There’s nothing that provokes the ire of a professional football club quite like the Bosman ruling.
Created due to the controversy surrounding the transfer of Jean-Marc Bosman back in the mid ’90s, the Bosman rule stipulates that a player who’s entered the last year of his contract can have negotiations with and sign for a new club during the January window prior to him then leaving on a free the following summer.
It’s a no-win situation for the club on the receiving end of it, though, as not only are they losing a player they’d presumably rather keep but they’re also not getting any monetary compensation in the process.
Notable real-life examples of the ruling in action are both Robert Lewandowski to Bayern Munich and bearded maestro Andrea Pirlo to Juventus – two massive successes in their own right, just not for the clubs letting the players go.
In FIFA 17, naturally, it’s no different – you, too, can sign a pre-contract with a player in January and have him join your squad in the summer, provided you don’t baulk at the wage demands. (Which will be significant for the better players, obviously.)
And with the computer-controlled clubs in the career mode having the tendency to only offer rolling one-year contracts to slightly older players, (for whatever reason) it’s a viable recipe for success for your fledgling club.
If you play your cards right, you can get the best players in the game for free, sans their wages.
Here’s how to get the best FIFA 17 players for free
- Search for your desired player during the January transfer window in the transfer section of the interface and within their profile select: ‘Approach to sign pre-contract’.
- If everything goes to plan and they accept your proposed terms they’ll be ready to be used come July 1 when the summer window opens.
Here’s a rundown of the players you can pre-empt a contract with and in which year you can do so:
2017:
- Arjen Robben
- Zlatan Ibrahimović
- Santi Cazorla
- Pepe
- Laurent Koscielny
- Franck Ribéry
2018
- Andrés Iniesta
- Gianluigi Buffon
- Alexis Sanchez
- Mesut Özil
- Andrea Barzagli
- Lionel Messi
- Bernd Leno
- Luka Modrić
- Stéphane Ruffier
- Blaise Matuidi
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Thiago Silva
- Giorgio Chiellini
- Miranda
- Claudio Bravo
- Dani Alves
- Edinson Cavani
- Philipp Lahm
2019
- Alexandre Lacazette
- Robert Lewandowski
- Samir Handanović
- Thibaut Courtois
- Marco Reus
- Vincent Kompany
- Karim Benzema
- Petr Cech
- David de Gea
- Diego Costa
- Ivan Rakitić
- Ángel Di María
- Diego Godín
- Gareth Bale
- Filipe Luís
- Hugo Lloris
- David Silva
- Javier Pastore
- Cesc Fabregas
- Arturo Vidal
- Javier Mascherano
- Luis Suárez
- Steve Mandanda
- Gerard Piqué
2020
- Marcelo
- Nicolas Otamendi
- Riyad Mahrez
- Claudio Marchisio
- Paulo Dybala
- Sergio Agüero
- Toni Kroos
- Toby Alderweireld
- Coutinho
- Nicolas Gaitan
- Henrikh Mkhitaryan
- James Rodríguez
- Jordi Alba
- Marek Hamšík
- Keylor Navas
- Sergio Ramos
- Leonardo Bonucci
- Eden Hazard
- Willian
2021
- Neymar
- Jan Oblak
- Manuel Neuer
- Mats Hummels
- Paul Pogba
- Gonzalo Higuain
Let us know what teams you can concoct with the power of the Bosman ruling and don’t forget to check out our definitive FIFA 17 here and also the game page for the latest in walkthroughs, tips, and player bargains.