New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. West Ham
What a difference a year makes! Roughly 12 months ago, some bozo on here was ribbing this lot to the max, predicting a rough season and possible relegation due to the appointment of “woeful” Slaven Bilic as head honcho in replacement of the ever sturdy Sam Allardyce. An unknown French dude was supposedly the key to Hammers success but this bozo just didn’t believe it. Who was this character, you ask? None of your goddamn business, that’s who. Now, moving swiftly on; West Ham have been quite busy in the current window, snapping up some very interesting players, 4 of which we’ll cover in this here article. Two youth prospects (Domingos Quina & Toni Martinez) aren’t really expected to break into what is fast becoming a stacked Hammers team but they are worth a mention nonetheless. Quina, a 16 year old Portuguese attacking midfielder, has been highly touted as one for the future and West Ham have done well to nip in and take him on board. Martinez, slightly older at 19, was snapped up from the Valencia youth and is again seen as one for the future. Like Quina, he’s not expected to get much if any game time this season but as fantasy managers we’d be doing ourselves a service to keep an eye on the progression of Martinez and Quina as we may well be punting on them in a season or two. With those two now out of the way, lets have a peek at the Hammers signings that are more relevant to the upcoming fantasy season, shall we?…
For West Ham’s pre-season games, line-ups and general musings here is their link on the Pre-season hub we have created West Ham Pre-season info
Håvard Nordtveit – Defensive Midfielder / Center Back (£5.0m) Classed as a mid in FPL
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Signed from German outfit Gladbach, this defensive minded Norweigan has seemingly been drafted in to help plug the holes in a Hammers defence that was pretty porous at times last season. Despite playing an attractive, attacking style of football and finishing a more than respectable 7th, West Ham ranked 8th from the top 10 in terms of goals conceded – shipping a hefty 51 times over the course of the season. A reduction of 10 or so goals may have resulted in a top 4 finish, what with there being just a four point gap between themselves and Manchester City. Considering this, it’s not surprising that Bilic went after a solid member of a rather impressive Gladbach team and we’d expect Nordveit to do a job for the Hammers. Looking at his attacking stats there’s not a whole lot to whet the appetite, fantasy wise. Nordveit spent a full six seasons at Gladbach but only managed to find the net on 13 occasions and contributed few assists, making him an unattractive pick for us fantasy folk. It’s worth noting that he has been classed as a midfielder in FPL. We all know the value of an out-of-position gem in the game we love / hate so much so had he been classed as a defender then those goal scoring stats wouldn’t look all that bad really; 4 last season and 3 the season before. Decent, but only if there were clean sheet points to go along with the odd goal, which there isn’t!
Fantasy Prospect; 4/10
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Gökhan Töre – Winger / Attacking Midfielder (£5.5m)
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Now, onto the attacking side of things and first up we’ve got a loanee drafted in from Turkish side, Besiktas, a club most of you will know from their appearances in the Champions League down the years. The Hammers have dished out £2.5mln to bring Töre in for the season with a view to making the deal permanent next summer for a further £7.5mln should he do the business. The Turkish international (26 caps, 0 goals) started out as a professional in Germany with Hamburg, making 24 appearances before moving on to the Russian league of all places to ply his trade for Rubin Kazan. That venture didn’t go all that well for Gökhan and he was soon out of there, signing for Be?ikta? in 2013. During his three seasons in Turkey, Töre saw plenty of game time, making 111 appearances in total and finding the net 19 times; far from a spectacular return we think you’ll agree. Add 28 assists to that tally and we’re starting to look decent but we’d have to think that Töre will need to up his game considerably if he is to be effective in the Premier League. At just 24 years of age there is certainly time for improvement and it will be interesting to see if he gets into the starting 11 from the off but one thing is for sure; West Ham have a few players that could easily force Töre to sit out most games unless he hits the ground running. One to keep an eye on for sure.
Fantasy Prospect; 6/10
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Manuel Lanzini – Attacking Midfielder (£6.5m)
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Here’s a name we should all know from last season as he was on loan at the Hammers, and has now been added to the permanent squad for the upcoming season. Lanzini started the season off rather quietly, appearing here and there and not really showing much of anything. That was, until playmaker Dimitri Payet was ruled out for a couple of months through injury. Young Manuel burst into life in the absence of Payet and proceeded to become a heavily fancied fantasy option, scoring and assisting regularly before he himself picked up an injury that kept him out for a while. It seemed that by the time Lanzini was available again, West Ham had switched up their formation and he took time to settle back in but an okay tally of 6 league goals from 25 appearances may be a sign of what is to come from the young Argentine. How this talent ended up playing in the UAE Arabian Gulf League is anyone’s guess but now that he is on board at West Ham we’d be foolish to overlook what will likely be a much cheaper alternative to Payet, although maybe not quite as productive, but we shall see. At just 23 Manuel Lanzini has a bright future ahead of him and once he can nail a starting spot we’d expect him to continue to do well. The main drawback is the fact he is off to the Olympics with Argentina so he may not be available for the season start. Keep an eye on that one.
Fantasy Prospect; 7/10
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Sofiane Feghouli – Winger / Attacking Midfielder (£5.5m)
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Last, but most certainly not least, a player who has been making waves for a number of seasons in La Liga for Valencia; Sofiane Feghouli has been and still is an excellent player and is currently West Ham’s most exciting summer signing by far. Four seasons at Grenoble was enough time for Los Murciélagos to realise his talents and snap him up, and there he has stayed, bar a brief loan spell at Almeria, steadily improving as the seasons go by. Deployed mainly as a wide player, although at times shifted to a central attacking role or even the odd time as a central midfielder, Feghouli has almost always done what was asked of him to a high level and we’re expecting him to continue improving in a more free flowing attacking West Ham team. Work rate is the first noticeable trait in Feghouli. The Algerian has no issues with helping out on the defensive side as well as providing a skillful outlet at the other end of the field. 31 goals in five seasons at Valencia, a club who are almost always chopping and changing due to financial issues, is a decent return, considering. Feghouli is a good creator also, ticking another box for us fantasy managers. At international level, Feghouli is second only to the mercurial Riyad Mahrez in terms of importance to the team and even that is debatable. 11 goals in 40 appearances for Algeria is an excellent return, we think you’ll agree. All in all there’s no real downside to this signing and once priced reasonably he could well be one of the gems of the upcoming FPL season. Of that there is no doubt, even less so if the Hammers manage to snag one of the top strikers they are currently trying to sign. Watch this space people, Sofiane is an excellent player and should suit the fast pace of EPL.
Fantasy Prospect; 8/10
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Fixture Tracker – the first 6 games
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Evening all
Kinda happy with this so far. The basis has been formed!
Obviously I’ll be keeping an eye on Jrod for a staying berth and Lenihan may be a number maker but getting there.
Thoughts?
Looking good that Hatters. I’m in a completely camp – the Ibra one! But for a none Ibra team I like it. Keep an eye on where and how Barkley is deployed in pre-season. Especially later on when they’ve made some more signings. If he’s in the 10 role then roll with him. If not then Siggy or someone would be ideal. That’s unless they push through and actually sign Siggy themselves. In which case it’s still Siggy I guess
Siggy and Barkley scored the exact same points last season and the latter will be pushing for an England place (to join the England elite!) 😉
I’m gambling on his potential this season
I don’t really like Barkley but rest of team looks good.
I’m leaning more and more towards having both Kun & Ibra (thanks to Init…) as well as Hazard in my starting 15. Means that cash got extremely tight and I’ve decided to limit my GKs to 9m. So I’m thinking maybe Butland/Adrian & Jaku or two 4.5m who rotate nicely and offer decent save point potential.
What way are others going with their GKs, especially those with Kun & Ibra?
Courtois and Jaku for me but it’s more a case of wanting Chelsea defence than wanting to spend big in this case.
Thats what I was set on an hour ago haha, think its time to log-out for the night, cheers James!
foser and jaku might be a good option. only 8.5 that.
personally went with courtois who will play mostly all matches as i feel chelsea might be really tight at the back this season with conte. with jaku hardly ever playing.
i meant foster
Yeah Jaspit, I had Foster & Heaton in my most recent draft as IMO its hard to ignore Tony Pulis defence with these fixtures at 4.5m. I’m also finding it hard to stay away from Chelsea D and Courtois in particular.
Hello all, thoughts?
good team. though personally i hate doubling up on defence.
and baines at 5.5 will be a much better option than stones.
also, much better options than barkley for the same price range.
Downing to towswnd, Morgan to piters and friend to fry? Is that better?
no liverpool coverage because of horrible first few fixtures.
no arsenal attack because sanchez/ozil/ramsey all have fitness issues. unless they sign a great striker, will start without any gunner.
might bring in an arsenal defender after the international break though.
the only spots i think that might change are the third striker – which might go to long/negredo/gray or any other mid prized striker.
and the two mids currently held by townsend and eriksen. in contention are ayew/sigurdsson from swansea, bolasie from crystal palace, j.rod from southampton. or maybe one good 9.5 mid with two cheaper options.
basically, 22.5 mil between these three spots, everything else, unless a huge shift in the transfer window or the screws of my brain will remain the same by season start.
what do you guys think? all inputs appreciated.
You know anything about Austin? I’d have thought Long would be first choice and he gets 20 minutes or so… especially with J Rod back in the picture too.
So Init, whats all the Ibra love about? Im on the fence with him so would be great to hear your thoughts. Others opinions either way would be great
Not being lazy here mate but this is an earlier post / justification….
https://fantasyfootball247.co.uk/new-signings-fantasy-premier-league-201617-west-ham/comment-page-6/#comment-338114
Hey NZ, how goes it? I’ve decided against the long nosed Swede. Cant get him and Aguero and the mids i want without needing a 3mln loan
FPL aren’t budging on that so he’s the one to give way i think. In a straight choice, i’m taking Aguero 100% of the time.
Hello NIN, all well here thanks pal. How about yourself? Your squad coming along nicely I hope?
Yeah good mate, no complaints. Haven’t done all that much tinkering really, few hours worth maybe and left it at draft one. Where did you hear this Mahrez to Arsenal news? Kinda fudges my plan a bit if that does through..
I am going with Ibra myself. Mostly because NiN hates him.
Cheers for all that boys, he’s currently out. It basically boils down to him or KDB :):)
I think he’ll be amongst the players with more points come the end of the season. It may come down to buy him now or by him later. He’s a bit minor injury prone and may miss the odd game, especially when they have midweek ones. So is and so may aguero…
I have them both In my initial draft along with Miki and KDB and some good and half decent and useless others. Unbalanced, yes, for now.
Moonin!!
Starting to feel a bit more comfortable with my team for the first 2-3 GWs.
The only thing that worries me is my lack of Chelsea coverage, What do you reckon?
Hi Mitro, I dont think chelsea attack is a must tbh. Mahrez is taking a big part of your budget. Are you sure he’s needed?
Morning DMC – i want Ozil instead of Mahrez but from what I can gather he won’t be back until GW2, was tempted to go with payet but looking at GW1 fixtures Mahrez looks the better option.
Morning Mitro.
How are you?
I like your squad at first glance. As an Arse’ do you think it’s Gabriel’s time to take over from Mert?
I like your bench options. Good reliable points should come from there when needed.
I would go KDB to Hazard personally. Foot in both City and Chelsea camps this way.
Nice draft. :ok:
Morning GP – I’m ok mate, I trust you are keeping well?
Unless wenger signs another defender I would say IMO that Gabriel will start most games with koscienly.
I do want hazard in my team but at the moment I feel more comfortable going with KDB, but then again I want Sanchez but that is another headache!
The only thing that concerns me is that I am taking a risk by using all my money in midfield when there players such as ibra & kane, Man U fixtures are really appealing!
Yeah not bad Mitro. I’m getting excited by FPL
I understand double City could well pay off but maybe it’s only my personal taste this, but i like covering as many bases as I can and therefore I have Ibrahimovic, Aguero and Costa as coverage of the *cough* big three 😉
I’m cold on Kane. I think he is burning out. Didn’t look good in the summer and I think it is two long seasons with Tottenham combined with an Under 21 tournament and senior tournament with England and a tour to Australia in the past two seasons. If I’m covering Spurs, I’m looking to Eriksen.
*Hazard not Costa
Morning Mitro and GP, liking that team mate but not sure on Mahrez and Cresswell, lot of dollar there.
GP, not sure Hazard will outshine some of the cheaper Chelsea mids, time will tell I guess.
Alex – see your post below 😉
Hi Mitro, could do Cresswell to Terry
Good shout milburn, cheers pal!