Fantasy Premier League managers will be surveying the changed transfer landscape after clubs made their final moves of January.
Luis Diaz and Bruno Guimaraes were the biggest arrivals of the month, with the latter heading Newcastle’s rebuild under new ownership.
Everton appointed a new manager on deadline day in Frank Lampard and he bolstered his side with a pair of new midfielders, while Tottenham were also busy and former FPL mainstay Christian Eriksen returned – we take a look at the biggest issues arising from an unusually busy window.
Luis Diaz – Liverpool, £8m
The biggest fee reportedly paid in the window was for Liverpool’s new Colombian winger, a £37.5-million deal from Porto which could rise to £50m.
He will set you back just £8m in FPL if you fancy him to emulate the swift impact of a previous mid-season attacking arrival at Anfield, Diogo Jota – an FPL must-have now owned by almost 40% of managers.
The 25-year-old Diaz has scored 14 goals in 18 league games this season, so arrives in prime form – will you take the plunge?
Bruno Guimaraes – Newcastle, £5m
Newcastle bolstered their midfield with the ex-Lyon man, rated as a strong all-around contributor – but will his game translate into an FPL context?
He has scored only three goals in 57 Ligue 1 appearances, all last season, but has three assists this term. One of those came from a free kick, which offers some encouragement should he secure those duties for his new employers, but he may simply be reliable for two or three points a week rather than moving the fantasy needle.
Chris Wood has yet to score since his move from Burnley and the success of Matt Targett and Dan Burn will partly depend on others – they are immediately the top-scoring Magpies defenders this season, but can they lift a struggling unit?
Wood’s replacement at Burnley, Wout Weghorst, could be one to watch at £6.5m if he can lead the Clarets’ line in similar fashion.
Christian Eriksen – Brentford, £5.5m
An FPL darling in his Tottenham days, managers will need to balance those positive memories with caution over Eriksen’s health.
The Dane scored 132 points in his debut Spurs season in 2013-14 and at least 160 in each of the next five, peaking at 218 in 2016-17 thanks to eight goals and 20 assists.
If he can come even close to that level at £5.5m, he will be a snip – and the likes of new Brentford teammates Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo will also feel the benefit. At least in the short term, though, Eriksen’s recovery from his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020 will be the primary concern and could limit his involvement.
Lampard’s new-look Everton
Everton’s biggest deadline-day move was in the dugout but new boss Frank Lampard wasted no time adding creativity to his midfield in Tottenham and Manchester United’s respective forgotten men, Dele Alli and Donny van de Beek.
Five different Everton midfielders have bested their combined 39 points this season but if either can play regularly there is hope.
Alli averaged 155 fantasy points per season from 2015-16 to 2019-20, before a lost year last season and a failure to re-establish himself. His £6.2m FPL price tag is higher than any other Toffees midfielder but at his best, he has the chance to prove it a bargain.
Van de Beek (£5.7m) has no such Premier League pedigree to fall back on, but if Lampard can unleash the Ajax version of the Dutchman he could be a useful differential.
Tottenham double swoop
Alli followed Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil out of the Spurs exit door – an FPL footnote given their cumulative ownership by less than 40,000 managers – and Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski will be asked to take up the slack after arriving from Juventus.
Bentancur could occupy a similar box-to-box role to Newcastle newcomer Guimaraes, with his two assists this season and 11 chances created offering limited upside even at £5m.
The on-loan Kulusevski operates on the wing and should find himself competing with Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn for three places. While he was inconsistent for Juve, his 2019-20 season at Parma brought him 10 Serie A goals and eight assists – at £6m he could make an impact.
