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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Key ins and outs so far take to lg to put under teams
Arsenal
In Granit Xhaka (Borussia Mönchengladbach); Takuma Asano (Hiroshima Sanfrecce)
Out Mikel Arteta (coach at Manchester City); Tomas Rosicky; Mathieu Flamini; Isaac Hayden (Newcastle)
Bournemouth
In Lys Mousset (Le Havre); Lewis Cook (Leeds); Emerson Hyndman (Fulham); Nathan Ake (Chelsea); Mikael Ndjoli (Millwall)
Out Matt Ritchie (Newcastle); Tommy Elphick (Aston Villa); Lee Tomlin(Bristol City); Glenn Murray (Brighton & Hove Albion); SylvainDistin
Burnley
In
Out Joey Barton (Rangers); Matt Gilks (Rangers); Matt Taylor; Michael Duff
Chelsea
In Michy Batshuayi (Marseille)
Out Nathan Ake (Bournemouth)
Crystal Palace
In Steve Mandanda (Marseille); Andros Townsend (Newcastle); James Tomkins (West Ham)
Out Emmanuel Adebayor; Dwight Gayle (Newcastle); Marouane Chamakh; Brede Hangeland; Adrian Mariappa
Everton
In Maarten Stekelenburg (Fulham)
Out Tim Howard (Colorado Rapids); Tony Hibbert; Leon Osman; Steven Pienaar
Hull City
In Will Mannion (AFC Wimbledon)
Out Sone Aluko (Fulham)
Leicester City
In Nampalys Mendy (Nice); Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow); Luis Hernández (Sporting Gijón); Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)
Out Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim); Mark Schwarzer; Paul Konchesky
Liverpool
In Joël Matip (Schalke); Loris Karius (Mainz); Sadio Mané (Southampton)
Out Jerome Sinclair (Watford); Kolo Touré; Jordan Rossiter (Rangers); José Enrique, Sergi Canós (Norwich)
Manchester City
In Ilkay Gundogan (Borussia Dortmund); Nolito (Celta Vigo); Oleksandr Zinchenko (FC Ufa)
Out Martín Demichelis
Manchester United
In Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG); Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Borussia Dortmund); Eric Bailly (Villarreal)
Out Víctor Valdés (Middlesbrough); Nick Powell (Wigan); Tyler Reid (Swansea)
Middlesbrough
In Viktor Fischer (Ajax); Víctor Valdés (Manchester United); Marten de Roon (Atalanta); Jordan McGhee (Hearts); Bernardo Espinosa (Sporting Gijón)
Out Jonathan Woodgate
Southampton
In Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Bayern Munich); Nathan Redmond (Norwich)
Out Sadio Mané (Liverpool); Graziano Pellè (Shandong Luneng); Victor Wanyama (Tottenham Hotspur); Juanmi (Real Sociedad); Gaston Ramírez
Stoke City
In
Out Peter Odemwingie; Steve Sidwell (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Sunderland
In
Out Danny Graham (Blackburn Rovers); Steven Fletcher (Sheffield Wednesday); Wes Brown
Swansea City
In Leroy Fer (QPR); Mike van der Hoorn (Ajax); Tyler Reid (Manchester United)
Out Éder (Lille); Alberto Paloschi (Atalanta)
Tottenham Hotspur
In Vincent Janssen (AZ Alkmaar); Victor Wanyama (Southampton)
Out
Watford
In Jerome Sinclair (Liverpool); Chrisitan Kabasele (Genk)
Out José Manuel Jurado (Espanyol); Gabriele Angella (Udinese)
West Bromwich Albion
In Matt Phillips (QPR)
Out Victor Anichebe; Stéphane Sessègnon; Anders Lindegaard (Preston)
West Ham United
In Toni Martínez (Valencia); Havard Nordtveit (Borussia Mönchengladbach); Gokhan Tore (Besiktas); Sofiane Feghouli (Valencia)
Out Joey O’Brien; James Tomkins (Crystal Palace)
Cheers for this Silvers, this is great to see mate. One more in for Liverpool that you missed was Marko Grujic from Red Star Belgrade.
I am really interested in Boro this year seem to be bringing in some decent players and if they get Alvaro Negredo as well could have a decent season.
Matt I’m sure there are going to be plenty more signing yet , but the site should go live nk wk so we need to be ready , yes some interesting signing I thk this will be one hell of a season.
Does it go live next week then Silvers?
Oh I’ve given up trying to figure out when the site is opening I was told yesterday then told midnight then I was told today now it’s next week haha
I’m basically going to go online everyday at 12 and refresh the site to see what happens and one day it’ll be open 
Madhatter If I was a betting man which I’m I would say Mon 18th , we will see 😉
Yeah fellas I give up too on predicting when the website will come alive. When ever it does I hope its an improvement and everything runs smoothly
Boooo.
The wait continues …..
I’m happy enough with that, at least we know to leave it be for the next few days rather than obsessively refreshing the home page to no avail
I can concentrate on the golf and cricket over the weekend
Evening all. Just wanted to say a big thanks and ‘welcome to the team’ to MattX who’s joined us today as our new FF247 Facebook manager.
Excited to see if we can develop this aspect over this season as it’s something we’ve largely ignored ever since we began and we’re delighted to have Matt look after it for us.
If you’re on there stop by and give Matt a wave, like the page and share the posts if you can. I’m sure it’s a big opportunity to further promote the site. Thanks Matt and welcome aboard.
Welcome to the mad house Matt
Sssshhhh 😉 I’m just bedding him in lightly. You’ll be proud of me – 6 WhatsApp messages so far and I haven’t shouted at him once
Haha cheers lads
Glad to help out 
Welcome Matt.
I agree with Init. Facebook has huge potential for us. Glad we have you on board.
I’ll certainly be ‘liking’ maybe even ‘loving’ all I see over there.
Cheers GP, I think Facebook could as well so hopefully it works out.
Haha you better we need a bit of life over on that page
If you need any advice or another set of eyes on anything, hit me up on the What’sApp!*
or craigmitchell1981.cm@googlemail.com
Good luck mate.
*used with the permission of Adebayo Akinfenwa
Cheers mate!! Right now I’ll probably just be reposting the articles on here and redirecting people but if you have any ideas let me know
There’s your mentor sorted as well then, delegation is my favourite word
Hahaha yeah it does well with “palm off” :hippo:
Ah FFS!
Only said that out of politeness.
Joking of course. Yeah start steady with the articles and getting new ‘friends’ I think.
Haha cheers GP that’s the plan
Morning all great stuff MattX , not a user of Facebook myself but can see the potential for the site thanks for taking it on 😉
No problem Silvers cheers mate
Thanks for taking on Facebook Matt – am sure you’ll do a sterling job my friend!
Morning Cookie
Great to hear from you today. I know how close this latest dreadful act is to you.
Morning GP, yeah not far away, in fact we were only there on Monday evening. It’s a sad, sad world and those pictures are heart-breaking, especially the one of the doll lying on the ground, next to the covered body of the child. Shameful and cowardly.
Sorry to hear so Cookie. I was completely shocked yesterday. What a terrible place this world can be. Why are people like this? *sighs* My thoughts go out to all the victims and their families and friends.
Cookie, you live in France? Sorry,, I really don’t know.
I know Raz, quite unbelievable what some people do, or are led to believe. True evil.
Ah c’mon mate – how many times have I made reference to you and I being on the continent?!!! Wake up man!!
How’s your cat?
Cheers Cookie I’ll give it a go anyway. It’s great to see you’re safe mate these last few months in France gave been crazy and truly shocking.
I always figured it was a joke, sort of, Cookie. HAHA! OMG! Sorry. 😉
Just figured you were more English than most English people. These days, I am not sure if this is a good thing though. HAHAHA!
Anyway. Yeah, so ad, the things happening. I can’t understand and don’t want to understand this world any longer.
My cat is good. Getting a new floor today. 1500+ euros and had to take out the all the furniture. Man, what a work.
Raz,
Glad the cat is good, am sure it’ll love the new floor and appreciate the cash you have spent on it! Don’t worry, I’m still very English – my dear friends in the UK voted that I couldn’t be European anymore, bless them.
Matt – cheers, yeah it’s been a hell of a year/18 months – there is true evil in our world, sadly.
Very true Cook let’s hope it comes to an end soon but I don’t know how.
Yes just wanted to say my heart goes out to all the families whom have lost someone in this absolutely mindless act.
And the fpl site….
…
….
…
Is still not active……………………………………………………………..
next week Raz
Whut? You sure? I heard they said it would be ready before next Tuesday, for sure.. And maybe even today?
You got a day? Or nothing?
By the way. Mourinho is spending the money way better than LvG or Moyes. Impossible not to be with the top. Mourinho tends to buy just players that peak when he is present at the club though, haha!
Raz, see below for proof – some time next week it will be – could be Monday, could be Friday, could be anytime in between it seems!!
Yeah, it seems like Jose is a better buyer than the last two goons – I’m not sure if I want them to spend so much on Pogba or not, but am happy to go with whatever happens.
Raz
Wow, even an app for Windows Mobile? LMAO!
DOPE!
And thanks for the info. If I keept my eyes open, I would’ve seen it already. 😉
No bother Raz.
Hope you’re well mate.
https://fantasyfootball247.co.uk/new-signings-fantasy-premier-league-201617-liverpool/
I see you are playing favourites. What you got against Blue?
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