New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16. Cech, Sinclair, Clyne, Falcao
It’s been a while since we last talked, my friends. Too long. I hope you have found the MLS (and our FF247 Fantasy League) to be suitable entertainment during the summer. Or perhaps you fancy cricket and are watching our very own Tekno light up the fantasy cricket world? Or maybe you are doing both. If so, you are likely a fantasy addict and worry not: there are support groups for that kind of thing. On this website we call them the comment section.
And as much as I dislike having to follow the much-talented and ever-eloquent Gallant Pioneer and the effervescent inittowinit, I will attempt to do so nonetheless. Here are a few more transfers we think you should know about:
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[/three_fourth]Petr Cech
Arsenal
Age: 33
Position: Wearer of Funny Hats (also plays Goalkeeper)
Signed From: Chelsea
Fee: £10m
Petr Cech really needs no introduction. Three times named Best Goalkeeper of the UEFA Champions League; three times the winner of the Premier League’s Golden Glove Award. In his 11 seasons with Chelsea he won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, one Europa League title and one Champions League title.
His arrival has been met with mixed reactions amongst Arsenal fans. While there is no doubting the Czech’s talent, how much does he improve the goalkeeping position at The Emirates and is it worth ending the Arsenal career of David Ospina or Wojciech Szczesny (or both?)? Arsene Wenger has already announced Cech his starter for the upcoming season, which means one of the two is likely to depart the club. Will it be Szczesny, a player in whom the club have invested years, or Ospina, who did all that was asked of him en route to helping the club to its best finish in four seasons and a second consecutive FA Cup victory?
Fantasy outlook: Depending on his price, we think Cech will be popular with fantasy owners. Despite limited opportunities last season, fans will remember the 220 clean sheets he kept while tending goal for Chelsea. Tucking him in behind a defence that ended last year in great form, we think Cech’s transition into the squad should be a smooth one.
Fun fact you will only get at Fantasy Football 247: Cech was born a triplet and enjoys playing the drums.
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[/three_fourth]Scott Sinclair
Aston Villa
Age: 24
Position: Midfield
Signed From: Manchester City
Fee: Undisclosed
Anyone else remember Scott Sinclair? The talented winger scored 19 goals in the 2010-11 season helping secure Swansea City’s return to top flight English football. He followed that up with eight goals and four assists in Swansea’s 2011-12 campaign, and those numbers don’t adequately spell out his importance to the Swansea attack that year.
And then came Manchester City. Lured by a massive wage packet, Sinclair signed a four-year deal with City and promptly found himself on the bench. After playing just 13 league games for City, Sinclair has been given a new lease on life after securing a move to an Aston Villa team that is quietly having a very good offseason.
Fantasy outlook: Having spent the 2nd half of last season on loan at Villa Sinclair should step straight into the starting line-up and provide better service to Christian Benteke than he’s used to. Coupled with his ability to cut inside and get off a quick shot, we think there’s no reason why Sinclair can’t meet or exceed the numbers he put up at Swansea.
Fun fact you will only get at Fantasy Football 247: his brother Martin, who has cerebral palsy, was selected in Great Britain’s Cerebral Palsy football team for the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
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[/three_fourth]Nathaniel Clyne
Liverpool
Age: 24
Position: Defender
Signed From: Southampton
Fee: £12.5m
What an incredible piece of business by Liverpool. They obtained a young English-born player, in a position of need, for a great price. What is shocking about this transfer is that more clubs weren’t interested and that Southampton was willing to let him go on the cheap.
After arriving from Crystal Palace, Clyne quickly claimed the right-back job at Southampton as his own. Over three years, he played 94 times and helped keep 29 clean sheets. Last season alone he helped Southampton keep 13 clean sheets in the 35 league games he played and chipped in with two goals. He’s consistently been ranked among the top right-backs in the Premier League.
Fantasy outlook: while he won’t start out priced at just £5.0 like last year, Clyne is one to consider for your team. A solid overall defender who, surrounded with a more talented team, will likely be given greater freedom by Brendan Rodgers to push higher up the pitch. Even if he posts at £6.0m we think he’s great value.
Fun fact you will only get at Fantasy Football 247: Clyne is reportedly named after noted Swiss musician Nathanial Hornblower.*
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[/three_fourth]Radamel Falcao
Chelsea
Age: 29
Position: Forward
Signed From: On loan from AS Monaco
Fee: Undisclosed
There was a time when El Tigre needed no introduction. Having scored 41 goals in 51 games with Porto and 52 goals in 68 games with Atletico Madrid, the talented Colombian striker was well-known by footy fans worldwide. Then came the transfer to AS Monaco, and loan spell to Manchester United, which resulted in just 17 goals in 51 appearances for the two teams.
Chelsea fans and fantasy owners are wondering which Falcao they’ve gotten on loan. Can the enigmatic striker rediscover the form that saw him torture Spanish defences while at Atletico, or will he continue to struggle adapting to the English game?
Fantasy outlook: Falcao, on his day, is class. It can be argued Falcao was played out of position at United or that Van Gaal didn’t get the best out of the player. At Chelsea he will be surrounded by a squad far superior than the one he had at United. It will be interesting to see how and where Jose Mourinho elects to play him.
Fun fact you will only get at Fantasy Football 247: with his arrival at Chelsea, Falcao joins former Atletico team-mates Thibaut Courtois, Filipe Luis and Diego Costa. OK, not fun enough for you? Try this: George King, one of his great-grandfathers, emigrated from the North Yorkshire village of Burn in 1932 to work as an accountant for the United Fruit Company in Colombia.
Right, that’s all for now my friends. Until next time. Cheers!
*this is most likely not true and possibly fabricated by me.
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Evening all,
Thanks to Lawdogg for bringing us the latest in our series of articles detailing some of the summer signings. :thumbup:
I was a little surprised not to see a Stoke player included 😉
Triple coverage for the first day alone Kop 😉
Lawdogg – thanks for the wonderful article mate. I am potentially interested in three of them and none of them are Sinclair
GP – So, i’m not the only one hoping Stoke get Shaqiri then, eh? 😉
NiN
Definitely not the only one. He’d be very popular. A mark of how Stoke have changed for the better if they get him.
Yeah it would be a huge boost for them. It’d be hard to say no to him if he comes to the league. A 7m price tag is all i’d need to take the plunge anyway.
Whazzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaa guys. Falcao could come back to haunt United. Shite, United hasn’t done anything apart from Depay on the transfermarket. Have they?
Darmian signed today, so just him and Depay so far. I expect Schneiderlin to be signed next week sometime + another defender. That might be our fill then.
Ya need a top striker. Lol. RvP going to Fener, Falcao plays for Chelsea.
Like who, and where is this striker meant to play? Don’t be surprised if we start the season with the three we’ve got now.
Thomas Muller would be an awesome striker for United.
He sure would but, maybe stick to realistic targets?
Naismith?
Thomas Muller has a bad relationship with Pep, so it’s possible. Will cost ya 60 mil though. Rather have him than Gareth Bale though, to be honest.
Hahahaha! In fairness, he scored more than van Persie and Falcao last season!
Forget i said that. That’s horrifying :noshake:
I think that’s why the Baines thing fell down. The deal is you pay £15m for him but any takers MUST have Naismith for free
Well, Muller and Bale aren’t strikers anyway. I can think of better things to do with £60m than splurge on stars we don’t need. We need mid’s and defenders, quickly.
Is there any situation where you would give him a break, even a slight one?
Raz I’d take Bale in a heartbeat. For Utd I mean obviously, not us. Not that we wouldn’t but you know what I mean. I think Utd will go with Rooney up top as the main striker and not deviate from that. They need back up for sure but it’d have to be a Lukaku or someone good and young that’s happy to be at a massive club in the CL but knows they are back up. Actually Lukaku is probably a poor example but the same profile. Maybe Benteke. Signing a marquee striker will only lead to the same Rooney issues again as to where to play him. I think they need to set that stall out right from the start and give him the lead striker role come what may.
NIN, no. He’s not good enough mate. I’ve seen him up close. His touch is abysmal. He’s a journeyman workhorse. Nothing more. Be a star in the Championship. Or in Scotland…
Poor Stevie :shake:
Depay – Rooney – Bale does sound sort of awesome.
On that note, Depay-Rooney-DiMaria doesn’t sound that bad. I think United need a second striker though if RvP is sold.
What about Depay-Rooney-Di Maria? Whip that £60m into other areas and full steam ahead 😉
That’s assuming Di Maria gets the finger out, of course. We shall see.
Yeah, when I think about it, if the Damian move does go through, United are doing pretty well in the transfer window. You got Depay, Damian (rightback). If the talk about Otamendi and Schneiderlin are true, you got a pretty good backbone right there. Wouldn’t like to see Ramos, to be honest. Think he’s overrated. Hummels would also be nice. Anyway, I wouldn’t sell DDG to Real, I would just keep him for another season unless they pay 35+M.
Darmian has been finalized, he’s a United player. Otamendi would be a great signing, but i’d prefer Ramos myself, even though he’s older, but hey, he’s brilliant. The De Gea situation is a dodgy one. I can understand keeping him for another season but at the same time it’s kissing goodbye to getting any fee for him. Tough call, especially when it’s Madrid involved as they have been snapping our players up for years, and mostly on the cheap.
Init
Morning mate. I agree. He coasted this league with us. But anyone with half a brain can.
Martinez likes him though. Not that that is supposed to convince you :smiling:
Thanks Lawdogg, nicely written as ever mate :thumbup:
Cech is such a huge improvement that an Arsenal defender might just have to be purchased for GW1. Who that will be is another matter
Brilliant stuff Lawdogg, many thanks mate! I think this is defo the best transfer window for a long time and so many options, especially in midfield this season. Until we see they’ve priced them out of our reach, of course!
Evening Cookie. Darmian and Depay is a good start for United eh? Morgan and a CB and i’d be happy enough.
Hi NIN, sorry didn’t see your reply last night as had stuff on – yeah it’s a good start and there’s plenty of time left yet to add to it, which I’m sure they will. I think the defender will be Otamendi, if they can get the deal done, while Schneiderlin will also be an important addition if it happens.
However, I can’t help but feel that we’re about to spend a whole load of cash again without adding a real world class midfielder…..we have added good and strong depth, but pretty sure it’s still not a team that will frighten Barca or Bayern, which is surely what we need to be aiming for.
Then again, it’s better than buying Fellaini, so yes it’s been a decent window if they can seal the other moves. It’s progress.
Morning Cookie. Yeah, we’re a long way away from challenging in Europe, that’s for sure. The marquee signings will come but for now, i think stability is the key after the crazy two seasons we’ve had..
Appreciate it friends. Glad to get back to it: the new season is so close I can almost smell it!
Yep, the excitement is brewing! I think Arsenal are in with a real shout this time round. Petr is a game changer.
Thanks for the honorable mention Lawdogg! And thanks for the article too of course :thumbup: