FIFA 20 Career Mode Hidden Gems: Best Young Forwards

Simone Rhea

5 years ago

FIFA 20 Best Young Goalkeepers Defenders Midfielders Attackers Wunderkinds 2

One of the most satisfying elements of playing Career Mode on any FIFA is uncovering the next world-beating young star, bringing them into your squad, and making them a core part of your all-conquering team.

Here, we won’t be discussing the obvious wonderkids upfront and on the wings, such as Kylian Mbappe, Joao Felix, Vinicius Junior, Ousmane Dembele, Rodrygo, Moise Kean, Luka Jovic, David Neres, Leon Bailey, Oyarzabal, Christian Pulisic, Steven Bergwijn, or Marcus Rashford. Instead, we’ll be looking at the hidden gem wonderkids: the best young wingers, centre-forwards, and strikers of FIFA 20 that haven’t quite hit the big time just yet.

This should give you ample time to grow them into their potential as well as remain within your transfer budget and keep your salary bill in check.

Best Young Left Winger: Fernando (OVR 71 – POT 86)

Out on loan to Sporting CP in Liga NOS this season, Brazilian left winger Fernando showed his qualities often in Shakhtar Donetsk colours in 2017/18, scoring twice and tallying an assist. The diminutive winger’s efforts earned him enough praise for FIFA 20 to grant him wunderkind status with a strong potential of 86 POT, with Fernando starting on a decent 71 OVR.

At the start of Career Mode, Fernando’s only strengths are his pace and dribbling, with 87 acceleration, 85 sprint speed, 79 agility, 76 ball control, 78 dribbling, and 72 reactions. The 20-year-old is worth picking up for his potential. Being valued at £4.7 million, you can afford to loan him back out.

Best Young Right Winger: Pedro de la Vega (OVR 70 – POT 88)

As a 17-year-old, Pedro de la Vega enjoyed a good run in Club Atletico Lanus’ first team in the Argentine Superliga, playing on either wing and fleetingly as a striker. The early 2019/20 campaign has seen the Argentinean wonderkid used mostly as a substitute, but he’s still understood to be a great talent. His performances last season were enough for him to be given a potential of 88 POT, but the versatile winger does start Career Mode with a lowly 70 OVR.

Like Fernando (above), De La Vega boasts tremendous pace and strength but also has a 73 for shot power and an 82 in jumping. At £3.3 million with base attributes of 85 in acceleration, 87 in sprint speed, 86 in agility, and 78 in balance, Pedro de la Vega is certainly one to watch in FIFA 20 Career Mode.

Best Young Centre-Forward: Jonathan David (OVR 74 – POT 88)

If you’ve had a look at our FIFA 20 Hidden Gems: Best Young Midfielders piece, you might be surprised to see yet another Canadian in amongst the best young talents in the game. In midfield there is Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies; at centre-forward, there is Jonathan David of KAA Gent in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League.

Best suited behind a lead striker, but also deployed on the wings or in attacking midfield, David already boasts 11 goals in ten games for Canada. He’s also going very strong for Gent in the early season, notching ten goals through 17 games – two of which came in the Europa League against Saint-Etienne.

If your Career Mode club needs a future star up top, invest in Jonathan David. The wunderkind centre-forward is valued at £9.5 million, has a FIFA 20 starting overall of 74 OVR, and boasts a potential of 88 POT. With an almighty five-star rating for his weak foot as well as 78 acceleration, 83 sprint speed, 79 finishing, 75 shot power, 80 jumping – despite being 5’10’’ – and 71 heading accuracy, Jonathan David is already a rather user-friendly player to have on the pitch.

Best Young Striker: Erling Braut Haaland (OVR 73 – POT 87)

Did you think that the top hidden gem wunderkind on this list would be a Norwegian 18-year-old who was born in Leeds? Last season, Erling Braut Haaland made a name for himself in Europa League qualification with Molde FK, scoring four goals and notching an assist in five games. In January 2019, Haaland made the switch to Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga for £4.5 million. Still a prospect, he scored a goal in his sole start from five appearances for his new club.

For the 2019/20 season, the coaches saw enough improvement to name Haaland as one of their first-choice strikers: a decision which is already paying dividends. Through the first 11 games of the season, the 19-year-old scored 18 goals and teed up a further five, with one of his goals coming off of the bench in the 4-3 loss to Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League. Before missing a few games with an illness and some bruising, the internationally-capped striker had four hat-tricks in the campaign already.

The undisputable wonderkid has shown enough ability for FIFA 20 to give him a lofty potential rating of 87 POT, with his overall of 73 OVR being fairly useable from the start of Career Mode. While he boasts decent pace with 79 acceleration and 83 sprint speed, it’s Haaland’s 6’4’’, 87 kg frame complimented by 84 strength and 72 positioning which come in the most handy. The son of Manchester City and Leeds United defender/midfielder Alf-Inge Haaland is valued at £6 million at the start of the game.

Other hidden gem forwards in FIFA 20 Career Mode

Name	Position	POT	OVR	Club	Nationality
Jeremy Doku	RW	86	66	RSC Anderlecht	Belgian
Dennis Man	RW	85	73	Steaua Bucuresti (FCSB)	Romanian
Antonio Marin	LW	85	66	Dinamo Zagreb	Croatian
John Yeboah	LW	84	64	VVV-Venlo – on loan from VfL Wolfsburg	German
Pedro Neto	CF	83	67	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Portuguese
Eddy Salcedo	CF	82	64	Hellas Verona – on loan from Genoa CFC	Italian
Fabio Silva	ST	86	70	FC Porto	Portuguese
Jesus Ferreira	ST	85	68	FC Dallas	Colombian-American