The closing of football’s transfer window presents an opportunity to spruce up your early season line-up, says AccountingWEB’s fantasy pundit John Stokdyk.
The intervention of World Cup qualifiers and the first European matches into the Premier League schedule have given fantasy players a few extra opportunities to assess to potential of previously unknown players who joined the league at the beginning of the month, or old favourites such as Marouanne Felaini and Peter Odemwinge, who have moved to new teams.
In his Everton heyday, Felaini offered great value to fantasy managers, particularly when he played as an out-and-out attacker in spite of being classified as a midfielder. He has not looked out of place in his first couple of outings for United, but with Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and “Chicharito” Hernandez in the squad, there’s less need for an emergency striker. So Felaini has few opportunities to pick up fantasy points in his appointed role as a defensive midfielder. And having been stuck with an £8.5m price tag, any points he does pick up will come at too high a price.
At Arsenhal, Arsene Wenger threw off his habit of financial prudence to sign Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid. Ozil definitely looks like he’ll bring a more attacking spark to the team, but at £10m, he too, does not represent much of a fantasy league bargain.
North London rivals Tottenham looked to have picked up a gem in Christian Eriksen, an attacking midfielder from Ajax who provided an assist in his first Premier League game last week and followed that up with a goal against Tromso in the Europa Cup on Thursday night. He’s still pricey at £8m but may be worth a punt if you’re the kind of player who likes to bet on obscure long-shorts.
Which brings us to Odemwinge, who was vilified when he was turned away from the QPR gates on deadline night in January. He finally got his move away from West Brom this month. With a £5.7m price on his head, the handicappers aren’t expecting much , but Cardiff have already drawn with Everton and beaten Manchester City, so he may get an opportunity to shine.
According to my self-imposed rules, I’m sticking with players who have good statistical histories rather than playing hunches about new arrivals. So one bit of deadline day business that brought a cheer to my heart was the loan move of Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea to Everton. He was of my early season selections at Chelsea, but couldn’t get a game. After leaving him on the bench for the past few weeks, he should be good for a few more goals now and is carrying my hopes for points this weekend at West Ham.
Who are your transfer deadline tips - and can they boost the performance of your teams by lifting the players around them?