New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. Leicester
Regardless of who else they sign this summer the current champions arguably made their most important signing already by convincing Jamie Vardy to pen a new deal with them, snub Arsenal and spearhead not only an unlikely title defence but also their great European adventure as they seek to rock the Champions League world, much as they did ours last season. And good on the lad too. In this age of instant gratification, easy money, fame and fortune there’s something almost wholesome and just plain fundamentally good about this decision. If Graziano Pelle and his Chinese money move tells you everything you need to know about the modern football mercenary then Vardy staying put tells you everything you need to know about a player who is almost an 80’s throwback. Don’t get us wrong, he didn’t re-sign for a pittance, of course, but more importantly it may well have a galvanising effect and an influence on any of their other players who were suddenly thinking about bigger and better things outside of Leicester. Apart from Kante, obviously. And maybe Mahrez, although he’s rumoured to be re-signing as we speak. Screw it, you’re getting relegated Jamie. On your own.
One thing is for sure though they need extra bodies this season as they will suddenly have to cope with two games a week at times, as is the rigour of being in the elite bracket, and Claudio has wasted no time bringing in the reinforcements. And money isn’t an issue it seems as they have managed to break their transfer record fee twice in the space of one week! No sooner was £13m midfielder Nampalys Mendy introduced as their record signing then £16m striker Ahmed Musa was likewise. Joining them so far are goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler and central defender Luis Hernandez. For the purposes of this article we are just going to look at the two more forward players simply because Ron-Robert is surely just back up unless Schmeichel junior suddenly ups and leaves, and as highly rated as Hernandez is, then he may have to wait his turn as Ranieri will surely keep faith with Huth and Morgan, at least to begin with. Pre-season may well reveal more.
For Leicesters pre-season games, line-ups and general musings here is their link on the Pre-season hub we have created Leicester Pre-season info
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Nampalys Mendy (£4.5m)
A quick glance at his career stats would suggest that Mr Mendy won’t be making his way easily into anybody’s fantasy team! That’s unless they change the scoring drastically and award more points for defensive play, tackles, blocks etc. His attacking career stats so far looks like this – 213 games…. and 1 goal. He’s basically your archetypal defensive midfielder. So much so in fact that he’s been referred to as a ‘carbon copy’ of Claude Makelele. The best we can offer on him then really is that should he secure a DM spot alongside Kante, and that’s if Kante stays, then he may well simply allow Kante even more freedom to get up and down as a box to box midfielder. So in short we’ve basically written this bit just to warn you not to bother with him!
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Ahmed Musa (£7.5m)
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If our first guy was a waste of fantasy money and time then our next guy could very well be the exact opposite. The Nigerian international has plied his trade in Russia with CSKA for the past 5 seasons making 164 appearances for them and scoring 54 goals in the process, last season being his best so far with a near 1 goal in every 2 games ratio with 44 appearances and 18 goals, along with 6 assists. He’s no stranger to title winning teams either having done so three times already with CSKA. He’s lightning quick and will fit in perfectly with Leicester’s counter attacking style. He usually plays on the wing for Nigeria for whom he’s scored 11 goals in 58 games which includes a famous double against Argentina at the World Cup in 2014. Just as a side note to those concerned about the ACON particpants – Nigeria haven’t qualified.
Much will depend on his FPL classification and price. If he’s a reasonably priced midfielder then add him to your watch list immediately. If he is, as is more likely, a mid priced forward then maybe wait and see where exactly Claudio intends to use him. The ideal combo is that he’s classed as a mid and Leicester pair him up top with Vardy in a devastatingly fast paced attack duo.
Fixture Tracker – the first 6 games
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Cheers Init. Made for a good read. Really looking forward to seeing Musa in action in EPL. Would be fantasy gold if at that price, he starts knocking goals and assists in as Vardy and Mahrez did last year (Well a man can dream, haha). :popcorn:
Thanks. Probably the weakest article we have left but there’s not a lot to work with there and I wanted it out of the way before they sign someone else and I have to write another paragraph
Thanks Init. Another awesome article
Nice one init, top stuff. I have been considering Musa for a few days now, great saving compared to a Vardy pick but i reckon i’ll stick with James and see how Musa settles in. He is a very good player though and as you say may excel in a pacy duo with Vardy if that is to be his role. Cheers mate :thumbup:
Nice one Init. An excellent write up as always.
Morning Init,
Thank you very much for this mate. I enjoyed that. I fancy Leicester coverage mind you. Two weeks to go I guess.
Morning all, thanks to Init for the Leicester report. Musa is interesting me and I’m just wondering if he may be the 3rd striker alongside Kun and Ibra – saves shelling out 10 bars for Vardy and gets coverage vs Hull in GW1.
Its just a thought – I have lots of them, most of them are stupid or unmentionable.
Morning Cookie
Whata kind of moron would even waste part of a Saturday morning even thinking such stuff?
*coughs*
What kind of moron disguises Mignolet alongside Kun, Ibra, Hazard, Miki and Moooooosa?!
I like it mate, very much so actually. Apart from Migs of course. And I’d have Firmino for Miki. But overall, cracking effort for a Zlatan / Kun squad.
Thought I’d snuck him in there without any notice
Guaranteed to play now and if the new defenders in front of him can get an act together it could work, The GK could be anyone else at 5.0 though.
I said to someone yesterday (Kiwi maybe) that I fancy Miki or Ibra to do well but I’m scared I pick the wrong one – if I cover each of them I can downgrade (to Firmino for example) once I see how United are.
GP, I beg you to please get rid of Migs. With Migs & Moreno in our starting xi the chance of any clean sheets in the opening GW’s is very slim.
Kop
OK. I’ve had my fun
Since when has FPL been fun?
At this stage Musa would be quite a gamble particularly when you consider the options at £6.5m
True Kop, but has the ideal GW1 fixture to take that punt, esp when you consider most of the fixtures for the 6.5 options.
Is he guaranteed to start?
I think a drop down to a 6.5 if it looks like the gamble isn’t working is easy enough. I agree with Cookie, there’s not much appealing fixture-wise in GW1.
I think he will start Kop yeah but I can’t guaranteed obviously.
Who you looking at as third just now Kop?
I’m finding it hard to look past Gray at the moment. Obviously he’s something of a gamble as well but he’s guaranteed to start and is on penalties.
100% back you on that one Kop.