New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. Manchester United
Life is set to become more interesting for Man United fans. The dismal reign of LVG saw the Dutchman and the United fans finally put out of their misery, just hours after the club secured the FA Cup victory over Palace. The worst kept secret was confirmed when Jose Mourinho was announced as the new manager of the Reds and he has already been splashing the cash, with the business unlikely to be concluded just yet. But what will Mourinho at United mean for FPL managers? A born winner, a frustrating wall builder, the persistent Wenger baiter – probably all of the aforementioned at different times, but what we do know is that Jose doesn’t accept coming second and you can bet that United players will now be a more interesting proposition for us this season. Let’s take a look below at United’s three new signings, but bear in mind that Mourinho has said that a fourth big signing will follow.
Eric Bailly (£5.5m)
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[/three_fourth]Ivorian defender Bailly became Mourinho’s first signing at United when he joined from Villareal for around £30mln. The 22 year old has played just 40 top-flight matches but was an ever present starter for the Ivory Coast in their successful Africa Cup of Nations campaign in 2015. Bailly is strong, quick and good in the air and is known to make powerful tackles, a trait that saw him collect 12 yellow cards last season. His weaknesses are that he is still very raw and prone to making errors, due to limited experience, while his decision making is one thing that Mourinho will look to develop. In this regard it is thought that Mourinho bought Bailly for his potential at what he could become. Bailly can and has already played at right back as well as in the centre, given United some decent options in both areas. Mourinho is impressed, but cautious and says of his new defender, “He is very strong physically and very fast. It’s not so easy to find a fast player when you have quite a big body; he’s a heavy guy, a tall boy who’s really fast. My only question mark at the moment is one I have to help him delete – the question mark of someone who has never played at such a big club with so many responsibilities and so many expectations. So is Eric ready to come here and start performing from day one? I don’t know. It is a question mark but my job is to delete that question mark as soon as possible and give him the stature, brain and personality to play for Manchester United.’
Given that quote, we think it wise to watch how Bailly fares in the pre-season friendlies – United play Wigan, Galatasary, Dortmund and Man City before the Charity Shield encounter with Champions Leicester on August 7. With Chris Smalling unlikely to be played by Mourinho vs Dortmund and City, it’s likely we’ll get an early look at Bailly in a red shirt and whether we think he is worth an investment in FPL, but he is initially likely to be in competition with Blind and Jones as to who will partner Smalling at the back, before he can convince Mourinho that he is ready for the Premier League.
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Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£9.5m)
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[/three_fourth]Let’s get one thing straight – I am not writing Mkhitaryan every week in Team Talk, so I’ll have to find some sort of nickname or abbreviation. For now, it’ll be Henrikh, but any sensible suggestions are welcome! Dortmund fans christened him Miki, which could also work. Our man Henrikh may turn out to be the most exciting of United’s new men for FPL. One look at his stats suggests he could be another Ozil but without the eyes and with more consistency. Last season resulted in 11 goals and 15 assists in 28 league matches and was enough to see the Armenian be crowned the Bundesliga player of the season – his total stats saw him play a total of 52 League, Cup and European matches, scoring 23 goals and 26 assists and creating a chance for either himself or a team mate every 32mins. Henrikh is an attacking midfielder who operates predominantly from the right but can also play as effectively from the left, if required. Mourinho describes the new signing as, “a real team player with great skill, vision and with a good eye for goal. I believe he will make an impact on the team very quickly as his style of play is suited to the Premier League.” With Zlatan likely to be perceived as too expensive by many FPL managers, it may well be that Henrikh / Miki may well prove to be a popular choice for those looking for some United attacking coverage – if Henrikh / Miki can reproduce his Bundesliga form in the Premier League then the likes of Ibrahimovic, Rashford, Martial and Rooney are set to have plenty to feed us and should see United once again look a threat going forward.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic (£11.5)
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[/three_fourth]Buying a striker who is coming towards the end of his career is not a typical United trait – although RvP didn’t do such a bad job when he escaped from Arsenal to fulfil his dream of winning the Premier League. Zlatan is even older than RvP was when he joined the Reds – the Swede is 34 years old but is described as, as fit as he has ever been and he allegedly broke United power records in tests during his medical. Ibra needs little introduction of course – he has scored goals wherever he has played – 16 goals in 40 matches for Malmo, 35 goals in 74 matches for Ajax, 23 goals in 70 matches for Juventus, 57 goals in 88 matches for Inter, 16 goals in 29 matches for Barcelona, 42 goals in 61 matches for Milan and 113 goals in 122 matches for PSG. Even his greatest detractors cannot argue with those stats. What will be the key for FPL managers is his value compared to the likes of Aguero, Costa, Kane, Giroud, Lukaku, Vardy etc together with how quickly he can fit into the Premier League with United. Whichever formation Mourinho chooses to play, it is expected that the likes of Martial, Henrikh, Rooney and Mata will be supplying chances galore for Zlatan, while Mourinho will be just as keen for the veteran striker to help nurture the exciting talent that is Marcus Rashford. Not one short of self-confidence, Jose’s purchase of Ibra brings together two of the biggest egos in the game – they have of course worked together before at Inter and they are both reported to be excited at the prospect of working together again. United fans should be excited too – win or lose, this season won’t be the tedious affair they have witnessed since Fergie retired. Ibrahimovic has won the league in 13 of the last 15 seasons in whichever country he has been playing and speaking of his working relationship with Mourinho, the Swede says, “I have great memories. The only regret I had with Jose was that I only had a short time with him. I had one season. We won together, we enjoyed it together and had a great time together. I learned a lot, and I got to know him as a person, not only as a coach, and only positive things. He’s a winner, I’m a winner and we know both what we want. We want to win. Wherever we go, we win. And we will win.”
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Fixture Tracker – the first 6 games
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Morning everyone.
Many things were said, many others were left to be said, but, in the end, as we are told week by week on FPL, the best team normally wins.
I firmly believe that’s what happened in this euro but I respect all opinions, especially now that the cup is ours
Special thanks for all of you who remembered me and Portugal and the Portuguese people as a whole on the forum yesterday and today.
It’s an incredible achievement and it’s great to feel your support.
Onto FPL now and I’m already looking at the best goalkeepers out there for a famous bet with Inittowinit means I must bit the bullet and capo a gk in gw1! Ah, if only Patrício was available!
Cheers fellows, David
Here he is!! How’s the head, DMC?
Hurts, especially if I move it, which I’m avoiding!
haha brilliant stuff mate, you have every excuse to have a hangover for a day or so mate – enjoy!
Well done your boys DMC.
Weren’t always pleasing on the eye but you don’t have to be to win. Great organisation throughout.
:thumbup:
Well DMC I didn’t expect to be seeing you on the boards today haha
I’d have thought you wouldn’t have been able to even see the keyboard!!
Great stuff DMC they played with less flare overall but plenty of organizational & team work & it was good to see Renato get young player of the tournament whom I stuck with from the start. As you say the best team won
Flares as in S.O.S, or flares as in roller-disco? Either way, i’m all for both being brought into footie
There’s my grammar again & I’ve not even had a drink.
If the Portuguese are anything like the English, we’ll be hearing about this for the next 50 years
Just kidding, must be a great feeling. As an Irishman, i’ll never experience it. Closest we can get is fighting tooth and nail and roughing a few teams up! So not close at all in the slightest!
And we’re miles off Ireland!
They are NIN!! Hell, we even talked about the ones we didn’t win as examples of achivement!
I’m not going to hold you to that one DMC don’t worry!
Come on Init a bet is a bet & I owe one to NIN so I will be captaining a Def GW 1 :smiling:
No problem NIN a bet is a bet I will try & pick wisely 😉
Ah that’s great news Init!!
Silvers, you are right mate so here’s what we’ll do, if NIN also waves your bet we both get away with it on the basis of some summer fun behind the reason for our bets. If not (no pressure NIN :)), then I’ll keep mine too!
A bet is a bet – Silvers, pick well my friend 😉
Yes so happy for Cristiano, he is indeed the greatest football of all time, I know I will get stick for this comment. Portugal was the better team and played to their strengths. I will be honest, I didn’t expect them to win and didn’t expect Eder of all people to score the winner. Being half-portuguese I am very proud
You’ve obviously never seen Naismith play 😉
Yes the scottish messi, nobody on his level
Chris
You shouldn’t expect any stick because that’s your opinion and you shouldn’t be afraid to let anyone know about it. I personally prefer Messi but I think we are all blessed to be able to see both of them in our lifetime.
Enjoy your victory :thumbup:
Yes definitely and it’s a healthy conversation to have. I am sure we all will debate until the end of time who is the greatest
I’d actually rate Zidane above the pair of them! Obviously their goals speak volumes but that wasn’t his job. It’s probably a moot argument but personally I’d watch a video reel of him playing over either of the others any day. As has been said, just personal preference. He had a style and elegance about him that is unrivalled in anyone else I’ve seen. Then again I also love watching clips of Scholes just out passing opponents so maybe I just don’t like goals that much
Yeah innit he was 1 of my faves. Best midfeilder imo
Well done Chris & all Portugal supporters I would say Cristiano warrants a mention in the top 5 off all time but for me it has to be Edson Arantes do Nasccimento , followed by Franz Beeckenbauer only an opinion
Definitely respect your opinion. Never saw them play, only on video but theyre great players
Congrats DMC. I was actually supporting Portugal yesterday, can you believe it? I must admit, this was after Ronaldo came off injured. HAHA! Anyway, well played.
The title remains, how good or bad the football was will be forgotten. 😉
Ps. I noticed Ronaldo didn’t want to share the cup with the other players……… >.<
Congrats DMC, you stood tall, you stood proud and you probably cried like a little b***h, but the moment deserves some tears of happiness.
Cheers mito! I deed cry a bit. When my capo was subbed within 25min!!
Cookie,
You may as well retire from FPL now mate:
Southampton striker Graziano Pelle has joined Chinese Super League side Shandong Luneng for £12m.
Pelle, 30, joined the Premier League side from Feyenoord in 2014 and scored 30 goals in 81 appearances.
He made his Italy debut while playing for Southampton and was part of their Euro 2016 squad, scoring twice.
Pelle is the third player to leave the Saints this summer, after midfielder Victor Wanyama joined Tottenham and Liverpool signed forward Sadio Mane.
I fear that this might be one summer sale too many for Southampton. I’m not saying they’ll get relegated but I don’t foresee them finishing in the top half this season.
I agree Kop, it has to catch up with them at some point. I hope not as I don’t mind them. They have a brilliant academy down there and they give the youngsters a go.
I was thinking the same. Wouldn’t worry about losing Pelle all that much but the other two plus the manager is a bit rough. Still trying to figure out what Koeman left for Everton for. Good for them all the same.
I’d agree with you on Pelle NIN but it’s another player they need to replace. Despite Everton’s lack of success over the last 20 years they’re still a bigger club than Southampton with a much bigger profile outside of the U.K. So I can fully understand why Koeman made the move.
True I suppose. I wonder if Rodriguez will now be the starter.
GP, my friends are being taken away from me – Pelle, Rosicky, Flamini, Chamakh, Hibbert, Kolo, Wes Brown……..it’s a truly horrific preseason for me
Raz This Vincent Janssen looks a very good prospect although he wont get much game time at Spurs or will he ?
Silvers, I reckon he’ll get a good bit of game time. They ran Harry Kane into the ground last year and with CL football this season they’ll want to keep him fresh.
Kop do you thk he will start most games or just come on as a sub ?
I suppose that will depend on how quickly he settles and whether Poch wants to play 2 up top in certain games. However I expect him to start the season on the bench.
Cheers Kop
First, a belated thanks for the new “Hot Tips” section. as someone from away (Canada), I found it really tough to follow the pre-season games, and particularly, to find intelligent commentary on these games. The lesser press just doesn’t cut it.
Silvers,
On Janssen. As Spurs, I’d love to see the business cleaned up. Levy squeezes pfennigs, pennies, and any other currency he’s playing with. In one way, this is good, but we’ve lost out on some real prospects which would have helped us tip into the CL category over the last six or seven years. Euro wise…
Yes, Janssen looks the real thing. Harry definitely needs a backup/competition. He looked knackered in some of the Euro games. But Poch is conservative enough to break Janssen in with Cup games, occasional subs, and forbid, injuries (Son just doesn’t look tough enough to lead a 4-2-3-1 formation).
Great to be back.
Hi Ki, just found your comment in spam again! Apologies. Good to see you back around anyway!
Cookie , I won the final but that wasnt enough! Well done and congrats!
DMC, I failed to enter the semi-finals so that’s 2 more to you and an honourable draw my friend!
Thanks for the Article, Blue. Miki will be straight into my team if he looks half decent in pre-season. That should be a top signing for United and hopefully for Miki’s fpl investors. I leave you with this classic from Toni “NiN” Basil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW7VnHnX3LQ
I find it difficult to get excited about United these days but, must admit, Miki could be a very tasty signing. Unless he’s like 11mln or something I might start with him myself and hope he takes off well.
haha cheers Mito, you’re so fine.