The Biggest FM26 Upgrades in the Winter Update

With the latest winter update, there are changes everywhere. Transfers have been refreshed, squads have shifted, and there have been thousands of Current Ability tweaks as well. I’ve used EFEM’s FM26 database to track the biggest movers and rank the standout upgrades.

This is not really about players suddenly becoming brilliant in the space of a few months. More often, it is Football Manager catching up with what has already been happening in real life. Researchers are usually cautious for good reason, especially with young players or signings moving into tougher leagues, so the biggest winter jumps tend to go to the lads who have forced a reevaluation. And this year, quite a few have done exactly that. Four of the top ten are now in the Premier League, while the top three in particular have clearly made the game’s researchers admit they may have got it slightly wrong. 

10) Igor Thiago – Brentford

Igor Thiago is one of the clearest examples of the winter update correcting an early under-rating. When FM26 launched, Brentford’s big-money striker had barely had the chance to settle in England, and there simply was not much Premier League evidence for researchers to work with. That is no longer the case.

He has gone from feeling like an intriguing punt to looking like the real deal. Thiago currently has 19 Premier League goals for Brentford, putting him right up near the top of the Golden Boot race, and he has also earned his first senior Brazil call-up. He has rapidly become one of the most dangerous strikers in the division.

9) Josh Acheampong – Chelsea

Acheampong’s boost makes perfect sense. He is a young player that has quickly gone from “one for the future” to looking like a genuine senior option. Chelsea clearly trust him more now than they did when the database was first finalised.

He has been confirmed as a full-time member of the first-team squad, has shown he can cover multiple defensive roles. He even scored in Chelsea’s FA Cup win over Wrexham, which only adds to the sense that he is no longer just an academy name FM players know because they scout obsessively. He is a real first-team player now. 

8) Iliman Ndiaye – Everton

Ndiaye’s upgrade is about his importance. Everton over the last few years haven’t exactly overflowed with attacking quality, so when someone becomes one of the few players capable of carrying the ball, linking phases and making things happen, it stands out quickly.

That is what Ndiaye has become this season. He has chipped in with five Premier League goals and three assists in 24 league appearances, but the bigger point is how much of Everton’s forward thrust runs through him. He gives them progression, he gives them unpredictability, and in a team that can often look short of invention, that matters. If his launch rating treated him more like a useful attacker than a central creative presence, the winter update was always going to bump him up.

7) Eli Junior Kroupi – Bournemouth

Kroupi is a good reminder that big upgrades can come from how quickly a young player proves he belongs at a much higher level than expected.

The 19-year-old French forward has hit the ground running at Bournemouth after arriving from Lorient. He scored four goals from his first eight shots in just 165 Premier League minutes, which tells you plenty about how sharp his early impact has been. He was already regarded as a major talent before the move, but producing straight away in the Premier League is a different conversation entirely. That sort of immediate translation is exactly the kind of thing that forces FM researchers to revise their estimations of a player.

6) Gustavo Puerta – Racing de Santander

Puerta’s rise is a bit less flashy than some of the names above him, but it is still one of the more justified upgrades in the update. At launch, he still felt like a player being judged heavily on projection: talented, yes, but not yet fully established.

This season at Racing Santander, he has looked much more like a proper senior midfielder than a prospect waiting for things to happen. He has logged 1,872 league minutes in La Liga 2 and contributed three goals and one assist, while generally showing the composure and ball progression that made him so highly regarded coming through in Colombia.

5) Caleb Yirenkyi – FC Nordsjælland

Yirenkyi is exactly the kind of player FM researchers love to be careful with early on: young, talented, but still needing senior evidence. The problem for them is that he has produced that evidence pretty quickly.

He is still only 20, yet he has already put together a strong 2025/26 campaign for Nordsjælland, recording two goals, five assists and 1,804 league minutes. Those are not token cameos or the sort of numbers you shrug off as development minutes. That is meaningful involvement in a league and a club environment that are both known for pushing young players fast. Add in the fact that his game already looks well-rounded, good on the ball, energetic off it, capable of moving play through midfield and his upgrade feels inevitable.

4) Yan Diomande – RB Leipzig

Diomande has not just had a good season. He has had the sort of season that makes the original rating look incredibly outdated. 

Leipzig signed him after a rapid emergence in Spain, and he has carried that momentum straight into Germany. He has 10 goals and five assists in 25 appearances this season with many describing him as one of the most exciting young wingers in European football after his rise from Leganés to Leipzig. That is not “promising youngster” territory anymore. When you are putting up those sorts of numbers in a high-intensity Bundesliga side at 19… it would be strange if he did not get a major upgrade.

3) Yassir Zabiri – Stade Rennais

Zabiri is one of the most obvious winter-update risers because his season created a very clear before-and-after point. When FM26 first launched, he was still a talented young forward trying to make his mark. By February, he had done enough to earn a move.

The Moroccan striker, who turned 21 in February, joined Stade Rennais from Famalicão in the January transfer window after impressing in Portugal. That transfer alone tells you his stock has moved sharply, because clubs do not pay real money in the middle of the season for players they see as long-term guesses. What pushed him into this top three was the way he forced attention before the move: clever movement, sharp penalty-box instincts and the kind of finishing that makes recruiters believe there is more than just hype here. FM’s researchers will have seen the same thing Rennes did.

2) Christ Inao Oulai – Trabzonspor

Oulai has had a proper jump in level, and those are often the easiest upgrades to justify. There is less guesswork involved when a teenager moves up and immediately shows he can cope.

The 19-year-old Ivorian joined Trabzonspor from Bastia in August 2025, and since then he has played more than 1,500 league minutes in the Süper Lig while contributing two goals and four assists from midfield. For a teenager adapting to a new country, a higher standard and a more demanding tactical environment, that is serious progress. His numbers are solid, but it is the context that really matters: this is not youth football anymore, and he has not looked overawed by the step up.

1) Lennart Karl – Bayern Munich

If you are asking who the single biggest current ability upgrade should be, Lennart Karl is the best answer on the list.

He has gone from academy monster to first-team Bayern player at ridiculous speed. He has become a full-time member of the senior squad this season, and as of now he has seven goals and four assists in 33 matches in all competitions. Bundesliga data also has him on four goals and three assists in 22 league appearances, which is already a serious return for an 18-year-old attacking player in a title-chasing Bayern side. The scale of the jump is what makes him number one. This is not just a prospect looking good in youth football anymore. This is a teenager already affecting senior matches for one of the biggest clubs in Europe. If FM26 launched with him rated too cautiously, the winter update has now had to correct that in a big way.

 

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