The best left wingers to sign in Football Manager 2024

With Football Manager 2025 cancelled, 2024 is still the newest iteration of the game we all know and love. Here are the left winger wonderkids to sign on your ageing save.

At SCOUTED, we discover the future of football - turns out, that's a pretty useful skill for FM titles. So we’ve compiled a list of left wingers that can be defined as “wonderkids” in the latest game. A few of them will be familiar faces but others will, hopefully, be players you’ve never heard of.

They’re not necessarily the best; they’re players that we like in real-life that look good in FM24. If you just want the list, here you go - here are the left wingers we’re recommending you to scout and sign on your saves this year.

Who are the best Left Wingers (LWs) to sign in Football Manager 2024?

Want an winger that will elevate your attacking output? Here's a list of young prospects that can do that on your FM24 saves:

• Jamie Gittens
• Assane Diao
• Gianluca Prestianni
• Mathys Tel

Of course, SCOUTED is all about detail. So, the team has put together some short profiles for those of you thirsting for more insight into the wingers lighting up the left wing on your Football Manager save.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens

Positions: MR, ML, AMR, AML
Club: Borussia Dortmund (GER)
Nation: England
Transfer Value: €46-71 million

There was only one thing derailing Jamie Gittens' burgeoning young career: persistent injuries. With a niggling shoulder injury behind him, he is now displaying his high-level potential for Borussia Dortmund and England youth international teams.

One look at his stats in FM24 and you can see what Gittens is all about. He’s fast and can dribble. He’s certainly lacking in other areas with his physicality and work rate, but, with the right physical development, he has the top-level attribute to be a proper game inverted winger.

Assane Diao

Positions: AMR, AML, ST
Club: Real Betis (ESP)
Nation: Spain
Transfer Value: €17-30 million

Assane Diao’s first baby steps into LaLiga with Real Betis were extremely fruitful, with three goals in his first six senior appearances. Diao is a dynamic player that’s comfortable across the front line, but prefers cutting inside off the left onto his favoured right foot.

His starting physical stats as a 17-year-old are extraordinary. With no attribute lower than 13, plus a height of 1.85 metres, the makings of a proper bruising left winger are there.

Some work on his finishing and first touch should help round him out, but the €30 million release clause is the absolute maximum you will need to pay for the privilege of polishing this diamond. On Football Manager 2025, he will be part of Cesc Fàbregas' Como squad.

Gianluca Prestianni

Positions: AMR, AML, AMC
Club: SL Benfica (POR)
Nation: Argentina
Transfer Value: €7-11 million

Gianluca Prestianni took 2023 by storm for Vélez Sarsfield, presenting as one of the next great hopes of the Argentinian national team. Naturally, this meant that Europe’s biggest clubs stated snooping around… Benfica got there first.

Prestianni is a really solid development option. He probably doesn’t have the outright ability to come in and have a big impact at a top-five league club straight away, but he has the makings of something special with his wonderfully balanced mental attributes and promising physical and technical ones.

Whether it’s to park him on loan or use him now, it's worth activating the €11 million release clause.

Mathys Tel

Positions: DC, DM, MC
Club: FC Bayern München (GER)
Nation: France
Transfer Value: €44-68 million

Mathys Tel quickly warmed to his role as super sub for Bayern München in 2023/24. The former Stade Rennais attacker is an exuberant, dynamic threat in all phases that can beat the opposition with his speed, strength, technique and lethal edge in the final third.

His attributes in FM24 look extraordinary, before even considering that he’s still just 18. A balanced mix of physical attributes is matched up with an equally balanced technical skillset and highly developed mental attributes. He’s the all-rounder of an FM players’ dreams… but he doesn’t come cheap.

What roles can Left Wingers play in Football Manager 2024?

The Left Winger is a versatile position that can dictate the shape of your attack. From the classic Winger role to the Inside Forward that looks to score, the space exploiting Raumdeuter, and everything in between, there are plenty of options:

• Winger
• Inverted Winger
• Inside Forward
• Advanced Playmaker
• Wide Target Man
• Raumdeuter
• Trquartista

We’ll start with the Winger and Inverted Winger roles, which are very similar. The former stays wide, looking to beat his man and get crosses into the box. The Attack mentality will make him hit the byline more often.

The Inverted Winger is similar, although they look to drive inside, allowing a wing-back to overlap. On attack duty, they will look to be more aggressive attacking the defensive line, rather than look to run across it.

The Advanced Playmaker will be a creative hub from wider areas. You have the flexibility to instruct them to do different things, be it sticking wider or tucking inside to create overloads.

The Trequartista role isn’t dissimilar to the Advanced Playmaker, although they commit less effort to the defensive side of the game. They’re more like the traditional number 10, the player that the rest of the team carries out of possession.

As noted in the game, the Raumdeuter is literally the German word for ‘space investigator’. Basically, they will look to find spaces in wide areas and especially in the penalty area. Essentially they’re a wide poacher.

The Wide Target Forward is another pretty self-explanatory one. They’ll park themselves out wide on a smaller full-back and become an outlet for your defence to play out to, before controlling the ball and moving it on to the team’s other attacking players.

Lastly, there’s the ultra-attacking Inside Forward, a FM favourite. The Inside Forward isn’t dissimilar to the Inverted Winger, but they will cross much less and instead look to be really aggressive with inside runs with and without the ball.

While the Inverted Winger likes to pick up the ball out wide, the Inside Forward is happy to make runs to pick the ball up in the half-space. On the Support duty, they will look to play through balls from deep and take long shots, while on Attack duty they will be more aggressive in attacking the box.

What attributes are important for Left Wingers in Football Manager 2024?

Let’s start with the playmaking roles: Trequartista and Advanced Playmaker. At a base level, these roles require your player to have good dribbling, first touch, passing, technique, vision and decision-making, flair, composure and anticipation attributes. The Trequartista will require the same attributes, but also some acceleration and finishing for those late runs into the penalty area.

The winger roles? Winger and Inverted Winger are quite similar. They require acceleration, stamina, pace, and agility as baseline physical attributes, while crossing, dribbling, work rate, technique and off-ball movement are also important. Some flair will also be required if you are looking to play them on an Attack duty.

Lastly, there are the attacking roles: Raumdeuter, Wide Target Forward and Inside Forward. They’re all a little bit different – for example, the Wide Target Forward will require height, jumping reach, balance, stamina and strength as physical attributes. Heading is another obvious prerequisite, but they’ll also need other more standard winger attributes like crossing, first touch, off the ball movement, work rate, and so on.

The Inside Forward is not too dissimilar to the Inverted Winger, but with their added increase on attacking the penalty area, they trade the Inverted Winger’s need to be able to cross for finishing.

Finally, there’s the Raumdeuter. The headline key attributes mental ones: anticipation, concentration, off the ball movement, work rate, decision-making and composure. They’ll need these to be able to follow the play and execute runs and actions with perfect timing to be most effective. Finishing, first touch, technique, work rate, acceleration, stamina and balance are also important.

Who is the best Left Winger in Football Manager 2024?

PSG’s Kylian Mbappé – also capable of playing as a striker – is hands down the best left winger in Football Manager 2024.

Who is the best young Left Winger in Football Manager 2024?

Bukayo Saka and Jamal Musiala are the best left wingers that start the game aged 21 years old or younger. Lamine Yamal, Mikey Moore and Ansu Fati could reach a similar level based on their dynamic Potential Ability.

Which young Left Winger should I buy on Football Manager 2024?

Real Betis’ Assane Diao is excellent value for money given his release clause.