So, in case you missed it Ronaldo is set to return to action tomorrow – almost a month ahead of schedule.
While he is set to start on the bench against Villarreal and, probably, against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this weekend, there’s no doubt that the United man will be in the starting lineup sooner rather than later. As a result, plans to incorporate Ronaldo into fantasy squads across the land will kick-in as of now.
Thirty one goals in as many Premiership games last season tells you all you need to know – Ronaldo, even at this season’s inflated prices across the fantasy games, is as close to an essential player as you can get. Plus if you’re playing a game like the Fantasy Premier League game where a captains points are doubled, Ronaldo provides the ultimate one stop solution.
There’s no doubt then that every fantasy manager will at least be considering a move for Ronaldo. The question is – how do you go about bringing him in to your side four to five weeks into the season?
In the Fantasy Premier League game the wildcard option – the ability to build your team from scratch – represents an immediate solution. Even so, Ronaldo’s price – 14.0 million – is so significant, it places huge restrictions on the rest of the side. Suddenly the search for budget talent becomes the key to squeezing Ronaldo into your squad.
In a wildcard situation, the likes of Figueroa, Hangeland, Young and Traore in defence, and Zaki, Zamora and Fuller up front, become almost essential targets for the manager looking to free up funds. In midfield meanwhile, options like Man City’s Ireland, Wigan’s Valencia, Fulham’s Gera, Pompey’s Diarra, Arsenal’s Denilson, Hull’s Geovanni and the Stoke pairing – Lawrence and their “human-sling”, Rory Delap, become the key considerations.
All of those players – barring Geovanni and to some extent, Ireland, appear to be first choice for their sides and are already demonstrating strong potential as key budget purchases across all the games. They will allow you to free up funds if you’re willing and able, to make multiple transfers before sacrificing a mid-price midfielder for Ronaldo. If you’re looking to avoid major surgery or spare you moves in the transfer market however, you’re going to need to find the balls to sacrifice a key player in midfield or up front.
The closest you can get to a straight swap across any of the games would be to bring in Ronaldo for Gerrard, Lampard or at a push, Fabregas. Fifty percent of FPL managers currently own at least one of those players, while the figure is more like seventy five percent in the Telegraph game. This presents the easiest two-transfer move to bring in the United man, provided you can free up enough funds via another transfer, elsewhere in your squad.
The problem here of course, is that all three of those players have their merits as selections in their own right – Lampard and Gerrard have both reminded us of their value only tonight with goals and assists in their respective Champions League ties. Fabregas meanwhile, has yet to score heavily, although in the FPL he is hands-down, the biggest bonus point magnet around. He even surpassed Ronaldo by 8 points in that department last season. Given that Ronaldo is competing with Berbatov this term, you would expect that margin to grow.
For now, let’s take it that you’re willing to sacrifice one of those midfield big-hitters and take a look at some of the possible two move scenarios in midfield.
Using the FPL game as an example – currently twenty six percent of managers own Arteta, while nineteen percent have Bentley. Both of these would be disposable, along with either Gerrard and Lampard and offer you the funds to bring in Ronaldo.
So a squad currently containing Arteta and Lampard could bring in between 18.8 -18.9 million. That would allow the Ronaldo signing, leaving 4.9 for a spare midfield player. For that money, Delap would appear to be the strongest option. Owners of Gerrard would have a little more cash to spend in that scenario, but certainly not enough to open up desirable options such as Ireland or or Valencia. If you looking to sell on Fabregas meanwhile, you would need to pair him with another significant midfielder such as Deco or Ashley Young.
In a nutshell then, if you’re looking to bring in Ronaldo in two moves, you’re going to be looking at pairing him with the likes of Delap in midfield. That gives us a Lampard/Arteta or Fabregas/Deco vs Ronaldo/Delap situation and in those scenarios, it appears that Ronaldo will have to recreate the form of last season to justify the transfers.
Certainly Lampard looks to be on track for another 15+ goals/12+ assists this season, while Arteta has also started strongly and could easily contribute another 5+ goals/12+ assists this season. That pairing could also expect to score at least 50+ points in FPL bonus.
You have to ask yourself then, whether a Ronaldo/Delap pairing will bring in 20+ goals/24+ assists over the season, with the same kind of bonus return. To my mind, with possible rest and rotation and Berbatov likely to be a factor on Ronaldo’s goal/assist and bonus return, that’s a very debatable target. In short then, it certainly appears that it’s worth doing all you can to take Lampard and maybe Gerrard, out of the equation.
Let’s extend our options by moving up front then. The emergence of Zaki offers a ready-made solution to a budget option up front to help you find the funds. Certainly a Ronaldo/Zaki pairing looks good for 30+ goals/15+ assists which would compare well to the output of an existing Fabregas/Santa Cruz pairing if you have them. Sadly, that’s one of few two-step scenarios that does look favourable.
If you already have the Wigan man – options like Zamora and Fuller have some scope considering that, in Ronaldo, you’re likely to be bringing in the Premiership’s leading scorer. Even so, unless you have cash in the bank or you’re willing to sacrifice a Torres or Adebayor, you would still need to be replacing a Lampard or Gerrard to fund the move.
A defensive shake-up is of course another option. I’ve already discussed some of the names that would be suitable targets but, without a wildcard, this would likely use up at least 2-3 transfers before the funds are available to transfer out a mid-price midfielder for Ronaldo.
In my view, none of the possible two-step solutions look desirable which means we’re looking at three to four transfers to increase the Ronaldo pay off. In games without a weekly transfer budget, this is not an issue. In the FPL meanwhile, spending points on transfers is always an option of course – the only other alternative is to gamble on Ronaldo starting slow and bide your time with the transfers.
Right now, Ronaldo looks as though he will figure from the bench against Chelsea and would therefore be a likely starter against Bolton the following week. Having said that, United are in Champions League action the following Tuesday, so Ferguson could easily use Ronaldo sparingly against Bolton given that Nani is now an available option.
So, although there will be an urgency amongst fantasy mangers to bring in Ronaldo as soon as possible, it could be a couple of weeks at least, before we see him completing more than 45 minutes in the Premiership. A delay in the move would also allow some assessment to how United are going to operate with Berbatov, Rooney and Tevez to accommodate alongside Ronaldo.
If you have the balls to hold fire on Ronaldo for three to four gameweeks, it would allow you time to make the transfers that would free up the funds from your squad without necessarily sacrificing a major player such as Lampard, Gerrard or Torres. You’d be gambling on Ronaldo failing to find a big points haul in the meantime and of course, in the FPL, you’d have to swallow a price increase. However, if you can scratch around for a good solution in three transfers, you could have Ronaldo in place to face West Brom at home in gameweek 8, with Lampard/Gerrard still in your midfield, which to my mind, looks to be the best solution.
The options are certainly enough to make your head spin. Certainly those with FPL wildcards in their pockets have a far easier task and can plan a smart Ronaldo strategy without any major problems. The rest of us need to make a decision on a big player or gamble on Ronaldo starting slowly.
For now though, let’s just see what happens against Villarreal tomorrow night. A Ronaldo goal or, heaven forbid, a slight knock, could turn more than a few plans on their head.