Today we will begin a search looking at some of the players who have, perhaps, punched somewhat above their weight thus far this season. Just about every fantasy team going will have at least one “world-class” player in there, whether it be the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale as attacking players or someone like Manuel Neuer or Philipp Lahm in the defensive areas of the pitch, a vast majority of fantasy managers go for one or two high-value stars, choosing to go for a player who will surely win some serious points in exchange for a bigger hit on their initial budget. That, however, doesn’t always prove the case – the most expensive players often find themselves surrounded by some names of a considerably lower initial investment – and these are the players we will be taking a look at here.
We begin by focusing on the French Ligue 1 – that league kicked off a week earlier than its nearest counterpart, and so it seems that would be a good place to start. We will have a look at players across all areas of the field, so any fantasy managers out there who are struggling to pick up points from, perhaps, their midfield will be able to make a quick transfer for a potentially cheaper inclusion who has shown evidence that they can add some serious weight to overall totals.
As far as Ligue 1 goalkeepers goes, we have already mentioned Lille stopper Vincent Enyeama several times this season – but his €7.50m value, while not extortionate, can certainly be bettered by names very close to him in the overall points table. Admittedly, Enyeama is possibly not the best example to start off with as, at the time of writing, he is the biggest points winner in the game so far this season with 115 – and it would take a bit of a hit if you were to go for the nearest “cheap” alternative in this case. Maxime Dupe of FC Nantes and Rémy Vercoutre of Caen are the best alternatives at this stage, costing only €1.50m each, but they also each have 80 points – a tally which gives them both great standing as a lower cost alternative to the Nigerian keeper, but the 35 point hit could have been a big one to take so early in the season.
In defence, Enyeama’s Lille cohort Simon Kjaer leads the Ligue 1 rankings with 110 points, some way ahead of PSG’s David Luiz – presently the most included defender in the league – with 90. They would cost €8.50m each to include, though. Kjaer’s team-mate Marko Basa is a cheaper inclusion, costing only €3.50m, and has won just as many points as Luiz so far. Whether this continues to be a trend throughout the season remains to be seen of course, but that cool €5.00m saving could help towards another galactico in your side if that is the approach you opt for. Luiz’s team-mate at PSG, Marquinhos, is a snip at only €2.50m, and he has only five points less so far. Given the fact that he has featured consistently alongside Luiz for the French champions, he is certainly one to take a look at – 9% of managers already have him in their side, making him the second most owned defender from the French league.
For fantasy managers struggling to find a midfield maestro who can churn out the points, Stade Rennes star Paul-Georges Ntep leads the charts with 60 points, costing €4.50m in the process. This could arguably make him one of the best inclusions in midfield from Ligue 1 already, but surprisingly he is being chased by an even lower cost player in the guise of Olympique de Marseille’s Florian Thauvin, who is a full million less at €3.50m. For a slight point hit in exchange for a bit of budget, Montpellier HSC’s Morgan Sanson has also had a solid start to the campaign, notching up 45 points from his four starts so far.
Up front we have some big hitters, with PSG icon Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading the way with 100 points. He costs a whopping €20.00m, but he is the highest points-scoring striker in the entire game so far, though admittedly players from other leagues have at least one game in hand on the Swede – but second placed Diego Da Silva Costa of Chelsea is 30 points behind, so there is definitely a bit of ground to make up. If you have a decent enough strikeforce already, however, and can somehow make do without the former Barcelona man, there is a much cheaper alternative in place of current runner-up Valentin Lavigne of FC Lorient. He matches Costa’s total of 70 points despite costing only €4.00m. Yes, that is a full 30 points difference to Ibrahimovic, but if your other strikers are turning out some points and you’d like to get some budget back for a player in another area of the field, Lavigne has kept pace with Ibrahimovic relatively well given the asking prices involved, and may be considered a viable alternative by some. Only five behind Lavigne, however, is Diego Rolan of FC Girondins de Bordeaux – and he is even cheaper at only €2.00m, with 65 points so far.
Next time we will switch this focus over to the English Premier League, where arguably some of the lowest cost players are already dominating the overall points charts.
