New FPL Transfers Manchester United Lindelof & Lukaku
Hello and welcome to New FPL Transfers Manchester United Lindelof & Lukaku. Man United have been splashing the cash again, but hey why wouldn’t you when Zlatan and Rooney are suddenly off the wage bill?! As ever, United have been linked with a whole host of players over the summer – sadly they failed to secure the services of Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo, Pele and Maradona but hey ho, life is not always plain sailing. Instead, at the time of writing, United have made two significant purchases – firstly they raided Benfica for Swedish defender Victor Lindelof and then they surprised many by grabbing Romelu Lukaku from Everton. Lindelof will be looked upon to bring some stability to a United defence that was beset by injury last term, while the injury and subsequent departure of Zlatan together with United’s general profligacy in front of goal last season meant United needed a big shop window signing to wear the no.9 shirt. Both players have already joined up with United on their preseason tour of the States and will be expected to jump straight into United’s preferred starting XI. Lukaku we all know plenty about, less so Lindelof, but let’s have a look at both to see if they are viable FPL options for us this season.
Victor Lindelof
Defender
FPL Price: 5.5mln
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[/three_fifth]Despite a decent defensive record last season, Mourinho encountered problem after problem at the back. Injuries saw the likes of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Luke Shaw miss significant periods of the season – Jones and Shaw are injury magnets, while Marcos Rojo suffered a cruciate ligament injury in April which is likely to keep him out until September at least. Eric Bailly proved a success and Mourinho has dipped into United’s deep coffers to bring 22 year old Victor Lindelof to Old Trafford to partner Bailly. Lindelof is a Swedish central defender who has also operated as a right back – his adaptability will have no doubt been an attraction for Jose. The Swede started his career as a midfielder and he has retained those ball playing skills meaning he is adept at bringing the ball out of defence.
Lindelof made his international debut for Sweden in 2016 and has collected 12 caps – before that he represented his country at U17, U19 & U21 level and was part of the team that won the 2015 U21 European Championships, with Lindelof named in the Team of the Tournament. The Swede moved to Benfica in 2012 as a 17 year old and made 96 appearances for Benfica B before graduating to the first team, where he made 48 appearances.
Don’t look to the Swede to be a prolific goal scoring defender as he scored just twice for Benfica. However, Lindelof’s disciplinary record is historically better than Bailly’s with the Swede collecting just one yellow card last season. The Swede appears to offer a safe if unspectacular route into the United backline and with the Red’s opening fixtures looking particularly enticing, some United coverage at the back looks like a sensible choice. His price of 5.5mln sees him cheaper than Valencia and Bailly and the same price as de Gea.
Romelu Lukaku
Forward
FPL Price: 11.5mln
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[/three_fifth]United certainly pulled a rabbit of the hat when they signed Lukaku with the striker heavily reported to be on his way back to Chelsea. However, Mourinho got his man, hijacking his old employers’ plans in the process and with Zlatan Ibrahimovic being released due to his long-term injury, United will be hoping that Lukaku is the man to re-fire United as league challengers rather than the ‘also rans’ they have been since Sir Alex retired. United have spent £75mln on the Belgian international who scored 68 goals in 141 appearances for Everton and has so far registered 23 goals for his country in 68 appearances.
Now, there are few FPL players who create as much debate as Big Rom or Red Rom as he is now known. There are regular criticisms of the player’s ‘poor first touch’, there are suggestions that the Belgian is a ‘flat-track bully’ who goes missing in the big games and of course in FPL circles his perceived inconsistency has led to him being named Trollkaku, amongst other less polite names!
The flat track bully tag could be considered somewhat unfair as Lukaku scored more goals vs the top 6 clubs last season than Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero, Diego Costa, Ibrahimovic and Alexis Sanchez. United have bought a tried and tested Premier League goal scorer in Lukaku – last season’s 25 league goals were only bettered by Harry Kane and Big Rom was the 5th highest FPL points scorer behind Alexis, Alli, Hazard and Kane and the joint highest scorer of bonus points alongside Kane, Hazard and KdB.
Another possible advantage for Lukaku is the likelihood of him being on penalties with the departures of Rooney and Ibrahimovic – keep an eye on United’s pre-season matches to see if Red Rom is indeed on spot-kick duty.
Detractors will of course point to the fact that Lukaku and Mourinho worked together briefly at Chelsea before the striker left for Everton – on that Lukaku says, “We were together under different circumstances. Obviously, the first time when I met him, I was still a young kid, and I was eager to play. And he understood my decision why I left at the time… I think he wants to improve me, make me a better player than I am today, which is good. I always want to improve…I think it’s the perfect opportunity.” Mourinho is quoted as saying, “Romelu is a natural fit for Manchester United. He is a big personality and a big player. It is only natural that he wants to develop his career at the biggest club. He will be a great addition to the group and I know they will make him very welcome. I am really looking forward to working with him again.”
Lukaku has great friends in the squad, none more so than neighbour Paul Pogba and also fellow international Marouane Fellaini – both will help him settle at Old Trafford and indeed Lukaku has already joined up with the squad on their tour of USA.
At 24 years old Lukaku is still 2/3 years away from his prime and his dreams of playing Champions League football will now been realised. With the likes of Martial, Mkhitaryan, Mata, Pogba and Rashford looking to provide their new team mate chances aplenty expect Lukaku to ‘hit the ground running’ and with United’s first seven fixtures being vs West Ham, Swansea, Leicester, Stoke, Everton, Southampton and Palace a fast start will be demanded by Mourinho and he’ll be looking to his new striker to bully those flat tracks.
Lukaku has been priced at 11.5mln by FPL, putting him on par with Aguero with only Kane more expensive. Owning all three premium strikers will be tricky given the pricing and clearly Lukaku’s move to United has been reflected in his price.
Thanks for reading New FPL Transfers Manchester United Lindelof & Lukaku. This article was written by Cookie
The Fixture Tracker…
Is Sane a nailed starter?. They have KDB, Sterling, Jesus, Silva, Bernado Silva, and Sane all looking for a place?.
AnttL
Nightmare isn’t it!?
i think the only real one that is nailed on is KDB as pep can change everything in a second its really tough selecting city midfielders. i would also stay away of the strikers as pep could just roatate them or play one on the wing….
+1. I would not risk with anyone from that City front line besides KDB. What you need from your premium mids, especially in those first weeks for value reasons, is to make sure they play.
Thanks for the article Cookie, much appreciated. I’ve seen several drafts with Lindelof in them but I really don’t know much about him, so this was perfect. I was wondering what people’s thoughts were on some of the cheaper options that we’ll need to fill out our squads. After really looking at the players prices last night I’m thinking of going back to the traditional 3-4-4, so I’ll need a cheapo 5th midfielder, and budget friendly 3rd striker, and some halfway decent 4.5 defenders. Who are you guys liking so far for those positions? Anyone better than Loftus-Cheek for a 5th mid? Is 8.0 too much to spend on Defoe for a 3rd striker? Who else do you like up there? And who are the best cheap defenders to rotate? Thanks for any input, hope you’re enjoying the tinkering and getting back into the game!
Ha, that should read 3-4-3! Sorry, I’ll learn to proofread one of these seasons.
Hey Red, glad you’ve enjoyed the summer break mate!
I really like J Rod, just a shame he’s at West Brom, but at 6mln he could well provide some decent value. Loftus Cheek looks decent, if he gets starts, Tom Carroll is priced at 4.5mln again, JWP could be great initially at 5.5mln and with nice fixtures. Haven’t really looked at defenders much yet mate.
Thanks Cookie, those are good shouts. Also thinking about Austin for a 3rd striker if he looks likely to start, he’s always done well for me when I’ve had him. Great to see you and everyone on the boards, although it’s so early it’s really hard to make any concrete decisions. You enjoying the tennis? I’m looking forward to watching Konta and Williams battle it out today as soon as I can kick my kid off the TV and get the cartoons off!
I don’t really enjoy tennis but I’ve been having a few bets on it to keep me interested!!
We need more than 22 games in the Konta macth to keep me happy so 4-4 is a good start
Thanks Cookie, looking forward to more articles.
£50m for Kyle Walker agreed. The world of football has gone mad. Hello Trippier.
Yeah Trippier looks very good now
Crazy money for such a shite defender!
Indeed Cookie he will fit in well with Stones won’t he. Both very dopey
Definitely. Good going forward but not a good defender.
Tripper in but I do worry about how Spurs will settle at Wembley 😉
I think Mito made a great point about this the other day when I had doubts. Bigger teams play better on the bigger pitches. When Spurs struggled at Wembley it’s against Chelsea, Monaco and Leverkusen and those teams are hardly bad
So do I Silvers, but prefer to have two of their players now than worry about getting them in later.
Let’s hope they take to it with their home form and not their away haha
and Gent.
Walker to Man City – does this make Trippier a must-have do we think?
Also IF Arsenal keep Sanchez and Ozil, would this sway any of you into picking Laca over Lukaku?
United’s fixtures look better than Arsenal’s so many will rather go with Lukaku over Lacazette based on that. Also some may choose Lukaku because he is proven in PL whereas Lacazette is brand new.
I’m pretty disappointed at the prices of Ozil, Sanchez and Lacazette thought they would all be slightly cheaper
Afternoon everyone, looks like people are well into creating drafts. I hit auto select and left it at that for a while haha.
Just wanted to get people’s opinions/start a debate on international football now for a minute. This summer some people might not know that the England underage teams have been performing brilliantly.
The England U17’s came runners up to Spain in the Euro’s, the U20’s won the World Cup, the U21’s got to the semi’s of the Euro’s only losing to Germany on penalties and finally the U19’s will be playing in the final of the Euro’s against Portugal. Does this mean that England’s future isn’t as bleak as the media make it out to be or is it just that other teams youth players are crap? These tournaments are showing that it’s only the Senior England side that can’t make it out of the group stages!! What are people’s thoughts on all this?
Media pressure
Can’t all be put down to that surely? These are senior professionals who play in the Premier League so having the media talk about them should stop them from playing.
It’s the transition from these age groups to the senior team where it goes awry
As an outsider, I personally feel that the scrutiny every decision by the manager and performance of each player is given is counter-productive. Some of the players are very good but collectively, there are just teams who are technically better and have that mentality to keep their nerve at the big moments – Germany above all else.
Completely agree GP.
Another problem is that many of England’s youngsters who play for one of the better club sides are unlikely to see a huge amount of first team football whereas their European counterparts will and in plenty of cases they already do.
Those youngsters that do make the breakthrough are under so much scrutiny that they only need to fart and they’re on the front page of the rags.
Hmm so it is down to the media? I’m torn between Ireland and England so don’t really care when England get knocked out because Ireland are having the craic.
I feel that you are probably right that there is too much criticism put on players at times but I also feel that the management isn’t strong enough against some of the big egos in the team and the FA. It seems that the manager doesn’t really run the team in my mind.
I kind of think the players at senior level are too pampered when it comes to the tournaments. The Media are all over the players, they are always in the best hotel and given free time away. Therefore they are not bonding as a team and are probably bored. Also you only ever see the England players constantly on the golf course should they just be purely concentrating on football