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 Koeman has been replaced by Frenchman Claude Puel who has spent the past 4 seasons in charge of Ligue 1 side Nice, and prior to that he had spells in charge of Lyon, Lille and Monaco.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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Kind gentleman, please avert ur eyes to this and give as much criticism to my latest draft as possible. Cheers
NiN and Raz probably need to do this one.
Not enough Dutch in for Raz
Decent team that I like it
I cant fault that squad, Milburn. Not at all. Really nice setup i think :thumbup:
Milburn – I like it mate, If i was going to have Kun and zlatan then that would be the way to do it!!
Thanks gents. Im sure it’ll change in the next few weeks with transfers and preseason but that’s give me a bit of confidence
liverpool have really bad fixtures to begin the season with.
better options than firmino. everything else looks good
An attempt with kun and ibra
Cant fault those picks at all, Wafflez. Strong in all areas and pretty well balanced i think. I was going to suggest Mee ahead of McAuley but having four players from the Burnley / Swans game might be a bit of a stretch.
Don’t know if anyone has put it up today or not but Stoke have completed the signing of Joe Allen. Don’t know if this makes him an option for anyone but depending on how high up he plays he could be a nice punt.
Not for me personally but it’ll be interesting to see how he fits in
Not really sure he’d be a anything more than a 5th mid tbh Matt. Wouldnt want to rely on him every week for points.
Think he’s 5.0 so there are probably better and cheaper options for keeping the bench warm.
Good deal for us though – 13m for a squad player in last year of contract
Yeah it’s a brilliant deal just a bit sad to see him go just when he was starting to get good but with the likes of Grujic and Mane coming in Allen goes even further down the pecking order.
Good signing for Stoke. Not as a fantasy prospect but will make other Stoke players more appealing
Not for me. Stoke have quite a few options in that spot if i remember correctly. See how things pan out over preseason and the first few weeks before making any real judgement on him maybe.
I think that he’ll be the player that assists the assister. He always seems to win the ball and then pass it out to the wing where that person gets the assist but with the likes of Arnie and Shaqiri who like to shoot out on the wings he could end up with more assists but like you all say we just have to see. Would be nice to have a 5.0 mid who may be good better than defensive minded 4.5 mids or players like Kante and Matic.
Arnie is going to Everton according to Sky Austria
Really?? I didn’t know about that at all is that incase they don’t get Siggy or with him as well? Everton are getting more appealing by the day haha
UK aren’t reporting it yet so its probably just his agent trying to get him a pay rise
Hmm still would be a good move for Everton tough loss for Stoke though not sure if they will buy someone to replace him or just use what they have.
Haha, that’s a good shout. Lots of that shit going on these days eh? Players publicly looking elsewhere then boom, big fat contract signed.
I’m still unsure with Ibra didn’t thk much of him though the Euros certainly will have better players around him but the Prem has pace in it & Im not sure he has can someone convince me otherwise .???
He’ll score goals but i’m unsure if he’s going to be worth the hefty fee. Kane at slightly less or Vardy at 1.5mln less could very easily do just as well.
Hey NIN do you thk Kane will have any problems with confidence I’ve had him along side Kun but not sure he isn’t a bit burnt out.
I’m not going to take any Lei players I just don’t thk they will be the team they where last season.
What is your view of starting with Luk I just can’t get myself not starting with Kun & KDB although Silva is 1.5m less.
Silvers I wouldn’t double up in City I’d have Kun and Haz instead to spread the love.
I wouldn’t be too worried bout Kane myself. Spurs play to his strengths most of the time so i reckon he;ll score roughly the same as he has been these last two seasons. Wouldn’t argue against Lukaku either, especially now with Koeman in charge of Everton. GW1 may not be ideal but after that it’s very appealing so yeah i’d say he’s a good shout. With so many options this year it’s hard to decipher who’s ideal and who isn’t, eh?
Kop I can see City really doing this season & I’m not sure on Conti management style but I having finished tinkering yet 😉
Silver I ain’t Kop 😉 haha
It’s margarita Monday again but the look of it….
I’m just really unsure on him as well mate. The only thing that’s making me consider him is the fixtures bit like NIN says Kane or Vardy(for me Vardy won’t do much this year) could be better options as they are younger and actually make runs.
Yeah I don’t think Vardy will do as much this year either. Kane will get points just not sure Spurs will be up there again this year
Yeah I agree with you there I Think Leicester will drop back to a mid table team and Spurs will become a one man team again or maybe just a team with 4 good players (Lloris, Alderwiereld, Eriksen and Kane)
What about Alli :oogle:
Oh yeah him! Haha so 5 good players. Maybe they’ll join a 5 aside league.
I actually think Vardy will do very well again. Once Leicester can keep Mahrez then i think they’ll remain a solid team and finish high. The predicted, and likely resurgence of City and Chelsea may mean no top 4 but i’d be surprised if they became mid table type this year. Kante is a huge loss but i’ve looking at this Mendy guy and he looks quite handy i must say. Not on N’Golo’s level of course, but hey, who expected that shit from him last year?
Chap was awesome.
Well when I say midtable I mean eighth maybe seventh to tenth.
Finally given in to the Ibra love and ended up with this.
Guess this is becoming pretty “template” now
Got B smith in there for when he moves to the cherries. Just not sure on Foggy Atm.
I like it. Maybe bring in Mahrez for Miki though to spread the cover a bit. Hull in week one for Leicester could be the mother of all hammering’s in GW1.
+1 I’d also like to add that maybe you could squeeze an extra 0.5 to do Feg to Redmond and swap Hojberg to Maloney?
Yeah think I need to downgrade KDB in all honesty just to grab that 0.5
Wasn’t Maloney just a bit part player for hull last year?
Yeah looking at your team again that’s what it looks like you need to do what price is Mahrez maybe by switching KDB to Mahrez you can get that little bit?
I honestly don’t know for sure but I do know he took some of there setpieces the other day so a 4.5 mid who takes set pieces is good.
Mahrez is 9.5mln :thumbup:
Perfect!! I thought he was 10.0
A 17 goal & 11 assist POTY for 9.5mln…. yeah, he’s in my team no matter who he’s playing for! See that goal against Celtic? Brilliant stuff.
Ah that goal against Celtic was brilliant! Right now I’m thinking of having him for the first 3 weeks and then switching him to Payet. What you think of that? Fixtures just seem to suit that kind of move.
Yep, wouldn’t argue against that at all buddy. It will probably be the way to go this year what with all the talent on display. The days of set-and-forget premiums might be over other than maybe one of the big guns being in top form, like an Aguero of Hazard or whatever. Ugh, it’s gonna be a long road to season end eh? Love it, the more difficult the better. There will be tears, though
So I’m not messing around too much
yeah I really like how it’s harder to settle on a team I feel that it means it won’t be like last year how all us experienced players were screwed over and yet the newbies just picked big names and got lucky. It feels like we actually have to think about the moves more this season. Like you say though there will be tears and definitely a lot of swearing at the TV screen haha 
Not sure if anyone has posted this but Apparently merts has knackered his knee and could be out 5 months.
Gabriel has to be well and truly on the radar now
Yeah Mitro mentioned this earlier. Is it confirmed do we know
Not confirmed by club yet, however if Arsnel were saying it was 5 months that means it’s more like 10 with their medical history!
It’s bad when a player gets injured and all you can think about is who it brings into the equation for your FPL team lol
Yep so relevant though. Thinking the same about Creswell