If you want to take your chosen club to the greatest heights of the beautiful game, whether you’re starting in the top division of your chosen country or you’re looking to build a team up to glory through multiple promotions, you’ll want to pick up some Football Manager 2024 wonderkids. Here are the best young players in Football Manager 2024.

Football Manager 2024 wonderkids explained

What is a wonderkid in FM24? Put simply, these are the best players under the age of 21 (as of the start of pre-season in England in the 2023/24 season). Football Manager uses a hidden rating system to determine potential ability–200 is the absolute maximum rating any player can be, while anybody with a potential of 150 or higher is classed as a wonderkid.

It’s worth bearing in mind that these are the top 10 players under 21 in each of these positions in the world, so you won’t find any true bargains here. This list is for managers who have a little cash to spend, ranging from $5m all the way up to $100m and more. Also, if you can’t find any of the players on this list, make sure you have the region they currently play in loaded in your career.

So without further ado, here are all of the best FM24 wonderkids and young players, organized by position and sorted from best to worst.

Best young goalkeepers

Starting in net, we have the best goalkeepers aged 20 and under. There are a few players to highlight here, and Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro is the best of the lot. Plying his trade for AZ Alkmaar, this 19-year-old has a fantastic 16 aerial reach plus 14 one-on-ones and throwing. Valued at 6.6m-$10m but currently on a wage of just $650 per week, he’d be fit as a backup keeper for a top division side or a starting keeper for the second tier of most major nations.

If you’re thinking years into the future, pick up either Jack Thompson or Spike Brits. Thompson is a little more feasible to acquire as he plays for Derby County while Brits is at Man City–and is only valued at approximately $300k compared to Brits at $3m or so–but both 16-year-olds have the potential to be the best goalkeepers in the world in 5-10 years.

Best young right backs

The best young right-backs consist of a couple of familiar faces, namely Rico Lewis and Tino Livramento, both of whom ply their trade in the Premier League and cost an arm and a leg.

You must look as far down the list as Elias Jelert before you find anyone reasonably priced, as he comes in at around $9m, likely thanks to playing in the top Danish league. He’s a reliable all-rounder who already has 40+ appearances for FC Kobenhavn, so he’ll be a starter for most teams if you’re going for him.

Despite being near the bottom of the list, Martim Fernandes is perhaps the most exciting here simply thanks to his price tag. Valued at only $1m by FC Porto on a wage of just $1.9k per week, it’ll take a while until this 17-year-old is first-team worthy, but he’s the best bet for long-term managers.

Best young center backs

In the center of defense, as you’d expect, Levi Colwill is almost untouchable at around $150m. Scalvini is about half that price, but still obscenely expensive, while Silva and Riad are both around $55m.

In fact, the majority of these players are all north of $40m, so like Elias Jelert above, you have to go for a player at a lesser known league to find someone more affordable, which is the case here with Martin Vitik at Sparta Prague. He will quickly garner interest from huge clubs though, so you’ll need to fork out the $10m quickly for 194cm of pure defensive muscle, as he has 16 strength, 15 jumping reach, and 14 heading.

Despite being in the Premier League, Murillo at Nottingham Forest is only valued at around $20m, or you can look to Luka Vuskovic for Hajduk Split at around $15m. Much like Vitik however, big clubs come sniffing around for him pretty quickly.

Best young left backs

Alejandro Balde is arguably one of the best left backs you can buy in the entire game from the get-go, let alone the best young left back, but you’re not going to sign him. Barcelona have him locked down as firmly not for sale, and to ensure this, they’ve slapped a $536 million release clause on him.

Instead, if you have cash to splash, Destiny Udogie will set you back a hefty $70m, but he is a starting left-back for a top six Premier League side, so what do you expect? He’s very well-rounded though, operating best as a complete wing-back with impressive pace, crossing, dribbling, passing, tackling, and technique stats.

At the younger end of the scale, Lucas Jetten is the chap to go for, but he’ll still set you back around $10m as Ajax are famous for their youth development. On the cheaper side of things, Omar Campos will cost around $5m, while Patryck Lanza will be around double that from the Brazilian league.

Best young defensive midfielders

If you’re an avid fan, there are five players here you’ve likely heard of; Camavinga through Lavia, plus Faticanti. Most of these will set you back a fair whack–like $50m or more–aside from Faticanti, who is only valued at around $2m for some reason, making him an excellent choice for a wonderkid defensive mid.

Moscardo is the one to go for if you love a South American wonderkid, while Sattlberger and Gourna-Douath are both excellent choices from the Austrian Premier Division, and neither will command too high of a wage. Gourna-Douath certainly the stronger of the two though, and the one ready to play regularly for a top-flight team.

Best young center mids

In the middle of the park, you are spoiled for choice when it comes to wonderkids. At the very top of the list would be Jude Bellingham, but we’ve left him out because trust us: you aren’t going to sign him. He’s valued at $150m on $425k wages and will eventually be the best player in the world. You likely won’t be able to snag Pedri, Gavi, or Harvey Elliott either unless you’re managing a financial titan.

Instead, look a little further down the list: Archie Gray is valued at $17m, Sverre Halseth Nypan at $7m, and Ouedraogo at $11m. There are a lot of players that could’ve made the cut here that didn’t too, so honorable mentions go to Cesare Casadei, Charlie Patino, Mateus Fernandes, Tygo Land, Victor Eletu, Aaron Ciammaglichella, and many more.

Best young attacking mids

Much like Bellingham, Jamal Musiala should top this list, but he’s so expensive and everyone already knows about him, so we’ve opted to leave him out in favor of some lesser known wonderkids. Some of these players–Noah Darvich, Arda Guler, Florian Wirtz–are around $100m too, but are slightly lesser known, so they’ve made the cut.

Our top recommendations here are Estevao, who can be picked up for around $8m; Rodrigo Mora at $2.2m; and Claudio Echeverri at $10.5m. Alternatively, for someone a little more developed, you can go for Claudio Echeverri at around $30m or so.

Best young right wingers

Lamine Yamal is a player that has taken the headlines recently, because the young chap is only 15 and playing week in, week out for Barcelona. He has a $61m release clause so if you’ve got the cash to spare, he is attainable. Shea Lacey is another similarly aged hot prospect, and he doesn’t have a release clause, but he will set you back around $20m at just 16-years-old. He does have 18 flair though, so will develop into quite the trickster.

Yeremy Pino is another highly recommended player but comes with a colossal price tag, as does Nico Williams, but both of them are 20 and so can slot straight into your team no matter which club you’re managing. Your best bet for players that are a little unknown here are Roony Bardghji and Gianluca Prestianni, who will both set you back around $10m.

Best young strikers

Endrick has been omitted from the very top of this list for two reasons: everybody knows about him already and at the start of the game, he is literally unsignable because he already has a transfer to Real Madrid arranged for July 2024. However, that isn’t the end of the famous goalscorers on this list: Youssoufa Moukoko, Evan Ferguson, Rasmus Hojlund, Mathys Tel, and Benjamin Sesko should all be familiar to most players thanks to their real-life performances.

All of these players are known quantities and as a result, will set you back a fair whack, so our top recommendations are any of the three Brazilian players here. All three will set you back around $15-$20m apiece, so they’re not cheap investments, but they’re guaranteed to turn into ballers. Alternatively, at just 16-years-old, Enzo Sternal can be picked up from Marseille for under $5m, but he’ll take a while to come good.

Best young left wingers

Finally, we have the left wing. Since Mikey Moore is only 15, he’s an excellent loan prospect for lower-tier clubs in a year or two, or you can drop around $50m to pick him up immediately. Ansu Fati, Andreas Schjelderup, and Alejandro Garnacho are all proven talents who will cost quite a lot,but you’ll be getting instant superstars who can transform your team.

For true wonderkids, look towards Joao Rego, Kendry Paez, and Amourricho van Axel Dongen. They’ll all set you back a much more reasonable amount–between $10m-$20m–and you won’t have as much competition. Joao Rego especially is a tricky winger, with 16 flair and determination. Alan Velasco is also a bargain thanks to his $8.75m release clause.