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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Anyone think Falcao will play?? £7.5m
Here and there. Basically whenever Costa loses his head or pulls the hammy, i think. Cant see him dislodging Diego any time soon, if ever.
Put it this way I have a pretty good team with Falcao instead of Costa!!
Evening everyone.
Been on the go all day today. Miss anything good?
Evening GP. It seems the air of panic is upon us already :hippo:
NiN
I’m just about to log in and have a nose about the site. Only just wrestled the iPad from my daughter.
Thanks for the budget players post earlier, very useful mate.
Well, off I go . . . I might auto select . . .
But I’m a big kid and won’t be able to resist seeing who I can get :winktongue:
Nice one GP, happy tinkering! I’ve managed to stay away so far!
I’m on to register, read the rules etc.
Probably just auto select shortly. Maybe.
Haha, you haven’t seen it yet. Brace yourself mate 😉
This is going to be an extremely hard year in FF! It took me nearly 40mins to do my first initial pick
I do like these new additions though!!
Hey Mitro. Pretty nifty additions eh? I think they are a great addition, as is the split WC’s. No more of this JanWC bollocks
I think it could make a massive different in our mini leagues!!
Most certainly. I half expect to be blown out of the water in first 3-6 weeks when everyone uses their chips. Then, the hunt is on and they shall be destroyed, muahahahahahaaa :hippo:
Deadlines have also changed!
In what way? I haven’t looked at those yet…
Hey NIN if your still about, quick question about Ruddy and Rudd are you talking about the 2 Norwich GKs? Is that a good idea having 2 Gks from the same team?
Hey Matt. Yeah it’s not a problem. There’s a few routes with GK’s that i know of.
1. Premium GK + 4m filler.
2. A rotating pair, meaning home fixtures are always, or for the most part at least, picked up.
3. The double up. If Ruddy gets injured then it’s no big deal as his backup is your backup.
I honestly have no idea which is the more fruitful option but, i do know that the Norwich guys are good GK’s, capable of 3 or 4 points weeks when Norwich do bad, and also capable of 8+ when CS’s come through. Similar to Pantilimon last season, for example, but maybe not quite the amount of saves as Norwich should be tighter than Sunderland were for a while. Funds comes into it too.
Right okay thanks I might actually bring in these two Gks and save money instead of Cech. Cheers NIN
If doing that -or something similar if you fancy a different pair- means you can get someone like Koscielny or Bertrand in instead of a “half-decent” defender, then it’s well worth it.
Ye definitely is cheers mate.
First Draft after a struggle of 30 minutes. How does it look? There is a balance of 4.5 Mn left in the bank meaning I can get Aguero/Sanchez either of them depending on who starts from GW1. But I agree with Nin we cannot have those 4.0 Non playing Mids/Defenders anymore coz of these chips.
Avengers – I did a wee bit of research earlier and it seems like this Hoban dude from Watford is good to go at 4m. Just keep an eye on things here to make sure he’s not been replaced or dropped or whatever. As it stands, he’s the only 4m i can find that is a decent prospect. With Aguero in there, i like the balance of this team. It’s too early for a full RMT though, i think. We’ll have to see who comes, goes, gets injured, hits/drops form etc etc.
Already on “The Goonies” Mk6
Great comments today Nin, Just wondering is it time to forget about Kun,Sanchez, Hazard in the same team. Seems better value in the 7.0 to 8.5m Mids and I think Rooney could be utd’s main guy this season and is good value at 10,5. Anyone’s thoughts ?
1 of 7, cheers mate. If they help a wee bit then all the better. These early stages can be a disaster, or at least seem like one!
It’s going to be difficult to get all of them straight away but there are options like Santi Cazorla at 8.5m, and Yaya at the same price. Not having the expensive players doesn’t necessarily mean our teams are iffy.
As for Rooney, it’ll take a lot for me to even consider him. As a United fan i hope he rocks it all season but i doubt it. See how he’s being deployed in preseason and judge from there.
We all need help Nin, Think Depay, Mane, Ramsey, Siggy all should be considered, Coutinho, Firmino, Milner, Payet, Ericksen when fixtures improve. I think I am looking at Kun and mids between 7 and 8.5m. Also will try to avoid this years Bojan.
Evening all been reading but can’t get on to post looks like it’s going to be harder to set team up this yr can’t seem to get 3 big hitters in there ,plenty of time yet 😉