The 10 best free agents to sign on Football Manager 2024: De Gea, Pastore, Lingard… | OneFootball

Football Manager 2024 isn’t released for another month, but if you’re anything like us you’re probably already strategising about how you’ll turn your moderately-sized club into a European juggernaut. To do so you’ll have to think creatively in the transfer market – and here’s where free agents can be incredibly handy.

The full FM24 player database is yet to be revealed, but Football Manager obsessives (via FMScout) are already hard at work speculating about the best footballers you can try sign for no transfer fee at all.

Here are 10 of the best free agents you ought to consider buying in FM24.

Javier Pastore

The Argentinian made over 200 appearances for PSG and won five Ligue 1 titles during his seven-year stint in the French capital.

And yet he was among the more underwhelming glamour signings of their QSI era, with a sense that he never quite fulfilled his potential as a wonderkid back in his Palermo days.

Recent years have seen the 34-year-old turn out for Roma, Elche and Qatar Sports Club – but that stint only lasted six months and he’s on the search for a new club once again.

Following Eden Hazard’s retirement announcement, Pastore is FMScout’s joint highest-rated free agent with a rating of 84.

Fabio Quagliarella

The Serie A legend waved a tearful goodbye to Sampdoria following their relegation at the end of last season.

Quagliarella arguably didn’t peak until his late thirties, with that ridiculous 26-goal haul in 2018-19 responsible for beating Cristiano Ronaldo for Serie A’s Capocannoniere top scorer award.

It looked as though time finally caught up with the Italian striker last season. He’s now entered his fifth decade and scored just one goal in 2022-23.

But he’s yet to announce his retirement, and it would be fun to rope in for one last job – like European football’s answer to The Expendables.

Phil Jones

The defender didn’t make a single appearance under Erik ten Hag last season.

He’s currently undergoing his coaches badges at Carrington, following the expiration of his Manchester United contract in the summer.

We’ve kind of assumed that he’s called it a day, but not quite officially just yet.

Shkodran Mustafi

The German already became something of a punchline during his latter years at Arsenal – and that was before he suffered back-to-back relegations with stints at Schalke and Levante.

Mustafi was last seen featuring in Levante’s painful play-off final defeat to Alaves, having barely featured for the Spanish club due to injuries last term. Somehow he’s still only 31.

Still, he is a World Cup winner, was actually pretty decent at Valencia, and wasn’t always entirely useless at Arsenal. Rehabilitating his reputation could be a fun challenge in and of itself.

Jesse Lingard

Yes, Lingard struggled at Nottingham Forest. Yes, he’s barely done anything in the past couple of years. Yet we’d still suggest it’s pretty harsh that Lingard (rating: 82) finds himself ranked lower than Jones and Mustafi, given their recent history.

The former England international has trained with West Ham and been linked with a move to Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq but he still finds himself without a club.

Remember that brief period where he looked a world-beater on loan with David Moyes’ Hammers? If you really fancy yourself as a decent man manager you’d give it a go.

Erik Lopez

Who? Good question.

Paraguayan striker Lopez was released by Atlanta United back in August. He’d been talked up as a promising prospect but never quite established himself as a regular starter and scored just one goal for the club.

He’s still just 21 and something of a rough diamond if you back yourself as a Roberto De Zerbi-esque developer of youngsters.

Francis Guerrero

Regular watchers of Spanish football might remember the right-back turning out for Real Betis, with ‘Francis’ adorning the back of his shirt.

The former Spain Under-21 international looked half-decent for Los Verdiblancos, particularly with regular appearances under Quique Setien as they finished 10th – yet were wonderfully entertaining – back in 2018-19.

But he fell down the pecking order from there and was last seen turning out for Rayo Majadahonda in the Spanish third tier. A viable option if you fancy taking on a Segunda job and attempting to take a club like Real Zaragoza back to former glories.

Jose Campana

It wasn’t long ago that the technically gifted Spanish midfielder looked outstanding at Levante. An early career move to Crystal Palace never quite worked out but he was good enough in La Liga to earn interest from Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds side a few years back.

But he couldn’t singlehandedly turn the ailing club’s fortunes around and was released alongside Mustafi after a year in Segunda.

A solid option if you fancy an easy-on-the-eye, possession-focused approach. Admittedly not at the elite level.

David de Gea

If we thought Lingard’s rating was harsh, we’re amazed to see De Gea with an 81 rating – behind some of the names above him.

His stock has fallen considerably over recent years, he’s out of Spain contention altogether, and he committed a few high-profile errors last term. Yet he still kept more clean sheets than any other Premier League ‘keeper in 2022-23 and remains a world-class shot-stopper on his day.

Unless you’re absolutely adamant about playing out from the back, you could do a lot worse. Wage demands might be an issue – which might well explain why the real-life De Gea is still searching for a club.

Brian Fernandez

We’re going to lay our cards on the table and admit we’ve never heard of this bloke. But a brief look at his Wikipedia page shows he’s built like a brick sh*thouse – so there might be some entertainment value in utilising him as a battering ram up top.