New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16. Sterling
Manchester City have been relatively busy over the last couple of weeks bringing in Fabian Delph & Patrick Roberts, although it remains to be seen if they join the likes of Scott Sinclair and Jack Rodwell on the list of players who have ruined their careers by moving to the Etihad. One player who is highly unlikely to join that list is Raheem Sterling. Having had their first two bids rebuffed by Liverpool they finally got their man, breaking the transfer record for an English player in the process. In all likelihood there will be another couple of arrivals at The Ethiad but even if there’s not, the arrival of Sterling and his hippy crack has significantly improved the City squad.
Raheem Sterling
Manchester City
Age: 20
Signed From: Liverpool
Fee: £49m
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It has been suggested that young Raheem would have been better served staying at Liverpool for at least one more season because this would have helped his development as he was assured of playing every week, unless he was feeling tired! However City have not spent £49m on him for him to sit on the bench and therefore I expect him to play a significant role over the coming months as City endeavour to reclaim the title. Despite what some might say, they haven’t signed him just because he’s English, the lad can play.
Having signed for Liverpool back in 2010 at just 16 years of age, he came to the attention of the masses in the 2012/13 season making 24 league appearances, scoring twice and picking up six assists. The following season saw him link up to devastating effect with Messrs Suarez and Sturridge, finishing the season with nine goals and seven assists. Much was expected of him last season, but like his teammates he struggled without Suarez and endured a rather disappointing season. However he still finished the season seven goals and 10 assists and was probably Liverpool’s best player over the course of the season.
There’s no denying that at £49m Sterling is overpriced but he has improved season on season, the problem he faces now is that he’ll be expected to do it every week. So where will he fit in at The Etihad? At Liverpool he played everywhere from right wing-back to centre forward so he’s certainly versatile and while he’s unlikely to be played as a wing-back at City his arrival undoubtedly provides Pellegrini with options. With more arrivals likely at the Etihad I expect City to play a 4-2-3-1 system this season with Sterling on the right of the 3, cutting in to support Aguero. Although he could also play in a more central role closer to Aguero.
As I’ve stated above I expect Sterling to be a regular in the City side with his dribbling and pace complimenting the vision and technique of David Silva and the firepower of Sergio Aguero. This should see him improve on the seven goals and 10 assists in registered last season, and with a starting price of just £9.0m he could very well offer some early season value.
Finally, it’s worth noting that young Raheem’s City career got off to a great start this morning scoring inside three minutes of his debut. It was a typical Sterling goal as he ran onto a pass behind the defence before slotting past the keeper, I suspect we’ll see plenty more over the coming weeks and months!
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Looks like McCarthy is on his way to Palace. This might trigger the transfer of Hennersley to WBA and a nice 4 million playing keeper
Any feedback guys?.
Another att MF player might be worth a punt
BREAKING: WATFORD SIGN JURADO
Watford have announced the signing of Spanish midfielder Jose Manuel Jurado from Spartak Moscow.
I think Deeney may be the only safe Watford player at this rate
We need gwk to show up and enlighten us on Watford predictable line up. On that note him not appearing for a while may well be the consequence of them hiring Quique, he is just bad. I mean Ranieri bad.
Any feedback guys?, draft 46,888765
I don’t think Baines is on pens anymore. So not worth the price. I’d downgrade there and upgrade Ritchie. Otherwise I quite like it
I like this, think it’s very well balanced. Wish I could fit Mata in my team to be honest, but my gut is saying Milner will do well. Double Utd attack possible overkill? Could work out well if they’re firing though!
Not convinced on Baines myself (or Everton def tbh) purely because of how many times he screwed me over last season..!
Overall very decent though
Hey all,
Can I get A RMT – any advice/opinions welcome. £1.5m left ITB
Currently thinking 3-5-2 until Kun is playing/GW3-4, at which point I’ll drop Payet to Ki (or another £5.5m mid) – got enough in the bank to then fund Kane > Aguero. Really liking the mid options atm so feel going with 5 there could be beneficial at the start. Couple of gambles on Walcott/Fabregas outscoring their team mates but I like the risk..!
Need to monitor JRod but I think he’ll play alongside Pelle and montior Kane when his pre season starts so these could be subject to change. Can afford Rooney over Kane if he isn’t performing, then follow same plan above.
Strangely haven’t tinkered a great deal since my first draft, been happy with my decisions *cue spanners being thrown into the works*
Thanks in advance!
Bakker could backfire big time. He’s by far the most highly owned 4.0 defender (something like 13% of teams have him). If he doesn’t play in the first few gws, his price could drop very quickly…
If you decide to stick with Williams and Lescott. you could use the 2-5-3 chip right away in gw1.
That’s a very fair point.. Not happy with Baker but need a 4.0m def in there. Do price drops not work off a % of the ownership anyway though? rather than just sheer volume of transfers in/out. Hopefully the majority of people will be pre-occupied with priority transfers rather than everyones non-playing 4m cheapos!
cheers!
I had a thought about that, don’t think I’d have the guts to do it so soon though! Would prefer a stronger front 3 I think before using it
Who have been the hammers CB pairing pre-season?
Must be Tomkins and Reid surely