FM23 Wonderkids - Centre-Backs

Just like the full-backs, central defenders have changed over the years. From big and mostly strong defenders, a modern centre-back has the ability to play a decent pass, needs to be quick and needs to have the physique to stand his ground against quick and deadly strikers.

In this article we have collected the best centre-backs in Football Manager 2023 by using our own Player Database.

Important - The list we present is based on the positions a player could play in. It is therefore possible a player will pop-up on more than one list. There are several examples of central defenders who can play as a defensive midfielder or as a full-back.

FM23 World-Class Wonderkid Centre-Backs

We kick off the list with the potentially World Class centre-backs in Football Manager 2023. All the in this area have the potential to become a leading central defender in one of the highest leagues. A lot of these players are already playing for a large club, but as always Football Manager has some great hidden gems for us! Notable players to name here are Daouda Guindo, Jaime Vazquez, Joao Fonseca.

FM23 Good Wonderkid Centre-backs

The 'Good' centre-backs are also very interesting to have a look at, especially when you compare them to older players. A potential beteen 75 and 79 looks like it could be mediocre, but in fact there are some amazing players at these kind of levels in FM23. What to think of Matthijs de Ligt (79 ability), Manuel Akanji (78 ability). That shows that players with these kind of potentials could easily become a very good central defender!

FM23 Decent Wonderkid Centre-Backs

And to close our Centre-back list for FM23 we have the players with a 'decent' potential. But when we say decent we don't mean League Two or 3.Bundesliga level. These players are still very good players to have. To compare: Arsenal's Gabriel has 74 ability, just like Chelsea ace César Azpilicueta.