It’s that time of year again. The leaves are turning, the clocks go back, and a subsection of PC gamers while away the autumnal evenings looking at spreadsheets of promising teenaged attacking midfielders. Football Manager 2024 is here, and would you believe it; there are some wonderkids in the database again this year.
Wonderkids are young players with high potential ability ratings (a hidden stat in-game) and a tendency to reach that PA stat early in their career. Many of them are much cheaper at the start of your game than they will be after a few seasons when their strong performances drive their reputation stat (also hidden in-game), their transfer value, and their wage expectations upwards.
The idea is, you buy them before they blow up, and then either get ten great years of football out of them or sell them on for a profit—concepts that Todd Boehly would find terribly quaint, but that yield fantastic results in both FM and the real game.
How we chose our wonderkids
Wonderkids are cheap players with decent potential (Image credit: Sports Interactive)
There are dozens of wonderkids in each position in the FM24, and if you want to see them all, we recommend visiting FM Scout’s excellent wonderkids guide. What you’ll find below is a more curated selection. All these players are currently earning under £5k/week, which is some indication that they haven’t been discovered and become global superstars yet.
Most of the players here are at clubs they could be tempted away from, particularly if you have deep pockets or a particularly prestigious badge. There are exceptions, like Barcelona’s Marc Bernal, who are already at the top tier of clubs, but even Bernal’s head can be turned at the start of the game and based on his current value to potential rating ratio, it’s worth spending big in 2023 to sell even bigger five years down the line.
With the rationale laid out then, let’s hunt for some wonderkids.
Goalkeepers
Here are the best wonderkid goalkeepers in FM24:
Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro
Age: 19Club: AZNationality: DutchSalary: 0.5K/week
Jack Thompson
Age: 16Club: DerbyNationality: EnglishSalary: 0.2K/week
Bartosz Zelasowski
Age: 18Club: OGC NiceNationality: PolishSalary: 0.1K/week
Central defenders
Here are the best wonderkid central defenders in FM24:
Chadi Riyad
Age: 20Club: Real HispalisNationality: MoroccanSalary: 3K/week
Jorrel Hato
Age: 17Club: AjaxNationality: DutchSalary: 3K/week
Martin Vitik
Age: 20Club: Sparta PragueNationality: CzechSalary: 3K/week
Full-backs (left)
Here are the best wonderkid left full-backs in FM24:
Matteo Ruggeri
Age: 20Club: AtalantaNationality: ItalianSalary: 1K/week
Harvey Araujo
Age: 18Club: FulhamNationality: EnglishSalary: 0.4K/week
Alex Valle
Age: 19Club: LevanteNationality: SpanishSalary: 2K/week
Full-backs (right)
Here are the best wonderkid right full-backs in FM24:
Filippo Missori
Age: 19Club: SassuoloNationality: ItalianSalary: 0.9K/week
Michael Kayode
Age: 19Club: FiorentinaNationality: ItalianSalary: 0.2K/week
Arnau Martinez
Age: 20Club: GironaNationality: SpanishSalary: 3K/week
Defensive midfielders
Here are the best wonderkid defensive midfielders in FM24:
Adam Wharton
Age: 19Club: BlackburnNationality: EnglishSalary: 5K/week
Giacomo Faticanti
Age: 18Club: SalentoNationality: ItalianSalary: 2K/week
Marc Bernal
Age: 16Club: BarcelonaNationality: SpanishSalary: 0.7K/week
Central midfielders
Here are the best wonderkid central midfielders in FM24:
Archie Gray
Age: 17Club: LeedsNationality: EnglishSalary: 1K/week
Assan Ouedraogo
Age: 17Club: LeedsNationality: EnglishSalary: 1K/week
Joao Veloso
Age: 18Club: BenficaNationality: PortugueseSalary: 3K/week
Left wingers
Here are the best wonderkid left wingers in FM24:
Mikey Moore
Age: 15Club: TottenhamNationality: EnglishSalary: 0.1K/week
Joao Rego
Age: 18Club: Benfica Nationality: PortugueseSalary: 3K/week
Kendry Paez
Age: 16Club: Independiente del ValleNationality: EcuadorianSalary: 0.1K/week
Right wingers
Here are the best wonderkid right wingers in FM24:
Lamine Yamal
Age: 15Club: BarcelonaNationality: SpanishSalary: 0.1K/week
Shea Lacey
Age: 16Club: Man UtdNationality: EnglishSalary: 0.1K/week
Ben Doak
Age: 17Club: LiverpoolNationality: ScottishSalary: 3K/week
Central attacking midfielders
Here are the best wonderkid central attacking midfielders in FM24:
Estevao
Age: 16Club: SEPNationality: BrazilianSalary: 0.2K/week
Jano Monserrate
Age: 17Club: Real Zaragoza BNationality: SpanishSalary: 0.3K/week
Junior Kroupi
Age: 17Club: FC LorientNationality: FrenchSalary: 3K/week
Strikers
Here are the best wonderkid left strikers in FM24:
Endrick
Age: 16Club: SEPNationality: BrazilianSalary: 3K/week
Gabriel Silva
Age: 16Club: Sporting CPNationality: PortugueseSalary: 0.1K/week
Enzo Sternal
Age: 16Club: OMNationality: FrenchSalary: 0.6K/week
