Goals Win Games!
The FM24 striker age curve is here, find your perfect striker for your team through our research.
Our model is drilling down on the data to find the best strikers in FM24. This is a good opportunity for your team to score more goals.
So here we are, probably the most important players in football, the strikers, the guys who get to score the goals. We are basically looking at when do strikers peak in FM24?
My model is drilled down on the data to find find the best quality strikers on FM24. I went a series of metrics, which I then standardised, and split into groups. These then relate to certain sections of football, a profile if you like, which then I competed as age vs ability.
This then gave me an idea of the peak performance of each section and then I matched that profile on FM24 to the players on the scouting screen. This is basically how we scout players for the team and long terms investments. So who are the best strikers by age in FM24?
FM24 Striker Age Curve
So technically this is not just a list of strikers. The two positions which are highlighted in the metrics are strikers and wide players, or inside forwards if you like. As a result what I am going to do is create two lists of top 10 players for each positions. This will help you with the numerous formations that you might play.
Striker List
These are the out and out goal scorers, the guys which are going to finish the nicely created passes. A lot of people complain that there isn’t enough talent coming through upfront in modern football, but they are looking in the wrong place.
With our FM24 striker age curve we are using the model to make data driven decisions to find the next top striker. There are plenty around as well, even if some are at massive clubs already. Let’s have a look at the list:
- Goncalo Ramos (PSG)
- Tomas Cvancara (Gladbach)
- Victor Boniface (Leverkusen)
- Evann Guessand (OGC Nice)
- Faris (Marseille)
- Roberto Piccoli (Atalanta)
- Martin Satriano (Inter)
- Lucas Beltran (Fiorentina)
- Arnaud Kalimuendo (Rennes)
- Moustapha Cisse (Atalanta)
As you can see there are a few big names in there such as Ramos and Boniface. They are all young players, at most 23, but the peak is 20-23. Buying players that young gives you a good choice, you can focus on performance or profit. The main output you are going to look at with these players is their conversion or goals to game ratio.
It also gives you a good idea of when the players start to drop off and when a good time to entertain offers is. While I wouldn’t rush out and sell a player, I would consider any offers that come in after 23 or after 25 when the drop off happens.
You can play these players in the most attacking and goal scoring roles, either the advanced forward or the complete forward with the attack role. With a role such as this you need to have a supporting cast like the advanced playmaker in support or wingers that cross the ball early.
Wide Forward List
This is an interesting list, and it is full of characters. This position has become very important since teams started playing one striker. The goals need to come from somewhere if your striker is not firing, or is more creative than goal scorer. Again the result you are going to look at most here is goals and conversion ratio. Let’s have look at this list:
- Bryan Zaragoza (Granada)
- Rodrygo (Real Madrid)
- Vinicius Jnr (Real Madrid)
- Kang-In Lee (PSG)
- Adam Hlozek (Leverkusen)
- Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli)
- Bradley Barcola (PSG)
- Hákon Arnar Haraldsson (Lille)
- Mohamed Daramy (Reims)
- Sofiane Diop (OGC Nice)
As you can see we have a wonderful mix of established stars such as Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior as well as the up and coming like Haraldsson and Diop. What is interesting is that arguably the top clubs in the world have stocked up on top wide forwards. This shows how important this position is in modern football.
These players work really well in the inside forward role with attack duty to emphasise their goal scoring prowess. When playing this role you have a number of options such as a creative forward dropping back to open up space. The full backs can play a support role to push into the space vacated by the inside forward.
One thing I was surprised about was the lack of talent in the Premier League, a lot of talent coming out of Spain, Italy and France. We really do not have a lot of wide forward talent in the league we should be looking at getting some imports in to show us how to play wide.
FM24 Striker Age Curve Conclusion
The good news is that we know this model works, it’s highlighted a lot of already great players which means it is based on strong fundamental data. The FM24 Striker Age Curve, while in the process of being refined, is already finding gold in the top 5 leagues.
After doing a number of test runs we have a good list of players to get you started. I will be doing further models to highlight economically viable strikers in leagues outside the top 5 leagues. What would you like to see in future?
Want more winning Football Manager tips in real time?
Join me on Twitter @mkfootballgr8 for weekly team updates, live reactions, and insider strategies to help you smash your league. Don’t just play—Make Football Great.