Football Manager 2012: Best Young Players

Looking for the best wonderkids in FM2012? Hunting for those awesome young players who are destined to be the superstars of tomorrow? Well my list of the best young players in Football Manager 2012 is finally done, at least the first draft anyway.

These players all appeared when I set up a game with the English and Scottish leagues and a Medium Database. They all have the potential to be useful, some can slot straight into the top teams, but they mostly have a big price tag. There are also some great prospects you can pick up fairly cheaply and mould into great players.

The values are their starting values on day one in the game. You’ll obviously have to pay more than that for many of them. Quite a few of them can be picked up on loan deals as well so always worth checking out.

Let me know how you get on and please post a comment if you have suggestions for some FM 2012 wonderkids of your own.

Goalkeepers (GK)

Jack Butland, 17, Birmingham, £500k

Laurentiu Branescu, 17, Juventus, £850k

 

Alphonse Areola, 18, PSG, £900k

Maxym Koval, 18, Dynamo Kyiv, £1.4M

Matej Delac, 18, Ceske Budejovice, £1.5M

 

Luis Guilherme, 19, Botafogo, £800k

Marc-Andre ter Stegen, 19, Monchengladbach, £2.3M

Thibaut Courtois, 19, Chelsea, £7.75M

 

Jason Steele, 20, Middlesbrough, £1.2M

Pierrick Cros, 20, Sochaux, £1.6M

David De Gea, 20, Manchester United, £17.25M

 

Alex Smithies, 21, Huddersfield, £800k

Rafael, 21, Santos, £2.4M

Wojciech Szczesny, 21, Arsenal, £4.1M

 

Central Defenders (DC)

Nathan Ake, 16, Chelsea, £230k

Daniele Rugani, 16, Empoli, £1.1M

Nathaniel Chalobah, 16, Chelsea, £2.4M

 

Tobias Figueiredo, 17, Sporting, £425k

Monty Gimpel, 17, Leeds United, £725k

Giuseppe Prestia, 17, Empoli, £1.2M

 

Tiago Ilori, 18, Sporting, £375k

Ignasi Miguel, 18, Arsenal, £525k

Tomas Kalas, 18, Chelsea, £1.7M

Raphael Varane, 18, Real Madrid, £4M

 

Siyanda Xulu, 19, Sundowns, £140k

Diego Polenta, 19, Bari, £1.2M

Shane Duffy, 19, Everton, £1.6M

Nicolai Boilesen, 19, Ajax, £1.8M

Marc Muniesa, 19, Barcelona, £2.1M

Danny Wilson, 19, Liverpool, £3.2M

Jon Aurtenetxe, 19, Athletic Bilbao, £3.5M

Grant Hanley, 19, Blackburn, £3.7M

Kyriakos Papadopoulos, 19, Schalke, £4.4M

Joel Matip, 19, Schalke, £4.7M

Phil Jones, 19, Manchester United, £16.5M

 

Roderick Miranda, 20, Servette, £850k

Sergiy Kryvtsov, 20, Shakhtar Donetsk, £1.8M

Kyle Bartley, 20, Arsenal, £2.7M

Jonathan Mensah, 20, Evian, £3.2M

Dedryck Boyata, 20, Manchester City, £3.6M

Ezequiel Munoz, 20, Palermo, £4M

Marc Bartra, 20, Barcelona, £4.2M

Mateo Musacchio, 20, Villarreal, £4.8M

Stefan Savic, 20, Manchester City, £6M

Sebastian Coates, 20, Liverpool, £7.25M

 

Ryan Bennett, 21, Peterborough, £275k

Craig Dawson, 21, West Brom, £2.4M

Yaroslav Rakitskyi, 21, Shakhtar Donetsk, £2.5M

Breno, 21, Bayern Munich, £2.7M

Omer Toprak, 21, Leverkusen, £3.4M

Martin Kelly, 21, Liverpool, £3.4M

Ciaran Clark, 21, Aston Villa, £3.7M

Nicolas Nkoulou, 21, Olympique Marseilles, £4.2M

Chris Smalling, 21, Manchester United, £4.7M

Mamadou Sakho, 21, PSG, £6.25M

 

Left Backs (DL, WBL)

Jack Robinson, 17, Liverpool, £1.9M

 

Alex Sandro, 20, Porto, £3.6M

Fabio, 20, Manchester United, £4.7M

 

Kevin Theophile-Catherine, 21, Stade Rennais, £2.1M

Arman Traore, 21, Q.P.R., £2.8M

Ryan Bertrand, 21, Chelsea, £3.3M

Kieran Gibbs, 21, Arsenal, £4.1M

Jose Angel, 21, Roma, £4.9M

 

Right Backs (DR, WBR)

Romario, 17, Vitoria, £1.1M

 

Serge Aurier, 18, Lens, £1.9M

John Flanagan, 18, Liverpool, £3M

 

Nika Kvekveskiri, 19, Dinamo Tibilisi, £725k

Sime Vrsaljko, 19, Dinamo, £1M

Adam Matthews, 19, Celtic, £1M

Lee Hodson, 19, Watford, £1.2M

James Hurst, 19, Blackpool, £1.6M

 

Sebastien Corchia, 20, Sochaux, £2.9M

Martin Montoya, 20, Barcelona, £3.2M

Mario, 20, Villarreal, £3.4M

Mario Fernandes, 20, Gremio, £3.7M

Davide Santon, 20, Newcastle, £5.25M

Rafael, 20, Manchester United, £7M

 

Jordan Spence, 21, Bristol City, £1M

Michel, 21, Almeria, £2.1M

Dennis Diekmeier, 21, HSV, £3.1M

Timothy Chandler, 21, Nurnberg, £3.5M

Kyle Walker, 21, Tottenham, £3.8M

Cesar Azpilicueta, 21, Olympique Marseilles, £4M

 

Defensive Midfielders (DMC)

Emre Can, 17, Bayern Munich, £1.3M

 

Lorenzo Crisetig, 18, Inter, £1.6M

George Thorne, 18, West Brom, £2.3M

 

Emmanuel Frimpong, 19, Arsenal, £2.4M

Casemiro, 19, Sao Paolo, £3.7M

Oriol Romeu, 19, Chelsea, £4.3M

 

Kamohelo Mokotjo, 20, Feyenoord, £1.3M

Josuha Guilavogui, 20, Saint-Ettiene, £1.9M

Eliaquim Mangala, 20, Porto, £2.1M

Romulo, 20, Vasco, £2.7M

Francis Coquelin, 20, Arsenal, £2.9M

 

Kara, 21, Tromso, £975k

Amine Linganzi, 21, Blackburn, £2M

Christoph Moritz, 21, Schalke, £2.9M

Taras Stepanenko, 21, Shakhtar Donetsk, £3M

Andrea Poli, 21, Inter, £3M

Dan Gosling, 21, Newcastle, £3.1M

Havard Nordtveit, 21, Gladbach, £3.3M

Ignacio Camacho, 21, Malaga, £3.5M

Yann M’Vila, 21, Stade Rennais, £4.8M

 

Central Midfielders (MC)

Tomas Podstawski, 16, Porto, £375k

Robbie Cotton, 16, Blackburn, £950k

 

Amato Ciciretti, 17, Roma, £750k

Ross Barkley, 17, Everton, £3.2M

 

Ryan Tunnicliffe, 18, Peterborough, £750k

Florent Cuvelier, 18, Stoke, £975k

Zakaria Labyad, 18, PSV, £1.4M

Felipe Anderson, 18, Santos, £2.8M

Paul Pogba, 18, Manchester United, £2.7M

Josh McEachran, 18, Chelsea, £4.6M

 

Liam Palmer, 19, Sheffield Wednesday, £240k

Tolga Cigerci, 19, Wolfsburg, £2.8M

Jonjo Shelvey, 19, Liverpool, £3.3M

Danilo, 19, Santos, £3.6M

Pajtim Kasami, 19, Fulham, £3.6M

David Alaba, 19, Bayern Munich, £3.8M

 

Tom Cairney, 20, Hull, £1.5M

Lukman Haruna, 20, Dynamo Kyiv, £1.5M

Jordi Clasie, 20, Feyenoord, £1.6M

Korey Smith, 20, Norwich, £2.1M

Andrea Bertolacci, 20, Roma, £2.5M

Henri Lansbury, 20, West Ham, £2.9M

Mubarak Wakaso, 20, Villarreal, £3.2M

James McCarthy, 20, Wigan, £3.6M

Ilkay Gundogan, 20, Dortmund, £4.6M

Jack Rodwell, 20, Everton, £5.25M

Aaron Ramsey, 20, Arsenal, £5.25M

 

Andile Jali, 21, Orlando Pirates, £350k

Aron Gunnarsson, 21, Cardiff, £975k

Denys Garmash, 21, Dynamo Kyiv, £1.3M

Kevin Strootman, 21, PSV, £2.9M

Marco Hoger, 21, Schalke, £3.3M

Barry Bannan, 21, Aston Villa, £3.7M

Sebastian Rudy, 21, Hoffenheim, £3.9M

Mehmet Ekici, 21, Werder Bremen, £4.3M

Fabian Delph, 21, Aston Villa, £4.4M

Leroy Fer, 21, Twente, £4.8M

Ander Herrera, 21, Athletic, £5M

Moussa Sissoko, 21, Toulousse, £5.75M

Andre Ayew, 21, Olympique Marseilles, £7M

Toni Kroos, 21, Bayern Munich, £8M

Jordan Henderson, 21, Liverpool, £16M

 

Left Midfielders (ML, AML)

Ricardo Kishna, 16, Ajax, £650k

 

Joel Campbell, 19, Arsenal, £2.9M

Pablo Sarabia, 19, Getafe, £3.5M

Gokhan Tore, 19, HSV, £3.8M

Adem Ljajic, 19, Fiorentina, £4.8M

 

Yassine El Ghanassy, 20, Gent, £600k

Jerson Cabral, 20, Feyenoord, £1.8M

Frederic Bulot, 20, Caen, £2.3M

Magaye Gueye, 20, Everton, £3.5M

Gaston Ramirez, 20, Bologna, £4.4M

Antoine Griezmann, 20, Real Sociedad, £5.5M

Andre Schurrle, 20, Leverkusen, £5.75M

 

Martin Zeman, 21, Admira, £400k

Nacer Chadli, 21, Twente, £2.4M

Yohan Mollo, 21, Granada, £2.9M

Konstantin Rausch, 21, Hannover, £3.8M

Andriy Yarmolenko, 21, Dynamo Kyiv, £4.1M

Eugene Konoplyanka, 21, Dnipro, £4.3M

Gareth Bale, 21, Tottenham, £10M

 

Right Midfielders (MR, AMR)

Adnan Januzaj, 16, Manchester United, £600k

Bruma, 16, Sporting, £650k

Raheem Sterling, 16, Liverpool, £1.8M

 

Zeli Ismail, 17, Wolves, £1.4M

Gerard Deulofeu, 17, Barcelona, £3.8M

Alex Chamberlain, 17, Arsenal, £12M

 

Juan Iturbe, 18, Porto, £1.2M

Stephan El Shaarawy, 18, Milan/Genoa, £2.8M

 

James Forrest, 19, Celtic, £1.2M

Xherda Shaqiri, 19, Basel, £2.5M

Christian Clemens, 19, Koln, £3.8M

 

Bebe, 20, Besiktas, £2.3M

Henri Saivet, 20, Bordeaux, £2.3M

Kiko Femenia, 20, Barcelona, £4.2M

 

Ivan Tomecak, 21, Dinamo, £875k

Junior Stanislas, 21, Burnley, £1.2M

Younes Belhanda, 21, Montpellier, £2.7M

Marcel Risse, 21, Mainz, £3.3M

Vladimir Weiss, 21, Manchester City, £3.3M

Junior Hoilett, 21, Blackburn, £4.2M

Eduardo Salvio, 21, Atletico Madrid, £4.3M

Ryad Boudebouz, 21, Sochaux, £4.4M

Marc Albrighton, 21, Aston Villa, £4.5M

Gabriel Torje, 21, Udinese, £4.6M

 

Attacking Midfielders (AMC)

Tony Trindade de Vilhena, 16, Feyenoord, £625k

Muhammed Demirci, 16, Besiktas, £800k

Adryan, 16, Flamengo, £925k

Lorenzo Tassi, 16, Inter/Brescia, £1.3M

 

Bryan Rabello, 17, Colo Colo, £750k

Denis, 17, Manchester City, £875k

Abdallah Yaisien, 17, PSG, £925k

Mateo Kovacic, 17, Dinamo, £1M

Viktor Fischer, 17, Ajax, £1.1M

Suso, 17, Liverpool, £1.7M

Julian Draxler, 17, Schalke, £4.5M

 

Erick Torres, 18, Chivas, £900k

Haris Vuckic, 18, Newcastle, £1.9M

Rafinha, 18, Barcelona, £2.6M

Jano, 18, Spartak Moscow, £2.8M

Lucas Moura, 18, Sao Paolo, £5.25M

 

Eyal Golasa, 19, Maccabi Haifa, £250k

John Fleck, 19, Rangers, £1.1M

Filip Djuricic, 19, Heerenveen, £1.8M

Christian Eriksen, 19, Ajax, £3.4M

Oscar, 19, Internacional , £4M

Roberto Firmino, 19, Hoffenheim, £4.2M

Eric Lamela, 19, Roma, £4.3M

Coutinho, 19, Inter, £4.4M

James Rodríguez, 19, Porto, £4.5M

Jack Wilshere, 19, Arsenal, £8M

Mario Gotze, 19, Dortmund, £10.5M

 

Clement Grenier, 20, Lyon, £1.8M

Levan Kenia, 20, Schalke, £2.2M

Douglas Costa, 20, Shakhtar Donetsk, £3.4M

Gael Kakuta, 20, Chelsea, £3.9M

Georginio Wijnaldum, 20, PSV, £4.3M

Lewis Holtby, 20, Schalke, £5.5M

Sergio Canales, 20, Valencia, £5.75M

Thiago, 20, Barcelona, £5.75M

Eden Hazard, 20, Lille, £7.25M

 

Iago Falque, 21, Juventus, £2.4M

Alex Teixeira, 21, Shakhtar Donetsk, £2.8M

Jan Moravek, 21, Schalke, £3.2M

Sofiane Feghouli, 21, Valencia, £3.3M

Giuliano, 21, Dnipro, £4M

Gylfi Sigurdsson, 21, Hoffenheim, £4.1M

Alan Dzagoev, 21, CSKA Moscow, £5M

Miralem Pjanic, 21, Roma, £5.5M

Tom Cleverley, 21, Manchester United, £5.5M

Ganso, 21, Santos, £6M

Thomas Muller, 21, Bayern Munich, £14.75M

 

Forwards (FC, ST)

Andy Polo, 16, Universitario, £275k

Jean Marie Dongou, 16, Barcelona, £325k

Carlos Fierro, 16, Chivas, £700k

Hervin Ongenda, 16, PSG, £1.2M

Adam Campbell, 16, Newcastle, £1.2M

Souleymane Coulibaly, 16, Tottenham, £1.5M

Mbaye Niang, 16, Caen, £1.9M

 

Vitinho, 17, Botafogo, £425k

Marco Antonio Bueno, 17, Pachuca, £650k

Anass Achahbar, 17, Feyenoord, £800k

Lucas Piazon, 17, Sao Paolo, £950k

Lenny Nangis, 17, Caen, £1.1M

Marko Livaja, 17, Cesena, £1.5M

 

Miguel Medina, 18, Udinese, £1.5M

Yaya Sanogo, 18, Auxerre, £1.7M

Kevin Volland, 18, Hoffenheim, £3.1M

Ryo Miyaichi, 18, Arsenal, £3.2M

Leandro, 18, Gremio, £3.3M

Luc Castaignos, 18, Inter, £3.5M

Alvaro Morata, 18, Real Madrid, £4.5M

Son Heung-Min, 18, HSV, £4.9M

Iker Muniain, 18, Athletic, £5.5M

Connor Wickham, 18, Sunderland, £8M

Romelu Lukaku, 18, Chelsea, £10.5M

 

Vaclav Kadlec, 19, Sparta Prague, £1.2M

Jose Baxter, 19, Everton, £1.5M

Nelson Oliveira, 19, Benfica, £2.2M

Vincent Aboubakar, 19, Valenciennes, £3M

Chris Wood, 19, West Brom, £3.2M

Jordan Ayew, 19, Olympique Marseilles, £4.3M

Federico Macheda, 19, Manchester United, £4.6M

Neymar, 19, Santos, £6.75M

 

Leigh Griffiths, 20, Wolves, £150k

Shane Sutherland, 20, Inverness CT, £500k

Andre, 20, Dynamo Kyiv, £1.7M

Yannis Tafer, 20, Lyon, £1.8M

Luuk de Jong, 20, Twente, £2M

Ji Dong-Won, 20, Sunderland, £2M

Fode Koita, 20, Montpellier, £2.2M

Rodrigo, 20, Benfica, £2.5M

Nile Ranger, 20, Newcastle, £2.7M

Lacina Traore, 20, Kuban, £3M

Mattia Destro, 20, Genoa, £3.2M

Nathan Delfouneso, 20, Aston Villa, £3.4M

Alvaro, 20, Espanyol, £4.2M

Abel Hernandez, 20, Palermo, £6.5M

Danny Welbeck, 20, Manchester United, £7M

Bojan, 20, Roma, £7.75M

Mario Balotelli, 20, Manchester City, £9M

 

Jay Rodriguez, 21, Burnley, £2.5M

Jozy Altidore, 21, AZ, £3M

Guido Marilungo, 21, Atalanta, £3.6M

Kleber, 21, Porto, £3.9M

Leandro Damiao, 21, Internacional, £4.6M

Emilio Nsue, 21, Mallorca, £4.8M

Daniel Sturridge, 21, Chelsea, £5.5M

Stevan Jovetic, 21, Fiorentina, £9.25M

Pato, 21, Milan, £27.5M

 


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25 responses to “Football Manager 2012: Best Young Players”

  1. Manager Avatar
    Manager

    Thanks for this great list, but why cant i find some of those players? For example, Kishna (Ajax), Ake and Chalobah (Chelsea), i cant find them anywhere. Neither in the first, second or in one of the youth teams. Do you have an idea why they dont exist in my game, or if i’m just stupid, where can i find them?

  2. Simon Hill Avatar

    Some players start out on loan but you should still be able to see them at their owner club. Sometimes it depends on the size of database and the leagues that you have chosen during set up so maybe that’s it.

  3. Asnad Avatar
    Asnad

    I’m wondering. Alvaro Morata is written “Alvaro Morata, 18, Real Madrid, £4.5M” but, i heard £2.5M
    Which is correct?

  4. Simon Hill Avatar

    He’s £4.5 million at the start of my game.

  5. Fonda Avatar

    Saved as a favorite, I enjoy your blog! 🙂

  6. ryan salter Avatar
    ryan salter

    You missed nathan redmond and curtis nelson both quality

  7. Simon Hill Avatar

    I’ll check them out, thanks

  8. Aaron Coombs Avatar
    Aaron Coombs

    Lucas Andersen is quality on this game. I think he’s about 16 at the start, bagged him for 600k with Southampton, now he’s banging goals and assists in left right and centre. Also, Gaston Ramirez is just as good. Luke Shaw is a very good young left back, once trained and nurtured.

  9. alez Avatar
    alez

    Radja Nainggolan from Cagliari is excellent central midfielder too. You should add him to your list.

  10. Simon Hill Avatar

    Thanks for the tip I’ll check him out.

  11. Aidan Avatar
    Aidan

    Sam Magri of Portsmouth and Holger Badstuber (bayern munich i think) both centre backs and form a great partnership and Sam Magri says he thinks he can learn a lot from Badstuber

  12. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    OMFG, THANKS A LOT!!!!!!!

  13. Anon Avatar
    Anon

    You should check out a goalkeeper Bernd Leno. I have him for my sunderland team. He had an average rating of 8.10 in the first season and only let 15 goal past him !! Also Mario Gotze plays in AMC he needs to be retrained to play in ML and some training to become a natural in AML. Other than that was helpful 🙂 You pointed me in the direction of N. Oliveira and so far so good in pre season. Just need to nuture him some more and pay off my debts from buying Jovetic.

  14. Simon Hill Avatar

    Leno sounds awesome, I’ll look for him, moved Gotze you’re right his best position is AMC. Cheers 🙂

  15. barca lover Avatar
    barca lover

    Abdallah Yaisien is no longer in Football Manager 2012 handheld. Any idea?

  16. Simon Hill Avatar

    Maybe the database in the handheld version is smaller? Does it let you choose a size when you set up a game?

  17. Grazie mille Avatar
    Grazie mille

    Thx a lot check yaya soumahoro nebojsa milencic and rafal wolski

  18. Vitor Takashi Avatar
    Vitor Takashi

    what about Kurt Zouma, from Saint-Etienne?

  19. MILORD Avatar
    MILORD

    Check out Lazar Markovic,Nikola Ninkovic and Nikola Aksentijevic from Partizan,Serbia.And you have one great dmc in Pas Giannina,Greece.

  20. Michael Kimpton Avatar
    Michael Kimpton

    my young team as followed:
    GK: Branescu.
    RB: Varela.
    CB: Zouma.
    CB: Okore.
    LB: Dodo.
    CM: Alcantara Thiago.
    CM: Gundogan.
    RW: Zaha.
    AM: Nick Powell.
    LW: Nikao.
    ST: Fierro.

    And these boys know how to attack and defend, as it states ” there’s no point in taking the lead if you can’t defend it!!!!!!!

    Wilfried Zaha is classed as a striker but he scores well into double figures from the right wing too. Kurt Zouma has a brother too called Lionel Zouma, you should check him out too.

  21. Simon Hill Avatar

    Great tips thanks! I’ll check them out.

  22. Ethan van Rooy Avatar
    Ethan van Rooy

    What patch are you using for FM12??

  23. John Avatar
    John

    im gonna sound proper stupid now but im playing Football Manager Handheld 2012 PSP version. at the beggining Game Setups you can choose the leagues you want included, does that alter what players are available in that saved game?

  24. Jack M Avatar
    Jack M

    You forgot Marco veratti at CDM who can be picked up for under 2mil (I managed to get him on a free when his contract ran out). Matija nastasic at CB, and gianluca caprari at AMR.

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