Football Manager 23 Best Right-backs
Profiles on some of the best right-backs you can sign on your FM23 saves
We cover youth football and we love Football Manager. We’ve combined both to compile a list of the young right-backs that you should start scouting on your FM23 saves. These aren’t necessarily “best” but they’re interesting prospects for clubs across the spectrum of football.
They’re players that we like in real-life that look good in FM23. For more, check out our extensive talent lists and in-depth player profiles. Scroll down for our profiles, or click below for more.
What roles can right-backs play in Football Manager 23?
Right-back is one of the most interesting positions in Football Manager 23. You can really change your team’s play style dramatically just by how you deploy them. The different roles are as following:
• Full-Back
• Wing-Back
• No-Nonsense Full-Back
• Complete Wing-Back
• Inverted Wing-Back
Each role serves a very different function. Inverted Wing-Back has become a fan favourite despite the unusual nature of the role, which sees the right-back tuck inside when your team has possession to help facilitate the build-up play, or to attack space as a dribbler, while maintaining their width out of possession.
The other four roles can be put on a spectrum from No-Nonsense Full-Back to Full-Back to Wing-Back and then to Complete Wing-Back in order of their attacking nature. The No-Nonsense role will typically suit lower-level right-backs with poor technical ability, allowing them to focus purely on their defensive role.
Full-Backs will still look to defend, but also offer width when needed as an overlapping runner. Wing-Backs will look to be more aggressive in all aspects of the play, while Complete Wing-Backs are attack first options that generally need to be supported by a midfielder that will stay deep and support them defensively.
What attributes are important for right-backs in Football manager 23?
Obviously, this is role dependent, but generally a core facet of a right-backs game will be their physical attributes. No-Nonsense Full-Backs will require strength predominantly, while the other roles all require good speed and stamina in order to cover the flank for a full 90-minute match.
In terms of mental attributes, positioning, concentration, decision-making, anticipation and off the ball are all crucial. In a match, right-backs need to make so many choices about their positioning and how much they can commit to an attack without allowing themselves to be exposed defensively, while some of those other attributes are critical for final third movement execution.
As (mostly) defence-first players, the technical focus will rely mainly on marking and tackling. Crossing will also be crucial, especially in a lower-level team that plays a more direct style. Then as you move up the divisions some of the more attacking attributes will come into play: technique, passing, dribbling and first touch. Long throws are also definitely worth training if your right-back shows potential in that regard.
Who are the best right-backs in Football Manager 23?
| NAME | AGE | CLUB | OVERALL | POTENTIAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Alexander-Arnold | 23 | Liverpool | 87 | 90 |
| Kyle Walker | 32 | Manchester City | 85 | 85 |
| Reece James | 22 | Chelsea FC | 84 | 88 |
| Achraf Hakimi | 23 | Paris Saint-Germain | 84 | 87 |
| Kieran Tripper | 31 | Newcastle United | 84 | 84 |
| Dani Carvajal | 30 | Real Madrid | 84 | 84 |
| Juan Cuadrado | 34 | Juventus | 83 | 83 |
| Jesús Navas | 36 | Sevilla | 83 | 83 |
| Ricardo Pereira | 28 | Leicester City | 83 | 83 |
| Noussair Mazraoui | 24 | Ajax | 82 | 86 |
Tino Livramento
- Position: RB, RWB
- Club: Southampton (ENG)
- Country: England
While Tino Livramento’s debut season in the Premier League was cut short by injury, he showed a lot the quality that was promised by those that had seen him play regularly at academy level with Chelsea.
He was already a fan favourite in FM22, with an excellent physical skillset underpinned by good pace and acceleration, as well as his versatility. Little has changed in FM23. Buy him, develop him, and he will grow into a Champions League level starter with one of the best all-round attacking right-back profiles you will find in a young player in the game.
If you’re looking to buy Livramento, you’ll have to pay a huge fee by all accounts. The base level of his price range is a staggering €82 million at the start of the game, and that’s likely to grow as his reputation burgeons.
Wilfried Singo
- Positions: RB, RWB
- Club: Torino (ITA)
- Country: Côte d'Ivoire
Wilfried Singo’s reputation continues to grow at Torino, as he develops under the tutelage of the wonderful Ivan Jurić. His role as an attacking wing-back in a three-man defensive system has helped to get the best out of his skillset as a dynamic wide attacking threat with the athleticism to cover and defend the entire right flank.
In FM23, his physical skillset is otherworldly. With room to grow as well, he has all the fundamentals of an elite two-way full-back or wing-back whose dribbling, technique and crossing will help them going forward, but whose strong work rate, speed, stamina, strength, determination and tackling stats will see him defend vigorously.
It will take at least €25 million to get Singo out of Torino. In actuality, it will take probably around €30-35 million to seal a deal for the wing-back. That’s more than decent value if you’re managing a European-level club.
Devyne Rensch
- Positions: RB, CB, LB
- Club: AFC Ajax (NED)
- Country: Netherlands
After Noussair Mazraoui’s departure from Ajax, Devyne Rensch finally has a starting spot to call his own at right-back. Still just 19 when you start your save, Rensch has been a squad player at Ajax for a couple of years now and is primed for a big breakout season.
In FM23, Rensch is the Swiss Army knife of defensive utilities. Nominally a right-back, he can play all across the defence and in midfield, aided primarily by his ability to play the ball on both feet, but also by his technical dynamism. He is a great passer and dribbler, and a solid all-rounder physically – though he may lack some of the size and aerial ability to be a consistent performer at centre-back.
Given he hasn’t quite yet broken into the first-team at Ajax, Rensch is quite easily attainable at the start of saves. You can get him for around the €20 million mark if you structure the deal properly.
OUR LISTS OF THE BEST YOUNG TALENTS
Malo Gusto
- Positions: RB, RWB
- Club: Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
- Country: France
Lyon are struggling in 2022/23, but the same can’t be said for their latest academy product to storm into the first team: Malo Gusto. He started to make the position his own in the second half of 2021/22, and has consolidated it after the departure of Léo Dubois at the end of last season.
Gusto’s FM23 skillset is an interesting one. He’s quite well-rounded with no obvious flaws but not obvious strengths. He’s solid across the board, but his speedy athleticism is probably the strongest aspect of his skillset from the start in the game. It also provides a solid platform upon which he can improve technically and mentally.
If you want to get your hands on Gusto, you’ll have to fork out around €40 million to do so. Keep an eye on his contract situation – with a deal that expires in 2024, wait a year and you could get him at a much cheaper price.
Max Aarons
- Positions: RB, RWB
- Club: Norwich City (ENG)
- Country: England
At 22, Max Aarons has played almost 200 times for Norwich, and while some of the hype has dropped off as Norwich have fluctuated between the Championship and Premier League since Aarons became a first-teamer.
In FM23, Aarons is a really solid option to instantly raise the level of your team. His mental attributes are a real highlight, with great determination, composure, positioning, work rate, etc. He also has a solid set of physical attributes too.
€35-40 million is the price point to get Aarons in the first summer. That’s quite a lot of a player that probably tops out as a Euopa League level starter in the Premier League. If you wait a year, though, and everything falls perfectly, you can get him at the end of his Norwich contract.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker, Reece James, Achraf Hakimi and Kieran Tripper are the highest-rated right-backs in FM23.
Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold are the best young right-backs in FM23.
