FIFA Ultimate Team is a true exercise in preserving the economy, of your FUT squad that is. Unless you have an unlimited supply of FUT coins, in which case congratulations, you’ve made it in life, then you will need to get the best value out of your investment. That’s not as easy as we’d like, because there’s this thing called an overpriced FUT item.
We’re going to give these FUT trojan horses the only attention they deserve with a strong recommendation to stay as far away from them as possible. Just so we don’t have to repeat it a bunch of times throughout the article, we’ll say it right at the start: not every one of these players is horrible. Actually, most of them are rather good. The problem is entirely in their price tag, which simply does not match the production you’re likely to get out of these cards.
To illustrate our point, we will present better options at a similar price range. We wouldn’t want to wag our fingers at an issue without presenting a solution.
The most overpriced players in FIFA 23 FUT
FUT Centurions Zlatan Ibrahimović
We can’t begin anywhere else. Zlatan’s strongest FIFA 23 version is the epitome of overpriced. He’s not even close to being among the best strikers in FUT, yet his FUT Centurions card falls just shy of the top 15 most expensive items in FIFA 23 Ultimate Team.
FUT Centurions Zlatan Ibrahimović currently goes for 3.8 million coins on console and over 4.5 million on PC, which is an absurd price for a 90 OVR striker in February. Zlatan is so overpriced that we don’t have to bother to think of better options at 4 million coins. Literally, any other card that’s worth that much would be a better choice than the big Swede. Just for reference, Prime Icon Cruyff, Mid Icon Pelé, TOTY De Bruyne, and TOTY Benzema are all cheaper than FUT Centurions Zlatan Ibrahimović.
Unlike most of the other zirconium items we have in store, Zlatan’s inflated stocks aren’t a product of chemistry links or collectible value. Zlatan is costly simply because he is Zlatan. If you are not hell-bent on fulfilling the FUT meme dream, you’re better off watching a Chuck Norris movie and giving this card a pass.
FUT Marvel Hero Yaya Touré
Yaya Touré is one of those players you just can’t hate. We can, however, hate his outrageously priced Marvel Hero card. Yaya will set you back 3 million coins, which isn’t what you want to pay for an 89 OVR defensive midfielder. TOTY Jude Bellingham is miles better and is half a million cheaper.
FUT Marvel Hero Yaya Touré is one of those collectible value items we briefly mentioned in the Zlatan section. The card’s design is pretty, but not 3 million coins pretty.
World Cup Hero Lúcio
Here we go again with the Heroes. For similar reasons as Touré, Lúcio costs way more than his actual skill suggests. World Cup Hero Lúcio is the most expensive center back in FIFA 23. World Cup Hero Lúcio is not the best center-back in FIFA 23.
Both Team of the Year CBs, Virgil van Dijk and Éder Militão, are cheaper. In Militão’s case, he’d cost you half a million coins less on console and 1.5 million coins less on PC. In short, if winning is your main objective, don’t touch that Lúcio card.
In-Form Kylian Mbappé
Oh yes, we went there. The FIFA 23 cover star may be the king of the FUT meta, but not all of his cards are worth what they’re sold for. Mbappé’s In-Form, part of FIFA 23 TOTW 6, is marginally better than his regular Gold item, yet comes with a premium 100 percent price hike.
This is a common factor for all high-tier In-Forms. Barely noticeable improvements in exchange for vast jumps in cost is the name of the game. Mbappé is just the most high-profile example of this trend.
The fact Mbappé’s Ligue 1 POTM SBC cost less and awarded virtually an identical card to In-Form Mbappé says more than we ever could. That SBC was bad value too, by the way. Just stick with the Gold version.
World Cup Hero Claudio Marchisio
Did we make it clear enough that Hero cards are stupidly overpriced? No? Then allow us to present exhibit No. 3: World Cup Hero Claudio Marchisio. The Italian costs 1.5 million coins on console and 2 million coins on PC. That’s significantly more than TOTY Modrić, Winter Wildcards De Bruyne, and Base Icon Zidane.
For the final time, we promise, for those way in the back: do not waste perfectly good coins for Hero cards, unless you’re a collector.
Future Stars Mykhailo Mudryk
Let’s move into the present. Future Stars is the relevant FUT promo event right now, so this one was among the easiest to spot. Mudryk’s shiny new card is going for around 1.2 million coins, which promptly teleports it into the realm of overpriced.
TOTY Icon Robert Pirés, who plays at the same position and is better at virtually every aspect of the game, can be obtained for less than a million coins. Not to mention that a minimal premium in coins could net you items like Prime Icon George Best, World Cup Phenoms Rafael Leão, or Prime Icon Roberto Carlos, all of whom are among the top performers at their respective positions. Something we can’t say about Mudryk.
We know it’s the fashion of the day to hate on Chelsea at every stop, but in this instance, we can’t show the Blues’ new star any love without being disingenuous. Future Stars Mykhailo Mudryk is straight-up overpriced in FIFA 23.
TOTY Honorable Mentions Federico Valverde
For as spectacular as regular Team of the Year items are, the accompanying Honorable Mentions don’t really cut it at the same level. Federico Valverde’s overpriced TOTY Honorable Mentions card is the best example of this disparity.
Valverde is priced at just over a million coins on console and well over 1.2 million coins on PC. We could make the case that he is the most reasonably priced player on this list of bad deals, but his true value is brought down by the presence of other options in central midfield that are at least on par in terms of raw performance, at a lower price.
You could go for more defense, supplemented by 99 dribbling with Winter Wildcards Joshua Kimmich, or spend just 60 percent of the coins you’d spend for Valverde on FUT Centurions Marco Verratti, for similar performance.
Valverde isn’t as grossly overpriced as some of the other entries on the list, but you’d still be better off saving your coins for other items.
TOTY Icon Alessandro Nesta
It’s painful for us to write this paragraph, because Nesta is a criminally underrated defender. This is partly why his TOTY Icon card is not worth its asking price. Nesta costs close to 850,000 coins on console and nearly a million coins on PC. Conversely, he’s given low pace and stamina, and so-so passing.
Imagine your already slow center back with exhausted stamina, trying to run after the likes of Mbappé. Someone who doesn’t have such issues is World Cup Phenom Éder Militão, who’s also around 10 percent cheaper on the market. We’ll use the opportunity to say something positive for Heroes, because one of the best left-backs in FUT, World Cup Hero Joan Capdevila, can be acquired for the same amount as Nesta.
Sorry, Alessandro, you were great back in your time, but there are better offers on the market these days.
Base Icon Ronaldinho
If it was hard for us to throw shade at Alessandro Nesta, imagine the excruciating pain of doing the same to one of the most beloved players of all time. Sadly, Base Icon Ronaldinho is not of the quality you’d expect from a FUT item attached to the Brazilian maestro’s name.
Ronaldinho’s 89 OVR Base Icon is being sold on the FUT market for over 800,000 coins on console and above 900,000 on PC. Fellow Brazilian legends Cafú and Garrincha both fall in the same ballpark price-wise, but their Mid Icons are held in much higher regard than Ronnie’s Base variant. Even Luís Figo’s World Cup Icon would be a better purchase here.
Ronaldinho’s better versions are all phenomenal and would be deserving of a place in any self-respecting FUT squad, but his Base Icon is best avoided.
We can’t end on a higher note than Ronaldinho, so we won’t even try. We hope our little economical journal will help you evade a bad purchase and steer you toward better value deals. If you already have any of these players in your FUT club, that’s not too bad actually. Just sell them at an inflated price and reap the profits. Unless they are untradeable, like most FIFA 23 FUT content, in which case you have our sympathy.
