New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16. Ayew, Eder, Tripier, Obiang, Payet, McClean
The transfer window has swung open and many teams are already on a player feast ahead of the new season. Some signings will be functional and some will be exciting but what we need to know is whether they will be fantasy gold or indeed just barely relevant enough to be bench fodder. Over the next few weeks we will endeavour to trawl through the transfer market and analyse the key transfers for you. We will look at each players past performances and try and give you a steer as to whether we feel they will be worth investing in.
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[/three_fourth]Andre Ayew
Swansea City
Age: 25
Position: Striker
Signed From: Free agent (previously Marseille)
Fee: Free
Not every player can say Pele is his dad. Well I suppose the great Brazilian did raise (cough) awareness of a male impotence cure so if he was indeed receiving payment of stock then maybe there are a lot out there who can rightly call him Papa Pele. Anyway I digress. My main point is that Swansea have signed Andre Ayew, the striking son of the great Abedi Pele or Abedi Ayew as he was christened in Kibi, Ghana. So, why doesn’t Ayew junior go with “Pele” instead of Ayew? Well, would you? Talk about a target on your back! In any event what Swansea have done is pick up a player with ten years of playing experience in France, mostly at Marseille but interrupted by loans at Arles and Lorient (where brother Jordan now plays) and they have picked him up for free. Andre is still only 25 and represents and interesting fantasy alternative should he be priced reasonably. He has scored 44 goals in 160 matches for OM and also has stacked 62 caps (11 goals) for the Black Stars of Ghana. It will be interesting to see how Swansea manager Garry Monk fits in his attackers this season but a change of formation to accommodate more than just a lone striker of Gomis looks likely. Ayew may find himself handily placed to be amongst the points. I think a watching brief should be taken on Swansea to see how they fit in their attackers. Speaking of which . .
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Eder
Swansea City
Age: 27
Position: Striker
Signed From: SC Braga
Fee: Undisclosed
The Portuguese international has now also completed his move from SC Braga to the Swans. A better than goal every three games ratio in his time with Braga has encouraged Swansea to part with a believed £5M for the Guinea-Bissau born striker. It would seem very unlikely that Swansea could shoehorn in Eder, Gomis, Ayew and Sigurdsson at the same time and with Routledge and Dyer also in the wings, it is definitely advisable to see both how Garry Monk lines his side up and how the player himself settles. Probably a bit of a risky pick to start with but then again look at Michu.
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Kieran Trippier
Tottenham Hotspur
Age: 24
Postion: Defender
Signed From: Burnley
Fee: £3.5M
The ex-Manchester City trainee (he’ll probably always be tagged this way) has found himself retaining a tag he’ll enjoy more, that of ‘Premier League footballer’. Pochettino has signed the right back who played more games for Burnley last year than any of his ex-clubmates. I don’t see him playing 41 matches this season. He is competing with England international Kyle Walker for a place in the team and each of them may find themselves in and out of the team especially with Europa League again on Spurs’ agenda. The Lilywhites’ other right back DeAndre Yedlin may be out of the equation as it is believed his employers are looking to loan the American out to gain experience so Trippier would at worst be second choice. It may well be worth watching to see who starts the league match at Old Trafford as that should be a good indicator of greater trust and therefore favouritism from the manager.
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[/three_fourth]Pedro Obiang
West Ham United
Age: 23
Position: Midfielder
Signed From: Sampdoria
Fee: Undisclosed
Pedro Obiang is 23. He has a number Spanish youth caps. He started his career at Atletico Madrid. Has played just one game short of a century in Serie ‘A’ for Sampdoria. And he isn’t Angelo Ogbonna. OK so those of you confused by that last sentence are not then familiar with West Ham co-owner David Gold taking to twitter to welcome his new signing to the club and posting a picture of Juventus player Ogbonna instead. Yep, ‘suck-air-through-teeth’ embarrassing. Gold clearly paid little attention during negotiations – probably dreaming about how to fill the Olympic Stadium next year or if big Sam knows any wrong ‘uns. Although the player may have potential to do a fantastic job for the Hammers I’ll say the two words that’ll have you immediately scanning to the next featured player. ‘Defensive’ and ‘midfielder’. Obiang scored just four goals in 132 games all-told for Sampdoria so whatever his price in the fantasy game, I wouldn’t advise taking the Spaniard from the off and expecting great things.
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[/three_fourth]Dmitiri Payet
West Ham United
Age: 28
Position: Midfielder
Signed From: Marseille
Fee: £10M
Allegedly courted by Chelsea and Liverpool during his time at St Etienne in France, one of his four former Ligue 1 clubs and where he made most appearances, Dmitri Payet is an attacking midfielder noted for his quick movement, excellent dribbling skills and killer passes which have enabled him to assist with impressive regularity. Having spent all his career in Ligue 1, his statistics make very appealing reading. He has played 337 matches in all competitions and has been directly involved in 148 goals (71 goals and 77 assists). That’s a direct goal involvement in better than every 2 and a quarter games. This past season at Marseille, who received a cool eight figure sum for the attacker, he created more chances than any other player in Europe’s big five leagues. Let that sink in. He created more chances than Messi (in fact he has for the past two seasons), Suarez, Ronaldo, Robben, Ribery, Hazard, Sanchez etc. Now if you consider that of course not all of these became assists, it still makes very encouraging reading that Payet does have an eye for a killer pass. For the record, he created 67 ‘big’ chances, 44 of which from open play. And in case you think he is a one-season wonder, then the season previously, again at Marseille, only Kevin de Bruyne of Wolfsburg created more – 109 to Payet’s 101. Payet has made 14 appearances for France scoring once against Belgium last month and has two international assists to his name, unsurprisingly.
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James McClean
West Bromwich Albion
Age: 25
Position: Midfield
Signed From: Wigan Athletic
Fee: £1.5M
The Republic of Ireland international could have been two divisions away from the Premier League this coming season as his former employers Wigan slipped in to League One but Tony Pulis has thrown the left-sided midfielder a Premier League lifeline, making him his first signing of the summer. I don’t think McClean will feature in many fantasy sides from the start as there will be other midfielders in his price range who probably offer better attacking returns. However if he holds down a regular place and finds form then this could change. Previously in the Premier League you could class him as a scorer of decent goals rather than a decent scorer of goals. How he fits in with Chris Brunt on the left hand side may be a factor this term.
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New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2015/16. Ayew, Eder, Tripier, Obiang, Payet, McClean This article was written by The Gallant Pioneer
hello everyone! how’s the break going?
good start there GP! thanks
out of these, payet is the only one i might consider. but definitely not in the first few weeks at least.
Jasprit how are you mate?
doing fine cookie. fresh out of college and have started working on my own start-up.
lots to do – so scared i won’t be able to give much attention to football this season.
hope you are doing fine too by the way
Good thanks Jasprit – sounds like you have exciting plans there mate, wish you the best of luck with your new venture!
Evening lads. So, who do you two have your eyes on for the season start, or is it too early still?
too early NIN.
talking about latest transfers, the only ones considerable till now would have to be depay or falcao – but even they are far from sure to be in the initial 15 man squad.
Hey jas. Not sure on Falcao to be honest but Depay is certainly on my radar too. He looks to be a very good prospect.
falcao has made sure costa just warms the benches before.
he is capable of repeating the same.
i love the guy. hope he gets his form back soon.
but will definitely not be getting him in before i am sure he is back.
another one i forgot to mention is firmino. but again, will have to wait and see here too as the formation and other players and their injuries will play a huge role.
also liverpool’s initial away fixtures are straight from hell.
Yeah, Liverpool players in general come with multiple risks. Might be one to look at later in the season.
At this early stage the only Pool player I’m considering is Milner!
Kop, will Hendo be on pens now that Gerrard is gone?
What about Balotelli, Mito? He takes a lovely peno 😉
It’s hard to know Mito. If I remember correctly Milner had a pretty decent record from the spot when he was with Villa. Also If we can buy a half decent striker he could very well be given the spot kicks.
NiN that would require Balo to be on the pitch, but we can check the rules on that.
Ok Kop, wasn’t sure. Thought if Daniel was playing by some miracle he would take them but yeah if you buy a decent striker *giggles* they will probably take them.
Firmino as the assist king,Ings as the 3rd striker and Czech as the GK
Evening all,
For those of you who missed it, I’ve set up a Fantasy Ashes league, all details are available here http://ashes.fantasy.ecb.co.uk and the entry code is 121-18
Beautiful Kop – not long to go now!
Can’t wait Cookie, I’ll be bringing the iPad to work on Wednesday
They’re taking our dish down on Thursday – some pompous twat has complained about it ffs.
That’s a shame Cookie what will you have your dinner on now 😉
WTF! :cuss:
He must be an awful c**t!
Silver – get back to the bar mate!!
Kop – some French prick. Half of Monaco have satellite dishes ffs.
Evening Cookster, sorry to hear about your demise. Go tell the frog there maybe a mob on the way round. :biggun:
Hello everyone,
First day of my holiday today so only just reading thorough your comments just now.
Happy to put this together and I enjoyed researching but of the guys I volunteered to look at it won’t surprise you to hear that Payet is on my radar.
I was aware of his numbers from last season having watched a lot of French stuff so when he joined West Ham, I was immediately interested.
Delighted to see the discussions begin :thumbup:
Enjoy the zoo Gee Pee ?
Cheers GP. Payet is certainly the pick of the bunch and you’d expect the Hammers to be a couple of weeks ahead of other teams.
I didn’t know that Ayew’s dad is Abedi Pele, so you’ve thought me something new
Kop
Marseille have had something like a 25 year association with the ‘Pele’s’ ended this summer now that Andre is at Swnasea and Jordan is at Lorient.
Tend to agree as I’m expecting West Ham to be sharper for their Euro involvement at least to begin the season and Payet surely will be a nailed-on pick. If priced sensibly and classed as a midfielder, I can’t see me not having him to be honest with you.
Cracking little zoo that Elle.
Only headed over there because we get a free visit being Edinburgh members but well worth it today. Sun was shiny, not too busy, kids behaving – one of those days. :smiling:
All bedded now and I’m finishing off my last glass I brought up to our room.
Your kids behave? Wanna swap?!
Many thanks for the article mate and enjoy your tour of England. Glad you got through passport control with no issues 😉
Thanks Init. Sure you had something to do with getting me through checkpoints smoothly. Had to forfeit the haggis mind you but I’ll let that slip between friends.
They have behaved ONE day. Ain’t getting carried away, tomorrow I could be crying for 8am.
Cheers for the article GP, was a great read and I definitely have Payet on my radar now as I didn’t before.
Do you think he’ll be sorted as a midfielder or as a striker? Also interested in Ayew but as you said might leave him for a few weeks to see how he settles and how Swansea line up.
Hi Matt
You’re welcome mate, good to get back in to the swing of things.
I think Payet will be midfield in truth. I would only consider him as a forward if he was cheap enough to be a ‘cheap’ third striker. Those forward positions are so precious.
I’d plump for Siggy for Swans coverage if I needed it, rest are a bit of a risk this far out. Keep a close eye on pre-season though there may be clues there.
Yeah it really feels like the season is starting up again and getting really excited for it.
Ye I’m hoping for 6.5 or less in midfield as by those stats he could be a great buy and with West Ham already started their season he should be well able for the start of the season, also don’t really want to put a Hammer up front as they never really get the goals from there, it’s usually Downing or Nolan.
Will definitely keep my eye on the Swansea team during preseason I think Siggy could be the only nailed on attacking player for the Swans but hoping their team settles so there is a bit more choice.
When do the Europa League group stages start? I don’t have much faith that West Ham will be able to play in the Europa League and still perform well in the PL, so I’m very skeptical towards their players for FPL.
The 17th of September I believe give or take a few days.
That is a concern and it seems to happen with a lot of teams I suppose we’ll just have to see how West Ham do after their European Fixtures, even if it means to just bench them for their fixtures directly after their travels.
Tekkers I’m not convinced that Bilic will prioritise the Europa at all. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him send out a weakened team for those games. He couldn’t even be bothered actually managing the team for last weeks first leg and he’s possibly not even travelling to the away leg. I think he’ll concentrate on the league first and foremost but let’s see.
I heard he didn’t show up for the game just assumed it was due to family matters. So he just didn’t care enough to show?
I don’t think the Hammer Faithfull or the Hammers Board will be too happy with Bilic if he doesn’t even try.
He sat in the stands Matt. He was there – he got presented to the crowd I believe but he just chose to allow the academy boss to manage the team. I’d imagine any approach they take is discussed up front with the board but logically the PL is the priority for them this season with the stadium plans so again I’d think that the Europa is inconsequential in that light.
Hey all. I never considered the EL for WHU. Their fixtures are already a little indifferent to start so maybe leave that one aside for a bit and see how they do. Might be a risk too far perhaps..
Oh, nice shooting in MLS init. Fairly hefty GW that :thumbup:
Haha, cheers NIN! Yeah had an exceptional week in that.
Indeed, Keane is back to beast mode! I’ve just made my transfers so i don’t have to look at it again until the weekend