New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. Southampton
It has been another summer of turmoil down on the South coast as once more Southampton have lost a number of their key assets. Liverpool clearly felt that they did not have enough ex-Southampton players in their ranks so decided to shell out a reported £34m on Sadio Mane. Spurs splashed out £11m on midfield enforcer Victor Wanyama, while Graziano Pelle has buggered off to China where he will earn a reported £260k per week. The world has officially gone mad! However perhaps the biggest loss will be manager Ronald Koeman who has taken over the reins at Goodison Park. Koeman has been replaced by Frenchman Claude Puel who has spent the past 4 seasons in charge of Ligue 1 side Nice, and prior to that he had spells in charge of Lyon, Lille and Monaco. Over the years he has developed a reputation for developing youngsters and playing an attractive brand of football. This should see him fit in well at Southampton. Although he has big shoes to fill as Koeman had built on the work of Mauricio Pochettino. What he have seen in recent years is that Southampton typically spend their money wisely and judging from their latest two signings they have once more spent wisely.
For Southampton’s pre-season games, line-ups and general musings here is their link on the Pre-season hub we have created Southampton Pre-season info
Nathan Redmond (£6.0m)
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After three years at Carrow Road Redmond decided to leave Norwich after they were relegated for the second time in three seasons. Redmond clearly wasn’t bought by Puel as his appointment was confirmed after the purchase of Redmond, although he has apparently been a long-term target for the Southampton hierarchy and we’ve seen how successful they have been over the years. The 22 year old will undoubtedly be seen as a direct replacement for Sadio Mane, but is he good enough to do so? Last season Mane scored 11 and assisted six while Redmond managed just six goals and three assists. Such basis stats are not always the best means to compare two players and some of the underlying stats suggest that Redmond can replace Mane. He created more chances per 90 minutes than Mane did. Surrounded by better quality players we must assume that more of these chances will now be scored! He’s certainly not the goalscorer that Mane is, he’s only managed to find the back of the net on 18 occasions in 174 league appearances. Although he did get his Saints career off to a flyer yesterday with two goals. Against… Zwolle. I would certainly expect him to pick up more fantasy points than in previous season but whether or not he’s worth considering will be determined by his price.
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Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£4.5m)
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Just as many will view Redmond as a replacement for Mane they are likely to see Hojbjerg as a replacement for Wanyama. He is a defensive midfielder by trade but can just as easily play as a box-to-box midfielder. The 20 year-old has long been seen as one of Europe’s hottest properties and when he moved to Bayern back in 2013 many expected him to kick onto the next level under Pep Guardiola. Unfortunately it didn’t work out at the German club as he was kept out of the team by Kroos, Thiago and Schweinsteiger. Frustrated by a lack of game time he joined Augsburg on loan in January 2015 helping them to qualify for the Europa League where his tireless running and positivity going forward played an important role. He spent last season on loan at Schalke but struggled to cement his place in the side. What can we expect from him at Southampton? Assuming Puel adopts a 4-2-3-1 formation I would expect Hojbjerg to play as part of a two man holding midfield. He should have the physical strength to adapt to life in the Premier League and I expect Puel will work with him on the training ground to encourage him to get forward on a regular basis. Is he likely to be a fantasy asset? For now I would take a wait and see approach.
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Fixture Tracker – the first 6 games
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Not seeing much love for Carroll or Wickham Both have good fixtures reason why ?
Silvers, morning. Carroll is oen of the 6.5mln strikers to consider for me. Re – Wickham, I think most are focused on Palace mids rather than strikers and with speculation the Eagles are looking to buy a striker (Benteke rumoured), that probably decreased the excitement about Wickham.
West ham also looking to buy a striker right?
Hey Silvers I am definitely considering Carroll his fixtures are decent enough like you say and with Payet around he could get a few goals as long as be stays fit. Wickham on the other hand I’m not even looking at if Benteke goes to Palace than I’ll consider Tekkers but until then the only Palace player in looking at is Townsend.
Cheers for this Kop. I wasn’t really considering Redmond but he’ll be on my watch list now. I also thought that Hojberg was more attacking at 4.5 mil but maybe not so it looks like the search continues for a 4.5 mid who will attack.
thanks kop. i don’t know how but i completely missed the redmond transfer to southampton. first i heard of it here 😛
definitely one to consider.
i already have austin in my draft team. after a convincing display yesterday, do we think he might start over long?
Jasprit
Probably depends upon the position. Long can play well in behind in games maybe where Southampton will be defending a lot, usually away from home. Austin I can see filling Pelle’s shoes as the No. 9 focal point maybe moreso at home.
Just not happy with this team, need another £50m!
I might get there on draft 28…
What’s up with it, Gear?
Looks tight to me on first impression.
+1 looks good to me mate.
Looking good doubling up on man u def could pay off but maybe change to Courtois for Chelsea coverage I see them being a lot more solid at the back this year and it gives you a larger spread.
Klopp really is great craic!! After playing the youth team goalkeeper upfront in the last preseason game he has now gone and played a match against a University team along with the coaching staff
wonder what his celebration would have been had he scored haha 
http://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/jurgen-klopp-started-front-liverpool-last-night/88497
The level of output from the site team and within the community comments is astounding as usual. Thanks everybody, lots of fantastic reading.
I think the big difference between most teams so far is what I’m now going to label as the “Ibra complex”: do you #daretoZlatan?
Looking at the fixtures, I think it is nuts not to. It’ll take a Kun out or 2 FTs/-4 to get him in if he hits the ground running.
Only concern would be his ability to finish 90 minutes, or start every game. Mou’s already said Rooney’s a ST not a CM and he’s not the type of manager to throw in 2 strikers on a regular basis. He’s already said he can’t wait to get back from China to start the proper pre-season prep.; seems he sees being out there as a hindrance for obvious reasons. Especially since the City game has been postponed/cancelled at the time of writing.
As a United fan, I’m hoping this staggered pre-season prep + post-euros tiredness doesn’t result in a slow start to the season. Again, Mou’s teams tend to (when on form) stream roll teams until December and then squeaky bum it for the latter half of the season.
Final thoughts: I also think Pogba’s the last big signing of the summer for the PL, don’t seem to have read anything else major going on though I may be mistaken. In today’s age of social media, these types of big deals tend to have a way of leaking out early. Personally do hope Tekkers moves to Palace for all our sake!
Hi webstar
This truly is a great place to be at this time of year or anytime in fact :thumbup:
I will #daretoZlatan and with regards your comment below, I probably wouldn’t take Walcott on a free!