In Football Manager 2023, set pieces can be a cheat code for an easy goal. There's even an option within your tactical tablet to 'Play for Set Pieces' – you might as well take advantage, especially if you're playing a short team who'll struggle defending you from dead balls.
Leaders, good finishers and speedy players are all very well and good but dead ball specialists can conjure something from nothing. Whether you play with attribute masking or not, we've found every player in the game with a 17/20 or higher in their in-game attributes at the start of the game. Of course, some players improve in time – see our wonderkid list – but this is what you need from the start.
You can put the ball in the back of the net from free-kicks and corners. From corners especially, targeting the man on the front post is a reliable source of goals for any team with good height. But to get those marginal gains, signing someone with a 17 attribute or above can really elevate your side.
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Signing a couple of players who can deliver from dead balls can give you another edge – even if you're only looking to bring them on in the final stages of games. Of course, some of these players might be on your shortlist anyway – and the addition of this attribute could just be the edge to sign them over someone else.
It's worth noting with these stars, too, that a "Not for sale" sign might not mean that a player is unsignable. Some clubs still have a fee that would consider for a player that they have labelled as almost unsellable.
Looking who else to sign? We've got a full list of the best players in the game for whatever you're looking for.
Free-kicks
The top 54 free-kick takers in Football Manager 2023
| Name | Club | Nationality | Age | Position | Value | Free-kicks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Ward-Prowse | Southampton | England | 27 | DM, M (C) | £36m-£53m | 20 |
| Cristian Barrios | Santa Brígida | Spain | 31 | M/AM (C) | £2.5k-£26k | 18 |
| Daniel Armstrong | Kilmarnock | Scotland | 24 | M (L), AM (RL) | £0-£55k | 18 |
| Willy | Europa FC | Spain | 32 | M (L), AM (LC) | £3k-£8k | 18 |
| Israel | Retrô | Brazil | 28 | D/WB (R) | £0-£12k | 18 |
| Lionel Messi | PSG | Argentina | 35 | AM (RC), ST (C) | £28m-£41m | 18 |
| Dimitri Payet | OM | France | 35 | AM (RLC) | Not for Sale | 18 |
| Luciano Leguizamón | Gimnasia (CdU) | Argentina | 40 | AM (C), ST (C) | £0-£75k | 18 |
| Fran Oller | Conquense | Spain | 28 | M/AM (C) | £14k-£140k | 18 |
| Rómulo Otero | FOR | Venezuelan | 29 | M (RC), AM (RLC) | £475k-£1.3m | 18 |
| Ignacio Malcorra | Rosario Central | Argentina | 34 | M/AM (L) | £80k-£220k | 18 |
| Miralem Pjanić | Sharjah | Bosnia | 32 | DM, M (C) | Not for Sale | 18 |
| Ager Aketxe | Eibar | Spain | 28 | M (LC), AM (RLC) | £170k-£1.7m | 18 |
| Juan Fernando Quintero | River | Colombia | 29 | M (RC), AM (RLC) | £50k-£3.2m | 18 |
| Arnaldo González | Agropecuario Argentino | Argentina | 33 | M (LC), AM (RLC) | £40k-£400k | 18 |
| Ruslan Malinovskyi | Atalanta | Ukraine | 29 | M/AM (C) | £16m-£23m | 17 |
| Simone Verdi | Verona | Italy | 29 | AM (RLC), ST (C) | £1.1m-£8.4m | 17 |
| Christian Eriksen | Man UFC | Denmark | 30 | DM, M/AM (C) | £123m-£166m | 17 |
| Juan Arango | Miami Sun FC | Venezuelan | 42 | M (L), AM (LC) | 0 | 17 |
| Ibai Gómez | Coruña | Spain | 32 | M/AM (RL) | £300k-£850k | 17 |
| Leonardo Baima | Richmond | Argentina | 29 | M/AM (L) | £150k-£1.5m | 17 |
| Scott Twine | Burnley | England | 22 | AM (LC) | £12.5m-£15m | 17 |
| Talisca | Al-Nassr (KSA) | Brazil | 28 | AM (C) | £12m-£14m | 17 |
| Adil Nabi | Atromitos | England | 28 | AM (C) | £12k-£120k | 17 |
| Toma Bašić | Lazio | Croatian | 25 | M/AM (C) | £350k-£2.8m | 17 |
| İrfan Can Kahveci | Fenerbahçe | Turkish | 26 | DM, M (C), AM (RC) | £9.8m-£11.5m | 17 |
| Juan Muñiz | Atromitos | Spain | 30 | M (C), AM (LC) | £550k-£1.2m | 17 |
| Dimitri Liénard | Strasbourg | France | 34 | M (LC), AM (L) | £24k-£70k | 17 |
| Paulo Dybala | AS Roma | Argentina | 28 | AM (RC), ST (C) | £14m-£20m | 17 |
| Sebastian Kerk | Hannover | Germany | 28 | M (C), AM (RLC) | £190k-£1.9m | 17 |
| René Lange | Jena | Germany | 33 | D (LC), WB (L), DM, M (L) | £0-£55k | 17 |
| Claudemir | - | Brazil | 37 | D/WB (R), DM, M (C) | 0 | 17 |
| Alban Meha | - | Kosovo | 36 | M (L), AM (RLC) | 0 | 17 |
| Tomas Bastos | OPE | Brazil | 29 | AM (LC) | £22k-£220k | 17 |
| Fernando | Antalyaspor | Brazil | 30 | DM, M (C) | £5.6m-£7m | 17 |
| Gareth Bale | LAFC | Wales | 32 | M (L), AM (RLC), ST (C) | £375k-£5.6m | 17 |
| Marvin Plattenhardt | Hertha Berlin | Germany | 30 | D/WB (L) | £400k-£3m | 17 |
| Kevin De Bruyne | Man City | Belgium | 31 | M (RLC), AM (C) | Not for Sale | 17 |
| Ianis Hagi | Rangers | Romania | 23 | AM (RLC) | £7.2m-£10.5m | 17 |
| Vincenzo Grifo | SC Freiburg | Italy | 29 | M (RL), AM (RLC) | £8.4m-£10.5m | 17 |
| Tobias Kempe | Darmstadt | Germany | 33 | M (RLC), AM (C) | £475k-£1.3m | 17 |
| Francesco Lodi | Catania | Italy | 38 | DM, M (C) | £0-£12k | 17 |
| Neymar | PSG | Brazil | 30 | M (L), AM (LC), ST (C) | Not for Sale | 17 |
| Cristian Ferreira | Newell's | Argentina | 22 | M (C), AM (LC) | £1.9m-£3.8m | 17 |
| Maximilian Arnold | VfL Wolfsburg | Germany | 28 | DM, M/AM (C) | £8.8m-£12.5m | 17 |
| Sydney van Hooijdonk | sc Heerenveen | Netherlands | 22 | AM (L), ST (C) | £85k-£850k | 17 |
| Sérgio Oliveira | Galatasaray | Portugal | 30 | DM, M (C) | £8m-£9.6m | 17 |
| Dani Parejo | Villarreal | Spain | 33 | DM, M/AM (C) | Not for Sale | 17 |
| Pedro Galván | Balonpié (Bolívar) | Argentina | 36 | AM (RC) | Not for Sale | 17 |
| Alessandro Diamanti | Western United FC | Italy | 39 | M (C), AM (RLC) | £0-£16k | 17 |
| Óscar | Vigo | Spain | 24 | M (C), AM (LC) | £11.5m-£14m | 17 |
| Scott Tiffoney | Partick Thistle | Scotland | 23 | AM (RL), ST (C) | £26k-£250k | 17 |
| Iván Tapia | Barracas Central | Argentina | 23 | M/AM (C), ST (C) | £140k-£1.4m | 17 |
| Lasse Schöne | N.E.C. Nijmegen | Denmark | 36 | DM, M/AM (C) | £100k-£1m | 17 |
Corners
The top 28 corner takers in Football Manager 2023
| Name | Club | Nationality | Age | Position | Value | Corners |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Javicho | Estradense | Spain | 39 | AM (LC) | £0-£16k | 20 |
| James Ward-Prowse | Southampton | England | 27 | DM, M (C) | £36m-£53m | 20 |
| Toni Kroos | Real Madrid | Germanyy | 32 | DM, M (C) | £30m-£42m | 19 |
| Joe Jacobson | Wycombe Wanderers | Wales | 35 | D (LC) | £0-£24k | 19 |
| Vincenzo Grifo | Freiburg | Italy | 29 | M (RL), AM (RLC) | £8.4m-£10.5m | 18 |
| Hakan Calhanoglu | Inter Milan | Turkey | 28 | M/AM (LC) | £27m-£31m | 18 |
| Ivan Rakitic | Sevilla | Croatia | 34 | DM, M/AM (C) | Not for sale | 18 |
| Christopher Trimmel | Union Berlin | Austria | 35 | D/WB (R) | £375k-£1m | 18 |
| Ricardo Quaresma | - | Portugal | 38 | AM (RL) | £0 | 18 |
| Cody Gakpo | PSV | Netherlands | 23 | M (L), AM (RL), ST (C) | £46m-£54m | 17 |
| Alex Telles | Sevilla | Brazil | 29 | D/WB (L) | £14m-£20m | 17 |
| Rusan Malinovskyi | Atalanta | Ukraine | 29 | M/AM (C) | £15m-£23m | 17 |
| Jonas Hofmann | Borussia Monchengladbach | Germanyy | 29 | M/AM (RC) | £21m-£25m | 17 |
| Borna Barisic | Rangers | Croatia | 29 | D/WB (L) | £6.4m-£7.4m | 17 |
| Thomas Ouwejan | Schalke | Netherlands | 25 | D/WB (L), DM, M (LC) | £190k-£1.9m | 17 |
| Giacomo Calo | Cosenza | Italy | 25 | DM, M (C) | £60k-£600k | 17 |
| Luis Alberto | Lazio | Spain | 29 | M/AM (C) | £25m-£31m | 17 |
| Maximilian Arnold | Wolfsburg | Germanyy | 28 | DM, M/AM (C) | £9.8m-£12.5m | 17 |
| Marc Stendera | - | Germanyy | 26 | M/AM (C) | £0 | 17 |
| James Rodriguez | Olympiacos | Colombia | 30 | AM (RLC) | £11.5m-£16m | 17 |
| Tobias Kempe | Darmstaft | Germanyy | 33 | M (RLC), AM (C) | £475m-£1.3m | 17 |
| Maximiliano Carrasco | - | Argentina | 34 | M (RC), AM (R) | £0 | 17 |
| Sean Goss | Motherwell | England | 26 | DM, M (C) | £110k-£1.1m | 17 |
| Pedro Leon | Murcia | Spain | 35 | M/AM (R) | £130k-£350k | 17 |
| Alessandro Diamanti | Western United | Italy | 39 | M (C), AM (RLC) | £0k-£16k | 17 |
| Barry Maguire | Motherwell | Scotland | 24 | DM, M (C) | £16k-£170k | 17 |
| Pascal Gross | Brighton & Hove Albion | Germanyy | 31 | M (C), AM (RLC) | £19m-£27m | 17 |
| Damian Diaz | Barcelona SC | Ecuador | 36 | AM (RLC) | Not for sale | 17 |
