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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How they have updated the premier league site is awful, they have actually made it worse.
Like why is everything so plain and massive, its like I’m on the site for visually impaired users.
And when you got to pick players they have made each box far bigger then they used to be so they have reduced the amount of players you can see on the screen at one time by like half…
Why do people fix stuff that isn’t broken
Welcome back Luke. Glad to see the summer has chilled you out
Are you a tennis fan by any chance 😉
lol hello Init, no I’m not fond of tennis generally, the short skirts are good tho
Stop being so angry and aggressive then man! #chill
I am chilled, just text don’t convey my mood. I am critical, but I am chilled
That’s your aim for this season then. On here. Try and make your actual words convey your actual feelings. It really shouldn’t be that hard
And if they are nothing but critical then that’s fine too but let’s try and convey that in a positive manner? It’s called constructive criticism and can be relayed positively. Doing it negatively just makes the people doing it look like morons. People naturally respond badly to criticism. It’s easy to relay the same message positively, if you think about it.
Easier for us silver tops. (& if you don’t understand that prob means you are less than 55)
With a PC & Google try the 3 bars on the left & hit zoom –
They run the site like I run my team, alwn it when itaint broke.ays fixi
!???
always fixin’ it when it ain’t broke
thanks I have zoomed out, 67% seems to be the optimal
Day of the triffids
Sangria Saturday.
Valencia apparently has 3 assists tonight. Is he being overlooked as an attacking defender or is he not guaranteed 1st team football?
Milburn, I didn’t see the match, but from what I have read, Valencia was v impressive, back to his 2010 form. Could be an interesting one – though it may be look owning Kolarov, in that you’re very nervous as the team sheets are released!
I’d be more tempted if he was 5mln.
Yeah definitely. Just looked at the man u thread on here. He came on 2nd half in the 1st match and started the last 2. Maybe 1 to keep an eye for the next couple of pre season games
Definitely Milbs. This may prove interesting for both Valencia and Shaw:
Must admit I did check Valencia’s price hoping for 5 million. Shaw is probably a better bet long term though ain’t it
Cheers for that cookie. Never even considered him before and not going to get carried away from 1 match but I’ll keep an eye on him for the rest if preseason
Smash, Shaw is prob safer in terms of certainty of starts. However, if Valencia played similar minutes to Shaw I’d back Valencia to outscore him.
so finally got into my fpl team. Just back from a week on hols too. Fell massively unprepared
Welcome back Dreams. Get a mail over to me about the regulars league.
done elle
Check the e-mail address Dreams, ain’t got it mate.
Replied Pa.
Hi Elle,
I am interested in joining the regulars league. What is your email address I send a request
Elleffcee@fantasyfootball247.co.uk
Thanks
Still loads of time. Team will change several times before anyway
Can someone please delete the Musa info? He’s my sneaky differential for Lei’s early fixtures.
United looked polished in second half, none of this cautious shooting approach.
Everything happened down the right flank and after watching the friendly I think it throws up more questions than answers about the starting 11.
Web, will be watching the nect two preseason friendlies very closely.
Random query… I know the community team is having another go. Is the FF247 site creating a team this season?
We will be yes, Milburn. Discussions started today!
Keep the knives away from Nin 😉