Football Manager 23 Best Left Wingers
Profiles on some of the best 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 left wingers 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. Our recommendations are further down the page. If you want even more for even more positions, click below.
What roles can left wingers play in Football Manager 23?
The Left Wing is a versatile position that can strongly determine the shape of your attack. From the traditional Winger role to the Inside Forward that looks to score, the space exploiting Raumdeuter, and everything in between, there are plenty of options.
We will start with the Winger and Inverted Winger roles, which are very similar. The Winger aims to stay wide, beat his man and get crosses into the box, while on the attack duty they will aim to get closer to the by-line and take up more advanced positions on the wing.
The Inverted Winger is fairly similar, although they will look to pick the ball up and drive inside, allowing a wing-back to overlap or for the Inverted Winger to spot passes or crosses inside. On attack duty, they will look to be more aggressive attacking the defensive line, rather than look to run across it.
OUR LISTS OF THE BEST YOUNG TALENTS
The Advanced Playmaker will act as your team’s primary creative fulcrum in the final third. Normally, they will be the only midfielder in your team with a designated ‘playmaker’ role. They look to receive in pockets of space between the lines, using technical and passing quality to break down the defence. On attack duty, they will dribble at defenders more often to mess with their shape.
The Trequartista role is fairly similar to the Advanced Playmaker, although they commit themselves very heavily to the offensive side of the game, and will leave a lot of the defensive duty to others out of possession. So while he doesn’t get much defensive work done, they are player that your attacking unit revolves around.
As noted in the game, the Raumdeuter is literally the German word for ‘space investigator’. It’s self-explanatory, but basically, they are like a wide Trequartista that will roam and look for pockets to find the ball, especially in the penalty area. They will need to be sorted by your other players out of possession. However, they are different to the Trequartista in that they like to get on the end of play, not start it
The Wide Target Forward, a.k.a. the Mario Mandžukić at Juventus role, is another pretty self-explanatory one. They’ll park themselves out wide on a smaller full-back and become an outlet for your defence to play out to, before controlling the ball and moving it on to the team’s other attacking players.
Lastly, there is the ultra-attacking, and many players’ long-time favourite role in Football Manager, the Inside Forward. The Inside Forward is not hugely dissimilar to the Inverted Winger, but they will cross much less and instead look to be really aggressive with inside runs with and without the ball.
While the Inverted Winger likes to pick up the ball out wide, the Inside Forward is happy to make runs to pick the ball up in the half-space. On the Support duty, they will look to play through balls from deep and take long shots, while on Attack duty they will be more aggressive in attacking the box.
What attributes are important for left wingers in Football Manager 23?
There are three main categories of Left Winger in FM23: playmaking roles, attacking roles, and winger roles.
Let’s start with the playmaking roles: Trequartista and Advanced Playmaker. At a base level, these roles require your player to have good dribbling, first touch, passing, technique, vision and decision-making, flair, composure and anticipation attributes. The Trequartista will require the same attributes, but also some acceleration and finishing for those late runs into the penalty area.
The winger roles, Winger and Inverted Winger are also quite similar. The Winger role requires acceleration, stamina, pace, and agility as baseline physical attributes, while crossing, dribbling, work rate, passing technique, first touch and off the ball movement are also crucial. Some flair will also be required if you are looking to play them on an Attack duty. The Inverted Winger requires all these things, but also decent long shots, composure, vision and decision-making for when they cut inside and attack central spaces.
Lastly, there are the attacking roles: Raumdeuter, Wide Target Forward and Inside Forward. However, they are all a little bit different. For example, the Wide Target Forward will require that your player firstly be tall enough, but also have good jumping reach, balance, stamina and strength as physical attributes to fulfil their role. Heading is another obvious prerequisite, but they’ll also need other more standard winger attributes like crossing, first touch, off the ball movement, work rate, etc.
The Inside Forward is not too dissimilar to the Inverted Winger, but with their added increase on attacking the penalty area, they trade the Inverted Winger’s need to be able to cross for finishing.
Lastly, there’s the Raumdeuter. The headline key attributes mental ones: anticipation, concentration, off the ball movement, work rate, decision-making and composure. They’ll need these to be able to follow the play and execute runs and actions with perfect timing to be most effective. Finishing, first touch, technique, work rate, acceleration, stamina and balance are also important.
Who are the best left wingers 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 |
Mykhaylo Mudryk
- Position: LW
- Club: Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
- Country: Ukraine
There are not many players whose reputation has grown more in 2022 than Shakhtar’s Mykhaylo Mudryk. His emergence for both club and country, especially during a time of great struggle for both during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has been admirable. And Shakhtar did well to keep hold of him in the summer of 2022, as they hold out for a mega money bid as some of Europe’s biggest clubs circle.
The Ukrainian is an excitement machine, whose electric speed, flair, dribbling and technique make him a great wide option – particularly coming inside of the left. Heis growing as a penalty box threat, with excellent finishing in FM23, and he looks capable of playing at a high level in a bigger European league.
The Ukrainian is highly-rated internally at Shakhtar, and they don’t want to let him go for cheap. A nine-figure sum seems like the starting price, which is a little on the high side, however you should continue to monitor him and look for an opportunity to pounce.
Alejandro Garnacho
- Positions: LW
- Club: Manchester United (ENG)
- Country: Argentina
Born in Madrid, Alejandro Garnacho was signed from Atlético Madrid as part of an aggressive youth recruitment push by Manchester United in the summer of 2020. He’s since established himself as a key player at different age groups and has made his debut at senior level too.
He’s a typical inside forward in many way, angling in off the left wing to attack the goal on his strong right foot. He makes intelligent off-ball runs and can beat players in one-v-one situations, driving inside to open up angles to create shots.
If you pounce early, you could get Garnacho for a cut-price fee. His contract expires in 2024 in game, meaning the sooner you striker the easier it will be to sign him from United – a loan with an option to buy could be a good option if your budget is limited.
Antonio Nusa
- Positions: LW, RW
- Club: Club Brugge (BEL)
- Country: Belgium
A fantastic wonderkid option in FM22, Antonio Nusa returns potentially as an even better option in FM23. Nusa is another player who enjoyed a fantastic 2022, with excellent performances in the UEFA Youth League in particular helping to propel him towards Club Brugge’s first team, where he is now on the fringes.
Nusa is another left winger that likes to cut inside onto his right foot, but he is also quite versatile, with the ability to play on the opposing flank, or even through the middle. He is good on both feet, meaning he is quite flexible in what roles he can play – though he may lack a slight bit of speed to excel as an outright winger at a high level.
Having just signed a contract, Nusa will be unavailable to sign in your first season, and you won’t be able to loan him either until he turns 18 (unless you are playing as a Belgian club). However, he should be available for a sub-€5 million fee in season two.
OUR LISTS OF THE BEST YOUNG TALENTS
Diego Moreira
- Positions: LW
- Club: SL Benfica (POR)
- Country: Portugal
Diego Moreira was one of the stars of Benfica’s UEFA Youth League winning team in 2021/22, playing all ten matches and scoring four goals as he took a big step forward in his development at one of the world’s best academies.
He is a wonderfully fun player, whose game is predicated on his flair and dribbling as a traditional left-footed, dribble-first left winger. Having only made a couple of Benfica appearances to date though, he will have a lot of room to grow, and definitely needs to as an all-round player in FM23 outside of his key technical strengths.
At somewhere around the €1 million mark, Moreira is a very cheap option that should be ready to plug into a second division team looking to make a promotion push, and should develop into a decent first division player.
Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior is one of the best left wingers in FM23, as is Luis Díaz and Son Heung-min.
Everyone’s favourite wingers – Mykhaylo Mudryk and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – are two of the best young left wingers in FM23.
