Transfer Deadline Signings – Anthony Martial and Nikica Jelavic
Late on in the transfer window saw the arrival of two strikers into the Premier League. One is a young, largely unknown French striker, while the other is a seasoned Premier League forward who has just joined his third top flight club. We are of course, talking about Manchester United’s Anthony Martial and West Ham’s Nikica Jelavic. Martial joins the Reds from the sunny climes of Monaco for a decent fee with almost as much as add-ons also – the 19 year old has just been called up to the French squad and despite his age and “raw talent”, is expected to bring some much need pace and energy to a lethargic United attack. Jelavic joins the Hammers from relegated Hull and will be looking to beef up a West Ham forward line that has issues running (on not as the case may be) through it with Valencia injured, Carroll lacking match fitness and Sakho in and out of the slammer.
ANTHONY MARTIAL
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[/three_fourth]”When somebody’s paying €45mln for a 19-year-old boy you have to say the game’s gone mad.” – Sir Alex Ferguson circa 2012 after PSG signed United interest Lucas Moura. He must now be wondering what is going on after his old team just splashed more than that on 19-year-old Martial. Or perhaps he’s forgetting having spent roughly €35mln on 18-year-old Rooney in 2004 (pretty much equal to €45mln today)… None of that much matters to us fantasy managers though; what does is a whole other range of factors, such as his FPL price, how good he actually is and where he’s played on the pitch.
Already noted by some in France to have struggled against the physicality of strong defenders, it could well take him a while to get used to the Premiership. He’s skillful and quick though, and is not afraid to take players on. His finishing is solid, and he’s also been on penalties on a couple of occasions. The lad scored 12 goals last season at a rate of just better than a goal every two games minute-wise, having made more than a few substitute appearances. Perhaps good news for United and FPL fans alike is that he showed great consistency towards the tail end of the season, scoring 8 in 8 league games between GWs 28 and 35.
Since signing he has stated that his preferred position is central, and, given Rooney’s staggering inability to look even slightly threatening thus far, it would be no surprise to see him playing up front with Rooney running off him. Perhaps telling though on mantud.com is how they describe him as “capable of playing as a right-sided attacker”, possibly laying the groundwork for him to take over Mata’s duties on the right flank allowing the Spaniard to play in his preferred role behind the striker.
Martial undoubtedly is a talent, albeit it a tad rough around the edges, and bought for so much at such a young age will be seen as an investment by United and as such may well be eased in slowly; it is entirely possible that his first few appearances will be from the bench. He comes in at a mid-range 8.0, which is probably enough to scare most would-be punters off for the time being. If his form or an injury secures him a spot in the first team though, 8.0 could start to look like a real bargain very soon. He’s been likened to other players already, and only time will tell which of Henry or Welbeck comparisons he deserves.
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NIKICA JELAVIC
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[/three_fourth]West Ham had a fine final day’s dealings, securing the services of Alex Song, Michail Antonio, Victor Moses and Nikica Jelavic. Since joining the Premier League, the latter scored almost exactly 1 in 4 games for Everton and close to 1 in 3 for Hull; if he can continue this trend and manage 1 in 2 games for the Hammers then he’ll be snapped up by… Okay I’ll stop there, that’s not going to happen. Ludicrous extrapolations aside, however, the multi-club journeyman could be a good shout short-term. With West Ham’s list of forwards flooded with red flags and Sakho currently out on bail ahead of a date in court, Jelavic could find himself afforded some decent game time over the next few GWs from compatriot Bilic, who he of course played under for Croatia in years gone by.
To be honest, the Croatian has never set FPL alight though, despite a promising start to life at Everton where he became the fastest ever striker to score 10 goals for the Toffees after signing at the end of January in the 11/12 season. He’s not once managed 100 FPL points in any season though. He also joins us with a price tag of 6.0, which is probably on the expensive side given you can have the likes of Sakho and Diouf for 0.5 more, and Wilson and Defoe for a bit less, all of which are currently more likely to get regular minutes on the pitch.
Onto the positives though, and there are some. He’s an industrious and surprisingly mobile player, strong in the air and with good instincts in front of goal. If history is anything to go by, you can also rely on him for at least 1 bonus point with each goal, picking up 32 for his 29 goals thus far, which isn’t spectacular but is more than certain other forwards (looking at you Gomis!). It’s not inconceivable to think that if Jelavic impresses early on he may be starting alongside Sakho up front, and with Song back to marshal the midfield and Payet already looking dangerous, Jelly could yet prove to be an option worth considering. He also has a FIFA 15 rating of 73, which is better than Marcelo’s! What’s that? Ah, different Marcelo… Well it’s 1 point more than Bradley Wright-Phillips and Frazier Campbell have anyway, and you may use that information as you wish.
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Thanks for reading Transfer Deadline Signings – Anthony Martial and Nikica Jelavic. This article was written by Calvin Clyne
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Thanks CC, much appreciated mate. I don’t know what United are at with that transfer. Ed Woodward is an absolute disaster :noshake:
Please rate my below changes (pedro, aguero, gomis instead of hazard, rooney, benteke)
Looks much better Khaled – you will still need to work on improving that midfield by downgrading some of your defenders.
Sorry Cookie what about the below please ??
Don’t apologise Khaled!
Preferred the first one with Aguero and Gomis. The fact remains, in my opinion that:
You have 2 much cash invested in defence which is limiting your options in midfield and up front.
You can only fix both midfield and attack either by using your wildcard to get it done immediately, some points hits if you want to do over 2/3 weeks or do it week by week, but that would be a laborious process for you and doesn’t take into account other transfers you may need to do in the event of injuries or suspensions etc.
As I said to you yesterday, I would wildcard and get it all sorted and tidied up in one move.
So please support cookie with the below suggested wild card
OK Khaled, I have to be quick as I’m out of the office this afternoon.
These are my thoughts – get Pedro and a City mid in there alongside Alexis. Chadli is not required. Potentially downgrade Pelle and Azpi to help fund things. Make sure your squad is full of starters (with the possible exception of your reserve keeper.)
Depay is also not required, while Janmaat is a better (and cheaper) option than Mbemba
Interesting to see that Wilmots said Hazard was his worst player last night (despite scoring). What’s going on, Eden!?
You know you’re in a good place when your worst performer is a match winning Hazard 😉 He has been surprisingly slow so far, to be fair. Class is permanent though.
W00t, w00t. No Dutch at the European Championships this season. Might be for the better, our coach sucks. He’s as stubborn as LvG whom is destroying United. *sighs*
Depay again looked very mediocre. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Since his move to United he has done nothing but that. 😉
Dont know whats wrong with LVG this season.he needs to get his head out of his stubborn arse. Even RVP spoke ill about him post leaving man utd.
Morning all how are we still no Che cover worries me but would need to raise 2m to get Pedro so leaving it at present , could back fire 😉
Morning Silvers. Just had a look at your team and cant see a way to get Pedro without dropping a pricey mid. Silva/Sanchez is a tough pair to decide between..
Hey silvers..chelsea mid is the necessity of the hour. One way that i can think of is gomis and payet for wilson and pedro.although currently goms also looks like a must have.U also have courtois for chelsea cover.. 😛
Thanks NIN / Constantine yes I have thought of San > Ozil then Payet > Pedro but not sure I want to lose San just yet I could go Gomis > Wilson , Payet > Pedro & Cedric > Ward but would I end up with more points potential I’M not sure
If Diouf goes up by 1, then go Diouf to Jerome and Payet to Pedro. You 0,1 short for that at the moment.. (if you bought Diouf for 6,6 then go for it)
Hmm. I’d say the triple swoop would be worth it long term. Silva-Sanchez-Pedro-Aguero is where it’s at. Well, it will be soon enough anyway.
Silvers, for me sanchez is a season-long keep along with haz, aguero and silva.wud not lose him anways.
Thanks Guys will keep an eye on this triple swoop looks the best in lg run is there any reason Pedro still hasn’t gone up ?
Majoritively WC transfers i’d say. They don’t count toward total NTI’s if i remember correctly. The first International break is a big WC break most seasons.
You’re right NIN. WC transfers dont count in price changes.also, many would be jumping on to ayew atm and not pedro.
Yeah, good point there. 10+ point weeks usually send the masses wild.
Hey Guys when do we thk Pedro will go up in price ?
NEVER. Hes been going up since the international break started and he still hasn’t gone up.
One pointer to that might be that McCarthy was a lot slower than most GKP, & Ayew went slow for his numbers as well.
McCarthy,Ayew, & Pedro share one unique thing, the largest transfers to them came from within their own team. Henn/Speroni->McC; Siggy->Ayew, Haz->Pedro.
perhaps fpl doesnt consider in team swapsie as transfer worth a price rise?
Given the large numbers who still hold Hazard could be a longest time before Pedro goes up if that’s what fpl are actually doing..