FIFA 22 Career Mode guide to scouting the best players and mastering transfers

FIFA 22 transfers

FIFA 22

(Image credit: EA)

Sorting out transfers in FIFA 22’s Career Mode can be a headache. Wheeling and dealing and handling negotiations can all prove cumbersome as the seasons wear on. Let’s get into what to do (and what to avoid) when buying and selling players – as well as general tips to make the whole thing a lot less stressful.

FIFA 22 buying and loaning players

FIFA 22

(Image credit: EA)

Sealing transfers in FIFA 22 is relatively simple. Before you do anything, ensure you’ve scouted a player after clicking their profile to make sure A) They would be open to joining your club and B) The likely transfer fee.

Once that’s done, you have four options: Approach to buy, approach to loan, delegate to buy, delegate to loan. The latter pair of delegate options lets you skip the interminable cutscenes to let your assistant handle the deal. You can even set a limit on how much your assistant will offer for a transfer.

Opt for the manual approach and you’re presented with a sitdown negotiation. You can offer an outright transfer fee or, to sweeten the deal, include a sell-on clause or player swap as part of the deal. When you’re happy with the offer, you can submit to see a response. You can play hardball and reject or stall transfers in the hopes of getting a better deal, but that comes with very little upside – try and get a fee agreed in the first meeting, especially if deadline day is looming.

Loans work similarly – if you can get your foot in the door. Some clubs refuse to loan certain players out, especially if they’re in the final 12 months of their contract. Loan-to-buys are also available for those who don’t want to use up their budget immediately.

Then comes the player’s contract in a second meeting: set a player’s role (Prospect right up to Crucial), the contract length, wages, signing-on fee, and even a release clause if you see fit. If a player agrees to your terms, they’ll join your club.

FIFA 22 selling players

FIFA 22

(Image credit: EA)

Selling players can be achieved through the game’s Transfer Hub. There, you see an overview of all the offers you’ve received so far.

Again, you have a series of actions on offer: accept the offer, negotiate for a better fee, delegate to your assistant manager, or outright blocking any bids that come your way.

If you want to encourage offers for certain players, head to the squad hub and press X/A to open up the actions list. You can then add players to the transfer list or loan list. Any incoming offers are listed in your email inbox. If you want to completely discourage interest, you can also block all offers pre-emptively in this menu.

FIFA 22 Career Mode general tips

FIFA 22

(Image credit: EA)

Transfer negotiations aren’t just limited to the usual transfer windows. You can buy and sell players at any time of a season and they’ll join during the first available transfer window. Don’t be scared to delegate to your assistant manager either. They rarely fail to settle outgoings, and you can set another parameters that they often get a good deal (if not better) without you having to get involved.

Be sure to utilise options that don’t impact your initial budget. Player swaps are cost-efficient makeweights, while sell-on fees when buying often sway clubs more than you might think – and you can swing a lower fee as part of the package.

The final need-to-know transfer tidbit involves your initial Career Mode settings. After selecting a club, you’re presented with eight career settings to toggle. Go to Negotiation Strictness and choose whether you want the default ‘Loose’ option or ‘Strict.’ Loose gives a serious amount of leeway for negotiations with other clubs. Strict, as the name would apply, turns these meetings into tense, Daniel Levy-style face-offs. One wrong move and the deal is off. Your call.

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Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.