire -- and he has six caps overall.
Eduardo Camavinga (CM) - Real Madrid - PR 89, CR 78
French midfielder Eduardo Camavinga was a popular FIFA player during his seasons at Rennes, so expect his profile to explode now that he has moved to Real Madrid. He is the youngest player to play for the French national team in over 100 years, and this is hardly an era in which the French team is struggling to find talented midfielders. Put him in your Career Mode team and you can expect to build around him for a long time.
Giovanni Reyna (CAM) - Borussia Dortmund - PR 87, CR 77
Son of Manchester City and Sunderland midfielder Claudio Reyna, Gio was actually born in England, but grew up in the States. He played with the New York City FC academy early in his career, then moved to Borussia Dortmund's academy in 2019. Since then, he has fought his way into the first team, has played over 50 times, and has made nearly a dozen appearances for his country, all at just 18 years of age.
Jadon Sancho (RM) - Manchester United - PR 91, CR 87
Not the first highly promising English midfielder to excel in Germany and then move to Manchester United, Sancho was a long-term target of the Red Devils, and achieved his dream of signing for them after being part of the England team that made it to the final of Euro 2020. The fact that his hefty fee has been overshadowed by United re-signing Cristiano Ronaldo will be useful, but this talented player already knows what he's doing.
Jamal Musiala (CM) - Bayern Munich - PR 88, CR 75
A Chelsea academy graduate, Musiala has been with Bayern Munich since 2019, and already has over 30 appearances under his belt and a hatful of goals from an attacking midfield position. Most recently his performances in the Champions League have lit up the weeknight competition. All this and he is just 18 years old. Expect to see his name a lot in the years to come - especially if you sign him in FIFA 22 Career Mode!
Jude Bellingham (CM) - Borussia Dortmund - PR 89, CR 79
Bellingham is only 18 years old, but he has already left such an indelible mark on his footballing colleagues that Birmingham City actually retired his number 22 shirt after he left for Borussia Dortmund. If that sounds a bit crazy, watching him perform in the Champions League ought to help you understand his quality -- at the time of writing, he was most recently seen dismantling Besiktas with help from Erling Haaland. Expect the young Englishman to be linked with Premier League clubs for years to come.
Mason Greenwood (RM) - Manchester United - PR 89, CR 78
Emerging from the Manchester United academy into the first team is no guarantor of future success with the club -- just ask poor old bench-warming Jesse Lingard -- but 19-year-old Greenwood seems to be making the most of his opportunities as he matures, confidently banging in goals in a team that has Edinson Cavani and Cristiano Ronaldo among its attacking options. He won't be as cheap as some others on this list, but if you can get him, he will be a versatile attacking option for you.
Pedri (LM) - Barcelona - PR 91, CR 81
Pedro González López, known as "Pedri", has had a pretty exciting couple of years. In fact, he's barely paused for breath, playing full seasons for Las Palmas and Barcelona and appearing for Spain at Euro 2020 and the Olympics back to back. The versatile central midfielder is great on the ball and those at Camp Nou will be hoping he can form the bedrock of a successful new midfield dynasty in the future.
Ryan Gravenberch (CM) - Ajax - PR 90, CR 78
Ajax has been producing brilliant youth players for longer than we can remember (indeed, longer than most of us have been alive), and Ryan Gravenberch is a textbook example of a clever, powerful holding midfielder who is comfortable with the ball at his feet. Already capped a handful of times for the Netherlands senior team, he has spent his whole career at Ajax, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him end up somewhere bigger before too long. Make it your FIFA 22 Career Mode team and you won't be complaining.
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