Mesut Ozil’s move to Arsenal makes him king of the new boys – but can you afford him?

Sep 3

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Mesut-Ozil

Now that the dust has settled, Jim White has been put back in his box until January and those Manchester United ‘imposters’ have had their laughs, it is time to examine just what transfer deadline day has done for your Fantasy Premier League prospects.

For many fantasy bosses this is when the game truly starts, when all the hands have been dealt and we can see who is holding what.

Undoubtedly the headline arrival on deadline day belonged to Arsenal, who took advantage of Gareth Bale’s switch to Real Madrid to prise the talented German international Mesut Ozil from the Spanish capital.

With an astonishing record of 72 assists in the last five seasons – more than any other player in Europe – Ozil will be seen as a key addition for many over the coming weeks, but whilst Arsenal have clearly acquired a world class talent, his signing for your team should come with a couple of warnings.

Firstly, don’t expect that assist record to be kept up immediately.

This is no criticism of the likes of the in-form Olivier Giroud or of Theo Walcott, but providing a goal for them is a lot more difficult than it is for Cristiano Ronaldo for obvious reasons, whilst Arsenal won’t hit the back of the net in the Premier League at the same rate as Real do in La Liga due to the competition they face.

Secondly, the playmaker’s £10.0m price tag may also prove prohibitive, especially with the need for top forwards.

So hold fire on his selection for now, but by all means consider him and plenty other new additions for your team.


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Chelsea have taken advantage of the financial uncertainty at Anzhi Makhachkala by bringing in midfielder Willian (£8.5m) and forward Samuel Eto’o (£9.0m), but the competition for places at Stamford Bridge perhaps means that they should be avoided for now.

Of the other new names to the division, Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano (£5.0m) might expect to go straight into the side, as will Liverpool’s central defender Mamadou Sakho (£5.5m), a giant of a man who could prove to be a goalscoring threat from Steven Gerrard’s set-pieces, such as the one which led to the Reds’ winning goal against Manchester United.

For greater value though, it might pay to look at those players who have moved within the Premier League.

Marouane Fellaini (£8.5m) is the headline act in this department, but expecting him to rack up a similar amount of points that he regularly contributed at Everton might leave some disappointed.

At Goodison Park, Fellaini was often the focal point of the attack and contributed many goals and assists accordingly, but even though he’s back under the tutelage of David Moyes at Manchester United he’ll now have much more competition in that area, and could instead become more of a team player in the centre of the pitch – an improvement on the hit-and-miss Tom Cleverley, in other words.

Elsewhere, two of the more surprising moves of the day saw Everton snap up Romelu Lukaku (£7.4m) on a season-long loan from Chelsea, and West Brom bring in Stephane Sessegnon (£6.8m) from Sunderland.

Both have been fantasy favourites in the past and can be so again, although it must be noted that Lukaku will miss Everton’s Gameweek 4 fixture against his parent club.

Also leaving Chelsea temporarily is Victor Moses (£6.2m), and the winger could flourish in a Liverpool attack featuring the in-form Daniel Sturridge and the soon-to-be available again Luis Suarez.

The Uruguayan didn’t leave the Reds this summer after all, and they’ll be plenty viewing him as a new signing when he returns from suspension in late September.

Not that Jim White will be around to get all excited about it around then, which is probably for the best.

@Mark_Jones86


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Posted on 3 Sep 2013, in Player Selection and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.

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