When it comes to buying and selling in the Fantasy Premier League transfer market, nobody knows better than the elite managers – or do they?
By analysing a sample of more than 250 managers with five or more top 10,000 finishes to their name, we can get some useful insights in to the actions of the very best bosses.
The players the cream of the crop offloaded ahead of gameweek 17 vary from premium midfielders to top tier academy products, but it’s a mid-table forward who was sold in numbers…
Raul Jimenez
Wolves striker Raul Jimenez emerged last season as the perfect bargain goalscorer, and this year looked to be continuing in a similar vein as a mid-priced striker who managers were happy to invest in.
But his ownership dropped significantly among the elite ahead of GW17, going from 61.1% to 36.8% thanks to a streak of three games without a goal.
That run extended to four in Wolves’ defeat to Tottenham. But while the goals have dried up, the assists have not.
Jimenez has notched three assists in his last four, and while they are only worth three points each they have helped the Mexican score 17 points during his goalless spell.
Perhaps the elite saw Wolves’ first league defeat since September coming, but even so the 28-year-old has posted attacking returns in eight of his last 10 games.
Our advice? Stick with Jimenez for now – there aren’t many more consistent performers at £7.5m than the Wolves man.
Fikayo Tomori
Fikayo Tomori has seemingly been one of the main beneficiaries of Chelsea’s transfer ban, and rewarded Frank Lampard’s faith with a stunning goal and some performances beyond his age.
An England cap followed, and so did FPL ownership, but recent events have seen the elite managers decide to cut their losses on the centre-back.
Tomori dropped to the bench for games against Aston Villa and Everton, and missed the 1-0 home defeat to Bournemouth with a hip problem.
Having been backed by more than 50% of our elite crop as recently as GW15, his ownership has plumetted to 27.1% as top managers decided that £4.8m could be better spent elsewhere.
With Chelsea about to return to the transfer market and the Blues facing away games at Tottenham and Arsenal over the festive period, managers might be wise to follow the elite in this case.
Kevin De Bruyne
Kevin De Bruyne has just posted his best FPL return of the season (19 points) so why are the elite ditching him?
The midfielder’s elite ownership decreased from 74% to 66.3%, but those who did sell him clearly thought a trend was emerging.
De Bruyne had indeed blanked in his two most recent games before facing Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, and with high-flying Leicester and Wolves to come, maybe they felt this run of fixtures in December was too much for the midfielder to handle.
Alas, those who followed that instinct were punished to the tune of two goals and an assist as KDB ran riot through Arsenal’s non-existent midfield on Sunday.
After a performance like that, and in a City side who need urgently to salvage their season, who would advise anything other than keeping the Belgian in your starting line-up?
