Football Manager 2016: 20 Central Midfielders You Must Sign

The key to every title-winning team is a solid midfield. The centre of the field is where every battle is won or lost, and the best part is that you can line up your middlemen however you like. With the defence and attack, you're limited to just a couple of choices. Do you play a lone striker or pair him up? Do you play four at the back or five? Other than that, your choices are simple. But the midfield is an entirely different prospect, with 3, 4 or 5 players lining up in rows, diamonds, V-shapes, a cluster. The options are limitless. Personally, I see a solid base of two central midfielders as the most essential component in any team, but finding the right players can be a nightmare. They need to be hard-working and industrious, technically precise with their passing, creative and defensively capable. That's not asking much, right? Of course there are various styles, ranging from rugged veterans to wide-eyed wonderkids, so here's a selection of 20 central midfielders you should be looking to sign.

20. Erik Andersson

Erik Andersson may seem like an underwhelming start, but on closer inspection you'll see that he's got so much raw potential and he's still very young. He won't start for a few years, but when he's ready, he will be READY. The 18-year-old Swedish midfielder doesn't turn 19 until the first season is drawing to a close, so he's still got 3 solid years of development until the age of 21 when you'd really want to start blooding youth talent into the first team. Andersson is valued at a shockingly low £41.5k, meaning that a sub £1m fee is very reasonable. He's not a risk but has huge potential.