FIFA 23: Manchester United predicted ratings

After a poor 21/22 season can Manchester United bounce back?

Table of Contents Table of Contents

It was a difficult season for Manchester United last time out. They barely scraped in for the Europa League and that was only because it was handed to them by West Ham United. No one really performed in this team, even if Ronaldo managed to score plenty of goals. It was a huge decline from the season prior and the teams ratings in FIFA 23 will most likely reflect this.

After the poor start under club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjær, things didn’t improve once Ralf Ragnick was brought in as temporary manager. Going into next season they will have a new manager in Erik Ten Hag, to try and freshen things up. 

If Ten Hag gets his way, Manchester United will have plenty of new faces come FIFA 23, while there have already been major departures from the club, with Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard both leaving on a free. Yet, with little time now left in the transfer window, things are not looking good for the Red Devils.

Manchester United: Goalkeepers and defenders

David De Gea – 87 (+3)

Tom Heaton – 76 (-)

Raphaël Varane – 85 (-1)

Harry Maguire – 81 (-3)

Victor Lindelöf – 80 (-)

Axel Tuanzebe – 74 (-)

Eric Bailly – 78 (-1)

Lisandro Martinez 80 (+1)

Phil Jones – 74 (-)

Luke Shaw – 83 (-1)

Alex Telles – 80 (-2)

Tyrell Malacia – 79 (+2)

Brandon Williams – 75 (-)

Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 81 (-2)

Diogo Dalot – 78 (+2)

It was a disastrous season for Manchester United’s defence and their ratings going into FIFA 23 are going to really take a hit. Only Leicester City conceded more goals than them, in the top half of the table. The Red Devils let in 57 goals across the season in the league.

De Gea however, had a good season. It had been a couple of years of inconsistency for the Spanish international, but he firmly looks back to his best and looks set for a good boost coming into FIFA 23. Where De Gea thrived though, no other player did well for them defensively. 

Harry Maguire was a shadow of the player that earned the captaincy, and helped England reach their first final appearance since 1966, while Luke Shaw was also poor at left back after a great season the year before. 

Going into the new season Manchester United will be relying on new signing Lisandro Martinez to paper over any cracks. The versatile should come in and make a difference, but where he will play is another question entirely. He has played centre-back and in midfield before his move.

The saddest thing for Man United fans will be just how poor Varane looked. Admittedly, he struggled for fitness all season, so next year may be a better measure of him as a player. Regardless of that though, it’s hard to believe he’s the same player that has won the Champions League on three occasions, as well as a World Cup. 

Manchester United: Midfielders

Scott McTominay – 80 (-)

James Garner – 69 (-)

Donny van de Beek – 79 (-2)

Fred – 81 (-)

Bruno Fernandes – 87 (-1)

Casemiro – 88 (-)

Manchester United’s midfield is looking incredibly light and is probably the key area Ten Hag will want to strengthen before the new season. There is nothing wrong with Fred or McTominay but in order to get back into the top four this midfield needs some real quality.

The addition of Casemiro is a welcome one, but who knows if he will go on to improve the squad in real life, on FIFA 23 though he will make Manchester United a much better side defensively .

The squad also needs to improve its depth, a lot of players left on frees this summer, many of which played when available last season. There is a big rebuilding job needed in the middle of the park, especially if they wish to be competitive next season. 

Hopefully this may be the year we see some of Donny van de Beek. He has had a terrible start to life at Man United, leading to a loan move to Everton that also didn’t work out. Since joining he has barely played, but maybe this season he may get some proper minutes, and show what earned him the move in the first place.

Another player likely to get a small ratings reduction before the release of FIFA 23 will be Bruno Fernandes. He still had a good season, grabbing ten goals and six assists in the league; it was just nowhere near the standards he had previously set. Admittedly when the whole team is struggling, it’s difficult to perform.

Manchester United: Forwards

Jadon Sancho – 85 (-2)

Marcus Rashford – 83 (-2)

Anthony Elanga – 72 (+7)

Amad Diallo – 68 (-)

Cristiano Ronaldo – 90 (-1)

Anthony Martial – 80 (-2)

Facundo Pellistri – 70 (-)

Antony – 81 (+2)

Rashford and Sancho were symbols of what went wrong at Man United last season. Two players who were surrounded by immense hope, both players have shown their quality before and yet on the pitch they really struggled.

Unfortunately both players are likely to have much lower ratings in FIFA 23. They are both still very young, so hopefully last season will just be a footnote in their career and they can kick on. 

The only player in their front line that looked like they wanted to score last year was Cristiano Ronaldo, who despite being 37 now can still score on the big stage.

Although sadly he is now just scoring goals, which sounds great, but there is a lot more to football than just that. He is also determined to leave, so we will finally get the answer of if Man United are a worse team for having him in it or not. 

Final thoughts

As always it’s going to be a very busy transfer window for Manchester United. They have needed quality and leadership throughout their team for a long time now. It feels like every year the conversation goes around about how they need a proper specialist defensive midfielder and they never sign one. 

If they hope to be back rubbing shoulders with Europe’s elite next season they are going to need to stop conceding, start scoring more and play together as a unit. At times this season they looked so unorganised. 

Regardless though, their players will still be plenty of fun on FIFA 23, even if their team isn’t quite as good. Rashford and Sancho especially will always get great specials on Ultimate Team, and if Bruno Fernades can reclaim his best form his should too.