Transfer round up Part 5

Transfer round up Part 5

We have allowed the transfers to settle a while having blitzed them all last week but it looks as though many teams have been adding talent since. Swansea have gone back to the tried and trusted and may have unearthed fantasy gold as well as adding someone to supply that gold with chances, West Ham have strengthened their attack once more and Stoke have decided to test the Barca theory (‘but can he hack it on a cold Wednesday night in Stoke…’). We are delighted that say that Bryan Munich has had his finger on the pulse of the transfer activity since our last update and here is his take on the latest signings in the top flight…

Gylfi Sigurdsson (Mid – 6.0)
Maybe there’s something in the air. Maybe it’s that Lego movie. Whatever the reason, nostalgia is the new future. Retro is the new modern. Premier League teams are going back to the future. If your club doesn’t have a new old face then you’re SO last year… oh… which would… actually make you retro, so that would maybe be OK… hey, can we go over the rules again?

Gylfi Sigurdsson, or ‘Siggy’ as he’s known in FPL circles by lazy typists, is firmly strapped into his DeLorean and turning back the dial to 2012, when he managed 7 goals and 5 assists in 18 games. In the blink of an eye, he now goes from being an unappealingly priced 6.0 squad member for Spurs to a bargain 6.0 figurehead for Swansea. Even with limited game time at Spurs, his 8 goals and 5 assists over the two seasons illustrate further that the Icelander gets the job done whenever called upon. A full season at the Liberty Stadium could make a mockery of his price tag.

Were the Swans’ opening fixture at a lesser side than a resurgent Man Utd, the Siggy bandwagon would surely be full steam ahead. From GW2 onwards, though, his appeal steepens sharply. Get ready for some Siggy stardust.

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Ben Davies (Def – 5.0)
The FPL site seem curiously keen on making sure we don’t call the London club ‘Tottenham Hotspur’. Nope, it’s just ‘Spurs’ this season guys. It doesn’t bother me, but it’s going to really wind up the OCD managers out there who’ll now have to re-alphabetize their DVDs.

Hi-fiving Siggy on the M4, coming the other way, Ben Davies will be keen to make a longer lasting impression at White Hart Lane. 3 goals and 3 assists in two seasons is arguably rather modest for a flying full-back, but we all saw what Pochettino did with Luke Shaw at Southampton. Ben Davies is very much in that mould and it should be an exciting season for the Welsh left-back under the visionary Argentinian’s management.

His pricing compares him favourably with other fullbacks at ‘big’ clubs. (Ivanovic 7.0, Zabaleta 6.5, Luis 6.0, Shaw 6.0, G. Johnson 5.5, Debuchy 5.5,) None more strikingly than teammate Kyle Walker, who will surely now struggle to covet our affections for Spurs coverage with Davies on the other flank and a full 1.0 cheaper.

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Jefferson Montero (Mid – 6.0)
This 24 year-old winger signed from Mexican club Morelia on a 4 year contract. The ex-Villareal flanker started all 3 of Ecuador’s World Cup games, though arguably only did himself justice against the Swiss. It would be easy to dismiss this transfer as yet another trendy post-World Cup knee-jerk purchase, but in actual fact the Swans had been courting him since March. He’ll be a like-for-like swap with the departing Pablo Hernandez, though he gives Garry Monk the added dimension of operating on either side.

Montero’s a small, but pacy and direct winger who loves to attack defenders. He’s not the finished product yet, as his final ball often disappoints. But you can expect him to give defenders uncomfortable decisions to make in the box, and he’s scored some spectacular goals at both club and international level to date. A Michu-spearheaded Swansea would have certainly helped his assist production, but Sigurdsson charging forward alongside him will somewhat balance things back out; and if Bony hangs around at the Liberty Stadium, all three Swansea players could well be a rich source of assists and goals.

It’s worth noting however that he’s been a bit of a journeyman despite his youth and playing in the Premier League will be a cultural upheaval for him. Whether he settles will determine how well gauged his price of 6.0 really is.

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Enner Valencia (Fwd – 7.0)
Having now mastered the art of being perennially unavailable through injuries and suspensions, Andy Carroll has given Big Sam no option but to bring in strikers that, y’know, play. Supplementing fellow summer acquisition Mauro Zarate, the Hammers could well field a new look front two come kick-off.

As a boy, young Enner used to help out on his father’s farm, and legend (i.e. the Internet) has it that he sold milk to fund his first pair of football boots. When Allardyce was asked what drew him to the former milkboy’s talents, Sam may have retorted with this three pronged pun-fest, “He can skim past opponents; his delivery’s good; and he can go pasteurize in no time.”

Valencia, nicknamed ‘Superman’ for his power and pace, shined in Brazil with 3 goals for Ecuador. Whether the FA will allow him to wear his underpants outside his shorts has yet to be confirmed. Let’s hope not. West Ham are rumoured to have paid £12m, close to the club record £15m they shelled out for Carroll, so expectations will be high.

There’s every reason to believe the 25 year-old can indeed meet said expectations. He boasts an astonishing strike rate of late. His World Cup exploits took his international tally to 7 goals in 12 games; while last season he netted 18 times in 23 appearances for Mexican side Pachuca. If he hits the ground running, he could well become quickly in demand at 7.0.

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Bojan Krkic (Fwd – 5.5)
Eight. It took just eight words to set in motion one of the most unlikely transfers this summer.

“I will join if you sign Phil Bardsley.”

Bojan Krkic had unenviable expectations bestowed upon him at a young age. ‘The next Messi’. Come on now, even the current Messi didn’t have to cope with being called ‘the next Messi’. Such a label would have surely suffocated Lionel’s progress, and then there’s issues about time-travel, blah blah blah.

At 23, it seems rather unfair that Krkic’s image has already been tarnished as a disappointment in not reaching such unattainable heights. The flip-side is that Stoke may have landed a bargain to end all bargains. With a £3m price tag that will barely register on the Premier League’s hyperactive spendometer, the Potters could very well have on their hands a hungry young forward with a lot to prove and bags of potential still to surface.

Being categorized as a striker in FPL doesn’t do the Spaniard international too many favours. The winger wasn’t prolific in his loan spell at Ajax last season. 4 goals in 24 games doesn’t get the blood pumping and even his meagre 3 assists suggests he has work to do. He should benefit from the ‘completed dribbles’ aspect of the newly tweaked BPS system, though, as he’ll dribble more than an old man salivating in the front row of a beauty pageant.

At 5.5 strikers don’t come much cheaper, so if Bojan becomes an integral part of Mark Hughes’ reinvented Britannia brand, FPL managers may well be looking at their very own bargain; and Stoke City fans could soon be lauding a new Messi-ah. Or maybe just a very naughty boy (Hi, Python fans).

Thanks for reading Transfer round up Part 5. This article was written by Bryan Munich Follow @bry_cooper