£51-70 million wonderkids

Gianluigi Donnarumma
Age: 18
Club: AC Milan
Price: £67m (minimum fee release clause)

Arguably the most coveted young goalkeeper in the world, he attracted criticism from Milan fans in the summer when it looked like he could make a move away from the San Siro. There are always a few surprises in the goalkeeper department on new Football Manager iterations but it’s hard to look past Donnarumma as the game’s star between the sticks for the next 10 seasons.

Alban Lafont
Age: 18
Club: Toulouse
Price: £60m Infinite stratos eng dub.

Judging by Toulouse’s transfer fee demands, they know how good this young goalkeeper could become. He has lots of potential and awesome reflexes and jumping. There’s also Donnarumma at this sort of price, so it’s up to you to decide what you want in a goalkeeper.

Jesús Vallejo
Age: 20
Club: Real Madrid
Price: £70m

Real Madrid already have a pair of outstanding centre backs in Sergio Ramos and Raphaël Varane so they can afford to let up-and-comer Vallejo go. His buy-out fee is £76m but you can get him for less. With the right nurturing Vallejo could become a fantastic defender with all the attributes you could ask for, apart from blistering pace.

Lewis Cook
Age: 20
Club: Bournemouth
Price: £60m

This English central midfielder is already playing every week for The Cherries in the English Premier League but he can still improve a lot in FM18. He could even become one of the best playmakers in the game. Apart from heading, Cook doesn’t have any real weaknesses. A future England captain?

Breel Embolo
Age: 20
Club: Schalke
Price: £70m

Embolo’s been linked with Manchester United and it’s easy to see why. He has all the technical and physical attributes to grow into a formidable forward. And take a look at his mental attributes. He has aggression at 16, work rate at 17 and more besides.

Dani Ceballos
Age: 20
Club: Real Madrid
Price: £70m

Ceballos is only 20 years old and he already has 16 technique, 16 passing, 15 dribbling and 15 acceleration. As a midfielder/attacking midfielder (centre), he has a set of skills you don’t often see in one player.

He has to be one of the most exciting youngsters out there but if Los Blancos want to give him a chance and even if they don’t, he’ll cost a pretty penny.

Renato Sanches
Age: 19
Club: Bayern (on loan at Swansea)
Price: £70m

The Portuguese central midfielder was in high demand before he made a £28.5m move from Benfica to Bayern Munich. Manchester United were rumoured to want him but missed out. Since, he’s had a difficult time at Bayern and now he’s been given a loan move to English Premier League club Swansea.

But don’t write him off yet. Although he’s hard to slot into a certain position, he has a certain set of skills that are hard to find in one player.

Wilfred Ndidi
Age: 20
Club: Leicester City
Price: £70m

If you’d said Leicester would be able to replace N’Golo Kante in 10 years let alone immediately, people would have been sceptical. But Ndidi already looks like he could become a better player and he’s fitted seamlessly at The Foxes. Look at his 16 for stamina and natural fitness and his 15 for tackling. He’d be a great defensive midfielder for most sides.

Oliver Batista Meier
Age: 16
Club: Bayern
Price: £55m

With players this young you can’t expect too many plus-14 attributes—the clues can be in the eights, nines and tens. Still, it’d be easy to write off Meier and move on. Don’t! Meier has great potential hence the large price tag. Bayern aren’t stupid and they know how good he can be.

Unlimited funds wonderkids

Mbappé
Age: 18
Club: PSG
Price: £100m

As wealthy as PSG are, it was a coup when they got their hands on MBappe in the summer, on a loan deal that will be made permanent in July 2018. You and every big club around will be tracking one of the best young strikers in the world, and a fee of around £100m could convince the Parisiens to sell him after around five seasons.

Ousmane Dembélé
Age: 20
Club: Barcelona
Price: £250m

Having already commanded a massive £99m fee in his move to Barcelona in the summer, 20-year-old Dembélé still has a lot of time to improve, and he’d be very expensive to sign any time soon. However, he could be available for between £100-150m in his late twenties. He’s a deadly winger, with 17 dribbling, 17 flair, 18 acceleration and 18 pace, that could all increase.

Gabriel Jesus
Age: 20
Club: Manchester City
Price: £300m

He’s hit the ground running in Manchester, showing no signs of living up to the stereotype that South Americans struggle in England. And with his mix of obvious footballing ability and mental strength, there aren’t many better young prospects out there. If you try to sign him as the Manchester United manager though, he might reject you due to the Manchester clubs’ rivalry. He’s loyal too.

Vinicius Junior
Age: 16
Club: Flamengo
Price: £200m

Vinicius Junior has agreed a deal with Real Madrid and joins in July 2018, so you can’t sign him until then and Los Merengues are unlikely to be tempted to sell him for less than £200m. However, he has been seen to struggle with the Spanish giants in FM18 and he could be available for about £25m after a few seasons. Don’t forget to add him to your shortlist indefinitely.

Marcus Rashford
Age: 19
Club: Manchester United
Price: £130m

In a relative dry spell for the Red Devils, Rashford has become a beacon of hope, and a welcome reminder of the stars produced in the club’s youth teams. His real-world talent is reflected in-game with 18 acceleration and 17 flair, plus good attributes for finishing and dribbling. He has the ability to be the best striker in the game but United are unlikely to sell him.

Kai Havertz
Age: 18
Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Price: £100m

A tall attacking midfielder, with great technique and vision, who likes to cut inside from both wings—not only is Havertz a skilful player, he’s also physically imposing on the pitch. There’ll be no shortage of clubs looking to sign him, and you’ll need £100m in the bank to have a chance. He has a great left foot and knows how to use it.

Theo Hernandez
Age: 19
Club: Real Madrid
Price: £75m

At the start of the game, his attributes aren’t amazing on their own, but when you realise how well-rounded he is you might be tempted to have a look at this left wing-back. At 19 he has few weaknesses and he’ll only get better, so if you can afford him get your cheque book out.

Trent Alexander-Arnold
Age: 18
Club: Liverpool
Price: £140m

The Liverpool-born full back has featured in a handful of games this season but you can expect him to develop into an all-rounder who’s good enough to start every week for any team. Ben 10 games download for pc. Although he can become very good, his £140m price tag seems a little steep for a defender. And it’s unlikely he’ll want to leave his boyhood club.

Gonçalo Guedes
Age: 20
Club: PSG (on loan at Valencia)
Price: £80m

Not cheap, is he? But PSG aren’t exactly a club desperate for money. He’s on loan at Valencia and he’s making waves. He’s quite physically mature for a 20-year-old and that strength along with his quickness, dribbling ability and determination make him stiff opposition. He could do a fantastic job on either wing and in any of the three attacking midfield positions. Keep an eye out for this boy wonder.

Carlos Soler
Age: 20
Club: Valencia
Price: £71m

Soler is quite unusual in that he’s a central midfielder who is happy to play at right midfield, which could be a big help if you sometimes play a 4-2-2 and like to rotate players – you could put Soler at right midfield and give someone else a chance in the centre. Apart from heading and jumping, he doesn’t have any weaknesses, and his mental attributes, such as 15 for decisions, composure and vision are very impressive for such a young player. Never underestimate mental attributes.

Benjamin Henrichs
Age: 20
Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Price: £130m

Another youngster developed at Leverkusen, Henrichs is possibly the most versatile player on our list. He’s a right full-back first and foremost but he’s comfortable playing at left back, right wing back and central midfield. His strengths are 15 stamina, natural fitness, first touch and technique and 16 teamwork, the list goes on.

Recruiting tips

We hope our wonderkids list helps you achieve hero status in Football Manager 2018. Aside from this list, there are some other ways to hunt down great players. You can find some of the best young players who might not yet have caught the attention of your rivals by using your own scouts. Most of us use scouts, but do you get the most of them? Try to scout as far and wide as you can as regularly as you can, because good scouts will repay your faith with great finds.

If you’re a bit strapped for cash, you just like a bargain, or you enjoy coming across a gem of a player, you could go on a one-man scouting mission and take a close look at clubs in different leagues and nations. And there are almost always bright sparks you’ve never heard of in the youth sides of countries like as Brazil, France and Italy. It’s always good to build your player knowledge.

Introduction

Update:Get ready for the best football story ever told in video games. That's right, we've added Fifa 17 at number 11!

Often referred to as 'the beautiful game', football (or soccer - take your pick) offers up a seemingly never-ending supply of excitement, mystery and surprise. Leicester City winning England's Premier League recently went down as one of the biggest shocks in sporting history, and who could've predicted the USA team's coming of age at the 2014 World Cup?

As computer graphics have improved, so have football games. They were fairly primitive in the early days, starting out as top-down viewed DOS classics such as Sensible World of Soccer before evolving into 3D efforts in the vein of Actua Soccer.

Of course, the FIFA series has been around since the 90s and its rivalry Pro Evolution Soccer throughout the years has proved more fierce than the one between Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira. Refreshingly, a number of football games are cropping up that approach the sport from a new perspective, with many available to download on Steam.

Like the most cunning foxes in boxes, we take a look at the best of them.

Gabe Carey has also contributed to this article