The Best Shadow Strikers in FM18

A shadow striker is a threat who’s behind the main striker. The Shadow Striker (SS) role can be a very important role in your tactic. He can represent the main striker when he’s not available in the box. And can be the main striker’s backbone. However, this article pulls the lists of the best shadow strikers in FM18.

The lists presented here are in four categories:

• First Class
• Second Class
• Third Class
• The Unnatural Shadow Strikers  

Each category contains a list of players with similar quality and character in the shadow striker role, irrespective of their market values. Overall, they are of good quality. All can impact your team positively once you bring them in. Moreover, some of them do very well in other roles and can also be the main striker in your team.

First Class

This category contains a list of the best natural shadow strikers in football manager 2018. They are really expensive and can be very difficult for you to acquire. The market value of some of them may seem affordable but their respective clubs will demand a high amount of money because of their status. But if you can land any of them, you won’t regret it.

NAME	NATIONALITY	CLUB	LOANED FROM	AGE	INITIAL VALUE ( £)
Dele Ali	English	Tottenham		21	48M
Ricardo Gouiart	Brazilian	Guangzhou Evergrande		26	34M
Jese Lingard	English	Manchester United		24	37M
Eran Zahavi	Israeli	Guangzhou R&F		29	35.5M
Talisca	Brazilian	Benfica		23	11.5M
Davy Klassen	Dutch	Everton		24	11.75M
Victor Kovalenko	Ukranian	Shakhtar Donetsk		21	11.25M
Raúl García	Spanish	Athletic Bilbao		31	15.7M

Second Class

The players here are a bit above average in terms of quality. But they are very efficient. However, they are also good in a couple of roles and positions. Just give any of them a try.

NAME	NATIONALITY	CLUB	LOANED FROM	AGE	INITIAL VALUE ( £)
Nadiem Amiri	German	Hoffenheim		20	20M
Mohamed Diamé	Senegalese	Newcastle		30	17M
Lucas Pratto	Argentinian	River Plate		29	7.75M
Berdard Mensah	Ghanaian	Kasımpaşa Spor Kulübü	Atlético de Madrid	22	4M
Kevin-Prince Boateng	Ghanaian	Frankfurt		30	12.5M
Alessandro Schöpf	Austrian	Schalke 04		23	7.5M
Diego Valdés	Chilean	Monarcas Morelia		23	2.1M
Pierre Lees-Melou	French	OGC Nice		24	5.25M
Valentin Stocker	Swiss	Basel		28	3.1M
Ramadan Sobhi	Egyptian	Stoke City		20	12.5M

Third Class

This group of players are average but they are really good. The players here are easier to sign than any other players in the other categories. Some of them can even perform better than the second class players; if managed well. They may seem cheap, but they have the ability to give performances above their price values, and that’s why they’re among the best in the shadow striker role.

NAME	NATIONALITY	CLUB	LOANED FROM	AGE	INITIAL VALUE ( £)
Vitally Buyalskyi	Ukrainian	Dynamo Kyiv		24	6.75M
Siem de Jong	Dutch	Ajax		28	5.5M
Darwin Quintero	Colombian	Club America		29	4.4M
Răzvan Marin	Romanian	Standard Liege		21	2.2M
Alexandr Yerokhin	Russian	Zenit		27	3.4M
Iveln Popov	Bulgarian	Rubin Kazan	Spartak Moscow	29	3.8M
Steven Naismith	Scottish	Heart of Midlothian	Norwich City	30	2.4M
Pedro Antonio	Spanish	Granada		30	1.7M
David Edwards	Welsh	Reading		31	2.3M
Alexandru Băluţă	Romanian	CS Craiova		23	1.6M
Andriy Totovytskyi	Ukrainian	Futbol Klub Astana	Werder Bremen	24	1.2M
Suk Hyun-Jun	South Korean	Troyes	FC Porto	26	800K
László Kleinheisler	Hungarian	Illichivets Mariupol	Shakhtar Donetsk	23	3.1M
Eric Bicfalvi	Romanian	Ural		29	1.9M

The Unnatural Shadow Strikers

In FM18, there’re players who aren’t natural in the shadow striker role but they can play sensationally in the role. They can even perform better than those in the first class. And they don’t need to adapt to the SS role. However, the only down side is that most of the players on this list are exceptional and almost impossible to sign. But if you can sign any of them, don’t hesitate.

The only player that seems cheap in this list is Donny van de Beek. The only reason I included him is because he amazed me in the game. I saw he had a high potential ability and I bought him at a price of 18M from Ajax. Although he’s a natural Advanced Playmaker, I played him as a Shadow Striker. At the end, the performances he showcased were very impressive. So, I had to put him on this list.

NAME	NATIONALITY	CLUB	LOANED FROM	AGE	INITIAL VALUE (£)
Paulo Dybala	Argentinian	Juventus		23	69M
Kevin De Bruyne	Belgian	Manchester City		26	78M
Roberto Firmino	Brazilian	Liverpool		25	52M
Nabil Fekir	French	Olympique Lyonnais		24	29M
Lionel Messi	Argentinian	Barcelona		30	85M
Adam Lallana	English	Liverpool		29	50M
Oscar	Brazilian	Shanggang		25	41M
Roberto Pereyra	Argentinian	Watford		26	29M
Gylfi Sigurðsson	Icelandic	Everton		27	28M
Danny Van de Beele	Dutch	Ajax		20	4.8M
Philippe Coutinho	Brazilian	Barcelona		25	69M
Cristian Eriksen	Danish	Tottenham		25	58M

Feel free to add yours in the comment box. I will consider putting the player in the list.

Enjoy the Game…