Welcome to the second update in my regular look at ownership trends ahead of Gameweek 1.
In my first update Spurs’ full back Kieran Trippier was among the main climbers, following the news that his main rival for a starting berth, Kyle Walker, was moving to Manchester City. Here I’ll take a look at some some of the latest rising stars and shrinking violets in the transfer market and consider some of the factors behind their fluctuating ownership.
As an aside, I’m also fascinated how some players have managed to cling onto their army of supporters, but seemingly fail to attract any new ones. Harry Kane, is a prime example of this. Since the launch of FPL’s player list the Spurs talisman has kept his ownership at around 35%. Given the number of registered FPL managers has snowballed from 100,000 to 1.5m since mid July one might have expected much greater variance.
Rising Stars
Three new players for 2017/18 have made an immediate impact on the shape of our teams over the last week.
I mentioned Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata (now 11.2%) and West Ham stopper Joe Hart (11.7%) last week – but Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez has already surpassed those two, reaching 15.1% despite having only been added to the game less than a week ago.
Beyond the new additions, Kevin De Bruyne stands out, having risen from 17.1% to 21.4% in a week on the back of strong performances in friendlies, most recently against Tottenham, where he assisted John Stones’ opener.
Also attracting attention are Chelsea pair Marcos Alonso (up 1.7%), another to score in pre-season, and Willian (up 1.6%).
David De Gea of Manchester United and Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha (both up 1.4%) are also attracting more interest.
City’s Kyle Walker, who impressed against his former club, maintains strong interest, rising 1.0% this week, and 9.1% since day 1.
Trippier (20.3%) is an interesting case – although he rose by another 1.4%, this is a slower rate of climb than when it was confirmed that Walker was on the move. Perhaps his influx of new owners is starting to reach a plateau?
His team mates Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld are both down overall (-0.4% and -0.7% respectively), but up this week (0.7% and 0.6%), thus showing good signs of recovery. In Alderweireld’s case this happened almost immediately after his goal against Paris Saint Germain in Orlando; but strangely for Kane his penalty in the same match was largely ignored, with his recovery only coming from last Wednesday onwards.
Shrinking Violets
Continuing to shed owners are Arsenal new recruit Alexandre Lacazette and Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof (both down 4.1%). Neither player is currently flagged and so maybe this trend reflects concerns over security of starts in their respective new teams.
Newcastle’s Dwight Gayle, originally a popular third-striker pick, continues to fall (down 2.3% this week, 4.6% overall), perhaps as better options (such as the previously mentioned Mexican) start to appear.
Philippe Coutinho (31.7%) and Wayne Rooney (19.7%), are both strongly owned but have suffered set-backs this week, dropping -1.1% and 1.3% respectively. Concerns over a move to Barcelona could be hitting the Brazilian’s ownership, while Rooney’s lacklustre display on Europa League duties for Everton last week are clearly having an effect on his popularity.
