New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16. Depay, Darmian, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin

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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New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16. Depay, Darmian, Schweinsteiger, Schnedierlin. This article was written by Cookie

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