New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. Man City
Just what the heck happened to this lot last season is anyone’s guess. The writing was supposedly on the wall after the first five fixtures; a rock solid defence and goal scoring madness up front lead many to believe the league title would be heading back to Manchester but it wasn’t to be. Untimely injuries certainly played a part. However, even with the City stars all fit the wheels proceeded to fall off in dramatic fashion, prompting the removal of Maunel Pelligrini. If ever there was a way to shift fortunes of a club, appointing Pep Guardiola is it. A proven manager at the highest level, Pep demands 110% from every player, 100% of the time and with the rich talent in the City squad plus the new arrivals, it seems as though City will be right up there challenging once again. Stalwarts Kompany, Aguero and Silva, with budding superstar Kevin De Bruyne thrown in there for good measure, make up a fantastic core for the noisy neighbours. Just how these players fit into Pep’s style remains to be seen but on the face of it, they fit just right. Perfectly, almost. Just the two summer signings so far then but both are of a high calibre and will only add to the beast that City promise to be. No obscure names here, no punts, just top drawer acquisitions. They are as follows…
For Man City’s’s pre-season games, line-ups and general musings here is their link on the Pre-season hub we have created Man City Pre-season info
Ilkay Gündogan – Midfield Playmaker (£5.5m)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/three_fourth]
A name we all know from that sensational Borussia Dortmund team of a few years back. Ilkay was and is a highly skilled midfield player capable of producing defensively as well as chipping in with goals and assists, which is exactly what City need now that the towering figure of Yaya Toure has seemingly tailed off after an incredible burst of form. At a reported £21mln, the signing of Ilkay seems like an unbelievable bargain considering the monstrous fees being payed these days and once he can stay healthy, that bargain will become more and more apparent as his career progresses. An excellent engine in the middle, he chipped in with 15 goals during his injury laden spell at Dortmund, a figure we would expect to rise as he progresses and hopefully stays injury free. Whilst unlikely to “do a Mahrez” and set the fantasy world alight, the German schemers influence on possession alone should see City become an even bigger threat this year and his keen eye for a killer pass should see the wide men unleashed behind the opposing full backs regularly, and we all know what means…. gulp. All in all, a fantastic signing but we’ll need to see a sharp upturn in fitness and an increase in goal / assist output before we even consider him ahead of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and the new guy, who we’ll get onto now in just a sec. Any changes in the scoring system to suit defensive types could see Ilkay become more prominent in the fantasy world so keep an eye out for new additions to the scoring.
Fantasy Prospect; Injury worries and a wealth of star midfielders at City don’t do him any favors. 6/10
[divider_1px]
Nolito – Winger / Striker (£9.0m)
[three_fourth padding=”0 20px 0 0″]
[/three_fourth]
Now we’re talking, a genuine class act attacker that could well be a must have if priced well. Beginning his career at Ecija, whoever the hell they are, Nolito shone from the off scoring 18 goals in 76 appearances over the space of two seasons. Not bad, not bad at all. His exploits were noticed by all the top Spanish teams, who kept a close eye on the budding youngster and it was Barcelona who took the plunge, although it was the B-Team where he seen most of his game time for the Catalan giants. 106 appearances and 29 goals later, Barca promoted Nolito to the first team setup where he was predictably no match for the stars in that team at the time and featured a miserable 5 times before jumping ship in search of first team footie elsewhere. The right move. A short but successful spell at Benfica ignited interest once again and it was the mighty Granada who brought the skillful winger back to Spain. That didn’t last too long either! Just 17 appearances to be exact before Celta Vigo snapped him up and gave him the base, in Spain, he craved to develop his talents, and boy did he not waste any time in doing so. 39 goals, umpteen assists and a heap of top drawer performances in a total of 103 outings for the Celts lead to his rightful inclusion in the national squad, and team. Nolito has 13 caps thus far, scoring an impressive 5 times, all coming this year the last of which was at the recent European Championship’s vs Turkey. Nolito should fit right in with Pep’s style of play and form a formidable three behind Aguero with De Bruyne and Silva and he will likely be the cheapest option of the bunch. All boxes ticked.
Fantasy prospect; 9/10
[divider_1px]
Fixture Tracker – the first 6 games
[divider_1px]
Hello FF247 team: wondering if the FF24/7 leagues are going to be refreshed or are there new codes? There was the FF247 league, Cookie’s League, the Head-on_head League. Thanks a million
Hi Punk, the main league refreshed on the day FPL opened, you should have been automatically re-entered? If not then the code is under the Comp tab at the top. There’s also the Regulars league which you can enter but you need to e-mail Elle for that code. Details are under the Hot Comments section. Just click the link and it’ll take you to the comment with the explanation on it.
PD you are asking about league codes. At the top of Home Page is “COMPS” and then “CODES’ – unfortunately they are dated 2013 – hey you guys what’s happening?
That’s just the date on which that page was originally created. The codes are current.
Thanks @innit @colonial
Guys, I entered the regulars’ league code 1147-701 and it says Im already entered, but my leagues table on the right hand side does not show up any of FF247’s last year’s league. Am I the only one? Cheers and sorry for the trouble.
Alright, I’m IN. please ignore the above comment. I’m just waiting for the head-to-head league to be updated as well. Cheers from Bhutan
I’m not sure on the H2H one. It may be that the site team is the admin on that one and if it’s not showing yet that may well just be because we haven’t actuall re-registered that team yet!
hii guys!!!! hope u all are working arduously to build a good team. what do u guys think bout stones??? now with his move to city looks wraped up, will he really drill himself into the defense right from the first gw or he’ll have tofight for it with the presence of mangala, kompany n otamendi. with the price tag he is being bought by city , i really think he’ll be guardiolas first choice cb … and at 5m he is a must in your defense
Morning Tej, I’m a little concerned he may start straight away but if the move goes through I agree with you, he’s worth the risk! All accounts suggest he’s a ‘Guardiola type player!’
Does Lamela interest anyone? He’s had a good preseason and at £7mil he could be a bargain!
He could be a good punt. However, I dont fancy Spurs to start well without Dembele
Alex, he’s in my first & only draft!
Good call on Dembele 123.
Kop, but will be be in your final draft!? What are you thoughts on him as a player?
He could be!
He improved significantly under Poch last season and if he can kick on again he could be a great option.
Hey Alex, have you watched the two games? I just had a look at the Spurs tab and seen they have only played 2 games with Lamela only getting one goal. He could be a good punt but is he nailed on?
Lamela is a big punt, this season he will be better than last season probably
Morning all good stuff NIN there are so many good MF players to choose from this season lets how we can guess which ones to have cheers again mate 😉
First RMT I’ve posted here. All comments appreciated.
Foster-Jakupovic
Shaw-Morgan-Fernandez-Evans-Lenihan
Mkhi-Hazard-Mahrez-Sigg-Tadic
Aguero-Gray-Diomande
Im going 352 at the start. I plan to wildcard early. I went 352 brcause I felt Mkhi and Mahrez would score more points than Lukaku
123, Its a solid team mate. Same keepers as me (and I’m not happy with them!) I do love that midfield (personally id go Ayew over Siggy), Not keen on forward line (Kun aside) but I’m not a huge fan of 3-5-2, if its the way your going then cracking effort
Cheers. I’ve gone with Siggy because of the uncertainty over Ayew due to his possible transfer to West Ham
123 352 is interesting but Diomande would presumably go if you change to 343 and you would need say 5M – so who do you sell as it will I guess have to be a MF ‘big hitter’
I pkan to keep 352 until I play my wildcard probably during the international break. Who I downgrade is based on who is performing, etc
If there is no need for a wildcard, one of my 3 premium mids will be downgraded to a 4.5