New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16. Depay, Darmian, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin
Manchester United moved early to secure their marquee signing of Memphis ‘don’t call me Depay’ Depay and he’s someone who many fantasy managers will have a keen eye on and some / most will probably take a chance on the new guy early doors given his obvious talent and pedigree. Elsewhere they needed a right-back and despite rumours of a move for Eveton’s Seamus Coleman they have splashed the cash on the slightly less exciting, but maybe more functional in a ‘Gary Neville style’, Mateo Darmian. It’s perhaps a sign of tightening up at the back as it’s always helpful to have at least one of the back four that’s capable of actually defending. United have, in more recent days, secured the services of Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger, two transfers which will clearly improve United in the middle of the park and ease some of the pressure on United’s fitness coach, who it seems spends most of his time trying to get Michael Carrick back to full fitness.
Memphis Depay
Manchester United
Age: 21
Position: Winger
Signed from: PSV
Fee: €27.5mln[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
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Memphis, as he now wishes to be known as, (he dropped the Depay to spite his estranged father) could emerge as one of the more exciting transfers of this window. A right-footed winger, he is generally deployed on the left and therefore is known more for cutting inside than beating the defender on the outside. He is a pacey and tricky player, making him a nightmare for defenders and has a fearsome shot, both from open play and set pieces. His transfer to United was confirmed in early May as United were forced to act quickly to counter interest from PSG and also Liverpool. His 22 goals for PSV last season made him Eredivisie’s leading scorer as PSV marched to their 22nd league title.
One criticism of Memphis is he is too selfish and shoots from all angles rather than playing an easier pass for a team mate in a better position – this is evidenced in his lack of assists – just five last season from 30 matches. Whether LVG will attempt to change this remains to be seen. The player describes his new manager as “a father figure” and it was LVG who took Memphis to the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil, where the winger scored against both Australia and Chile and was nominated alongside Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane on the three-man shortlist for the tournament’s Best Young Player award, which Pogba went on to win.
Memphis will clearly feel very much at home at Old Trafford under the tutorship of LVG, his Dutch entourage of coaching staff and Daley Blind.
We suggest he is a definite on your watchlist and to keep an eye on his pre-season form for United – we have seen many foreigners take time to adapt to the Premier League, but with United rumoured to be strengthening at the back and midfield, it may well be that we see a more solid United this season, giving them a base to attack and create with more pace and endeavour than they did last season. If this is the case, expect Memphis to feature heavily and to gain his share of goals – if he can add creating assists for this new team mates then he could well become an exciting and profitable addition to your FPL squad.
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Matteo Darmian
Manchester United
Age: 25
Position: Defender
Signed from: Torino
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After failing to show any interest in Nathaniel Clyne and seemingly believing Seamus Coleman was overpriced, United have signed Italian full back Matteo Darmian from Torino. Darmian is a right footed full back who can play on either side, but with Shaw and Blind battling for the left berth, it’s likely the Italian will slot into the right back role initially. United, of course, used Antonio Valencia as a make-shift right back for the majority of last season – natural full back Rafael appears not to be favoured by LVG, even in those brief moments he is fit.
Darmian is 25 years old and started life at AC Milan where he made his Serie A debut at the age of 17, but after only 4 appearances was transferred to Palermo after a brief stint on loan at Padova. He then went on to make 133 appearances for Torino and was called up to the full Italian side in 2014 and went on to play in all three of Italy’s matches in their unsuccessful World Cup campaign in Brazil.
If historical facts are anything to go by, Darmian is not the sort of full back to provide much in the way of attacking points – he scored twice and made just one assist in the league last season, despite him being occasionally deployed as both a midfielder and wing back. The Italian is a tough tackling and tactically aware defender, who should prove a reliable acquisition for the Reds and at 5.5mln he is a decent option especially if United buy the world class centre back that has been well rumoured for a while now. Darmian is also benefitted from facing little and less obvious competition at right back, which cannot be said on the left hand side where Rojo, Blind and Shaw could all play.
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United have moved to strengthen their midfield by signing German World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich and French international Morgan Schneiderlin from Southampton. Both names should of course be very familiar with you, but are they worth consideration for your fantasy team? Well, the answer to that very much depends on how they are deployed by LVG, so with any luck we will learn more when the players join United on their pre-season tour of the US soon. A fit again Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini are all vying for midfield roles and some have suggested that Schweinsteiger and Carrick cannot play effectively together. Whether this is true or not, only time will tell, though with Carrick’s injury record, some may joke this won’t be an issue!
Morgan Schneiderlin
Manchester United
Age: 25
Position: Midfield
Signed from: Southampton
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[/three_fourth]Schneiderlin is the latest Saint to jump ship as he was granted his wish for a move to a Champions League club. He is priced at 5.5mln by FPL which is clearly cheap for a United midfielder and will instantly attract interest in that regard. But can he deliver the goods to make the Frenchman a bargain midfielder at low cost? His three seasons in the top flight with Southampton have generated 108, 84 & 90pts – last season, which was affected by injury saw Schneiderlin play just 25 matches, scoring four goals, two assists, collecting twelve bonus points, receiving five yellow cards and one red card. That works out at around 3.6pts per game, which placed him on a level of returns with the likes of Puncheon and Brunt and just below Tadic, Herrera and Coutinho. His price of 5.5mln places him alongside Ki of Swansea, Mahrez of Leicester and Zaha of Palace. On that basis, he may just be worth a punt – he clearly won’t score every week, but will likely be a solid performer for a team that will dominate possession more often than not and may just be presented with more goal scoring opportunities than came his way at Southampton. Schneiderlin’s particular strengths are tackling and winning back the ball, which leads him to committing his fair share of fouls – he has picked up 22 yellow cards over the course of the last three seasons. He is certainly a punt but his price makes him less of a risky one.
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Bastian Schweinsteiger
Manchester United
Age: 30
Position: Midfield
Signed from: Bayern Munich
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[/three_fourth]Schweinsteiger has clearly been bought by LVG to bring experience, class and a brain to a midfield which has never really recovered from the loss of Paul Scholes – some would say they have never replaced Roy Keane. The German is not a like-for-like replacement for either, but has world class pedigree and will undoubtedly improve United both on the pitch and the training ground and also provide some much needed nous as United look to undertake both a successful Champions League campaign and a challenge for the Premier League. The German is reunited with LVG after playing under him at Bayern from 2009-11. A great reader of the game, in his younger days Schweinsteiger was certainly a terrific box to box midfielder though he is now more likely to be deployed deeper due to his age restricting the forward runs that were his trademark. He is likely to play in a midfield three and still possesses a tremendous shot, while his greatest asset will be his passing, where his stats eclipse even those of Carrick, who was pivotal to United last season, when he managed to stay fit.
Schweinsteiger has been priced at 7mln, so already at a premium to Schneiderlin. It’s difficult to advise to select the German now due to the uncertainty of his role in the midfield, while there are other more attacking options available at a similar price, Siggy and Chadli spring readily to mind amongst others.
It is quite likely that both Schneiderlin and Scweinsteiger, while they are excellent signings for United, may well be more influential for other United players than for themselves in fantasy terms. Because of their high quality of passing, we would expect the likes of Rooney, Memphis, Di Maria (if he stays) and Mata (if he plays) to be the particular beneficiaries of the two new additions to United’s engine room and we would advise to sit and watch United’s opening few games before taking the plunge on either Schneiderlin or Schweinsteiger.
In the “unveiling” of Darmian, Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin, LVG gave some clues as to some personnel changes and also the system he will be using this season. He said Darmian would have to fight for the right back role with Valencia and that Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin would be battling with Carrick and Blind for the holding midfield role. This points to a 4-2-3-1 system.
He said Valdes will be sold after he refused to play for the reserves last season. No mention either of Rafael, so expect him to go also. When asked about Di Maria, LVG said he was expecting him to join the preseason tour on 25 July and when asked if ADM was leaving, the response was, “We shall see. In football, it is a process. It’s a process for Di Maria and Man Utd. We shall see”. The chat is PSG are very interested, as is the player and that United won’t stand in his way, if they receive a decent bid and if the player says he wants to go, although LVG wants him to stay.
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Guys I found this on Twitter, I went ahead and made a copy and colured it in as it was not. Not sure who made it, but here it is for you guys to also look at. Just make a copy if you wish to edit it yourself or you don’t agree with my easy and difficult fixtures assessment. Be aware that Foster is due back in October or so, so Myhill will lose his spot. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PuA-jjAx51yW0vS8kpfcVh777CTjrTxQwoANwEnof5E/edit?usp=sharing
Brilliant Mito
Scanning that briefly, Guzan and Ruddy look good.
Ye I think Ruddy is the best with Boruc a close 2nd for me.
GP, just a shame they play for Villa & Norwich!
Cookie
I know mate. Still I remember the season before last when Chelsea beat Villa 8-0 and Guzan still got me 5 points due to saves and a penalty save
Never thought of Butland actually, hmm, have to look into that one :thumbup:
NiN you have mail.
:thumbup:
Tough fixtures though at first
Yeah, and it’s tough to see a GK who could take the weight off.
I have NiN but the signing of two other goalies throws it up in the air for me. Bit risky unless Hughes says something definite before we start.
True. I knew about Given but didn’t think he’d be first choice. Didn’t know about the other guy though. Not liking a Stoke/Palace rotation anyway, to be honest. I do like Boruc/Gomes combo though. Bit iffy but could well be a lot of save points in there.
NiN
I’m thinking the same on Ruddy and Guzan.
Even if they don’t get CS they are assured of playing and are two proper international GKs with PL experience and plenty more.
That’s it GP. Once our GK(s) can just be left to do what they do then that’s good enough for me.
NiN + GP, i’ve just got Guzan in for Rudd to give me 2 playing keepers, Ruddy/Guzan.
It’s a nice combo for the first 10. Similar to Boruc/Gomes in that way as they come in to a dodgy run around that time too i think.
Sounds like a plan elle :thumbup:
Could do with Villa signing Adebayor as a replacement for Bentake. Sherwood loves him and he’s really cheap
Sherwood only loves himself. 😉
And gilets. Don’t forget the gilets
Smash
That may actually be a goer.
6 million. Adebayor scores points when he’s looking for a contract
Yaya is a steal at 8.5 cant believe hes not in more teams.
Ant
Probably reflecting the poor season last time. If he had a season last time out like the one before he’d be the same value as Hazard probably.
Bit of a risk but i know what you mean. Won’t be for me though I don’t think.
At 9m you can have a sell out, Sterling. I’d go with him.
Yeah I have him. He was at African nations last year and still getting over City forgetting his birthday.
His best form comes when Aguero is injured, the stats are there to back that up too. I’d have Sterling/Silva ahead of him any day myself.
He still scored 10 goals last season and grabbed 2 assists. And the season before grabbed 20 goals. At 8.5 i think hes a real bargain.
I’m aware of his returns, but again, they mostly come when Aguero isn’t in the team. He’s not for me anyway.
Oh really did not know that about Yaya. Silva seems too expensive
Yeah Silva is 1.5 more, which is a fair bit. Yaya is a really cheap route into Citys team.
Not sure about Silva being too expensive. If he plays, he has been equal to Haz over the past two seasons. The only concern with him is fitness, but if you know he is going to play then he can certainly be worth it. if Silva would have played the same minutes last season as Haz he finishes 10 points ahead, if he played the same the year before, he finishes 1 point behind. All the more impressive when one realizes that Hazard has scored 7 pens over the two seasons and Silva has none.
Definitely has him on my radar. Will see how he does in preseason.
Guys, Anyone going to buy Austin when he goes Newcastle?
Meh, he will probably be around 7.5/8.0 so probably not
I reckon he will be expensive
If they can put a good team around him then i’d strongly consider it. As it stands, probably wont go for him.
Id be surprised if he’s less than 8 million though
Yeah that sounds about right to me too. Somewhere in the 8-9m range.
Nice read Cookie! Good to see us make some actually sensible transfers this season. Don’t understand why we didn’t even have a look at Clyne though.
Hey CC. I thought about that one myself, maybe Clyne just didn’t fancy United so we looked elsewhere. It also looks like we priced out of a Coleman bid pretty sharpish too. Happy enough with Darmian though :thumbup:
Yep no arguing there NIN. Haven’t been happy with our RB for years so it seems like a good move.
Yep. At the very least, he’s Italian, so should be tactically solid. A new CB now and we’re in good shape for a strong season.
Evening all bit busy today & tonight off to Cartmel races tomorrow for the wknd should be a good one don’t seem to be able to get a good team with Kun in but don’t want to go without him although I might for the 1st GW
What’s up Silver, haven’t even started throwing a team together yet but can imagine it’ll be a familiar headache trying to get him in there somehow. Enjoy the gee-gees.
Once you resign yourself to the thinking that he’s a must have, above all others, then it becomes easier to accept losing a mid you want. That’s how i view it anyway. I’d much rather have something like Aguero&Chadli than, say, Costa&Sterling.
How about Aguero, Costa, Sterling, and Chadli altogether :speak:
I’d be interested to see how the rest of the squad lined up. Something tells me it’d be Hazard-less, so that’s me not liking it pretty instantly!
I’m pretty sure I had Aguero, Costa, Hazard, Chadli, and Mata – instead of Sterling – in a draft. Had to go cheap in defense of course, but still had players from Chelsea and Soton.
Had any abuse for that grav yet Tekno? 😉
I hate how Costa never gets bonus points.
I’m struggling to make that work myself, especially with Chelsea defence still in there and a good 4th/5th mid. Hmm.
Calvin – Sadly, no. That was part of the reason behind the grav in the first place :/
NIN – Had Courtois from Chelsea, and Ritchie and Barry as 4h and 5th mids. And Deeney as 3rd striker too. So some areas of the squad were obviously weakened due to the expensive players.
Love that grav, Tellers
How is your team looking Nin?
Smash – For the most part i’ve just been looking at squad balance and rotations. This is the squad that’s locked in just now but i wouldn’t even call it draft1. Preseason needs to kick off properly before i start thinking on which players i want. I like the balance here, though.
Love Wally in there. Triple Cap first GW, all in! 😉
He NIN that’s a nice team is it just aurocorrect?? The only things I would change is Janmaat and Cabaye but other than that it’s a good team.
CC – Sanchez being out for at least GW1 is a game changer i think, have to have Wally in there for that one. GW1 bonanza :hippo:
Matt – No it’s not auto-correct mate, i’ve been slowly but surely balancing it out. Again, very few of these picks are definite’s, it’s just a guide for myself for when players start standing out to me. Once that happens, then the picks of the bunch will be drafted in :thumbup:
Yeah I like it. Not sure on double Spurs though
It’s coming along nicely mate. There’s one or two areas that can be improved but like you said when preseason gets well and truly underway that more players will jump out.
Smash – It’s not a draft, it’s a guide.
Matt – Precisely. Only real thing to take from this squad is the spread of funds, and ways to work around Aguero&Hazard. I’ll be honest though, Cabaye has a great chance of making my squad. 6.5m for an expert set-piece taker is a delight.
Ah I see. Yeah that’s a good base. Maintains the balance
He would be on my team because of him being so good at setpieces but it’s just the fixtures that Palace have that put him off him until about GW7
I reckon it’s worth a shot but if someone else with better fixtures comes along then a change will be made. One thing that we know for sure about Cabaye, is that Pardew knows exactly how to use him best. I’m pretty sure he had all FK’s, Corners from both sides, and penalties when he was at Newcastle. That’s a lot of opportunity in a game, even against top teams. I think he’s one to strongly consider.
Ye your right there he should have all set pieces, I’ll need to give it a serious think I had him in a few of my drafts it was just his fixtures that made me change my mind.
Cheers Cc & NiN I,m over thinking things a bit worried on 4/5th MF players & playing with 1 GK so can cover Che Def other problem I,m banking on Huth going to Sou & j Rod starting so not much 😉
Huths going to Southampton?? Didn’t he just sign for Leicester?
Sorry MattX meant to say Vlaar that’s what I,m hopping
That would actually make me consider him to be honest he’s usually Villas best defender so at Southampton he should be great bargain.