The Stock Check – Gameweek 38

The season is done, so what better time to start plotting for the next?

The final day of the campaign produced goals galore and plenty of pointers to take with us through the summer drought.

Here’s the final Stock Check of a fascinating Fantasy Premier League 2016/17.

On the Rise

Harry Kane
Remember the good old days when the young folk could afford a house and Harry Kane cost 4.4? Or 6.0, 10.2 or even 11.9?

Those days will be long gone next season. The Spurs striker has been declared Fantasy royalty and, as a result, will likely command a right royal price of nearer £13.0m.

An incredible end to the season involved seven goals and 48 Fantasy Premier League points across the final two Gameweeks – enough to secure a second consecutive Golden Boot and win mini-leagues for managers from the Aaland Islands to Zambia.

His Hull City hat-trick brought in bumper points for the 11.3% of us who captained him yesterday, with 54,000 managers (33% of those who used the chip) triple captaining Kane to another monster total.

Big-ticket strikers will come and go over the summer, but the Spurs frontman will surely be the first name in our squads for next season, and to hell with the cost.

Kieran Trippier, Ben Davies
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has been consistent on two counts all season – he won’t comment on rumours and he will rotate his full-backs.

Rumour has it, though, that Kyle Walker is on his way elsewhere, so Trippier could well end up in the box seat.

The former Burnley defender started just six matches all season. Rather tellingly, three of those came in the last five fixtures, and his output was superb – he managed five assists from such limited pitch time.

Walker recorded six assists – from 30 starts.

Should Walker leave, Pochettino will doubtless look to strengthen at right-back/wing-back. That uncertainty could well keep Trippier’s price down, at least in comparison to other Spurs defensive assets.

Davies was also outstanding in the absence of the first choice left-back Danny Rose.

The Welsh international finished with a goal and assist from the final two Gameweeks and, in 15 starts as cover for the injured Rose, he returned a clean sheet, goal or assist in 11 of them.

Rose will surely be first choice again once fit, but Davies may yet start the season if the England man continues his slow recovery after undergoing surgery only last week. Either way, rotation will again form a large part of Pochettino’s plans and Davies could well continue to be a cheap, if not nailed-on, route into a defence of some pedigree.

The one rider regarding all of the Spurs stars for next season is the fact that they’ll be playing at Wembley. They struggled there in this year’s Champions League campaign and will need to acclimatise to their temporary home rather better if they are to live up to their status and FPL prices.

Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus
The most expensive player in the game this year had a bit of a nightmare, right?

Well…no, actually.

Aguero reminded us all of his prowess with a 16-point haul on the final day amid news that he will, according to Pep Guardiola, be a Man City player for next season.

And he’ll start afresh with his best season right behind him. Yes, Aguero scored 33 goals in all competitions this year – his best ever return in a Sky Blue shirt.

This season was the first in which we have not been able to rely on the Argentinian as a nailed-on starter, and there’s no doubt he’s had better domestic campaigns. But 20 league goals from a turbulent year of injuries, alleged fall-outs with his new coach and the first coming of Jesus should remind us all that Aguero is still a goalscorer supreme – whatever the circumstances.

Few of us had faith in him for Gameweek 38. The Argentine increased his ownership by just 1,200 FPL managers, whereas Jesus picked up 155,000 new owners – bettered only by Kane and Philippe Coutinho.

The young Brazilian duly delivered with a double-digit haul. Again. And from the right flank.

With or without Aguero in the side, Jesus produces. Together for the last two matches of the season, the 20-year-old delivered back-to-back 11-pointers when stationed out wide.

Whatever the configuration up front for City next season, Jesus will cost a good deal more than his initial 2016/2017 price tag of 9.0, while Aguero will likely be cheaper than his top of the range 13.0

We’ll have to choose one or the other for our teams at least initially. Jesus should get the nod, but we write off Aguero at our peril.

Kevin De Bruyne
Another who seemed to suffer under Pep, at least initially, the Belgian set up two more goals yesterday to end as FPL’s top creator, with 21 assists to Christian Eriksen’s 20.

From Gameweek 33, De Bruyne was outstanding, providing seven assists and chipping in with two goals to cement fifth place among FPL midfielders.

Often asked to play a deeper role under Guardiola, his goal output duly suffered…but only a touch. He managed five this year, compared to seven last time out, but more than doubled his assists to end the season 68 points better off than in 2016.

When you consider that De Bruyne also hit the woodwork no fewer than eight times this season – three more than any other player – and an inch or three lower here and a slice of luck or two there could well have given him a double-figure goal output and a place in the top three midfielders as a result.

There’s a very pleasant side effect to that misfortune – his price may well hold around the 10.5 mark for next season. That could be money very well spent.

Vincent Kompany
Another Belgian, another cracking finish to the season – good enough to end top of the FPL form charts for defenders.

Kompany made seven successive Gameweek starts to banish any doubts of fragility and his output was equally robust – three goals and five clean sheets brought in 54 points.

With Kompany in the line-up, 6.0 on a City defender is fully justified. That could possibly drop due to his injury record, but given his superb end to the season, it might well remain unchanged.

If he can stay fit – a big if, of course – then the Belgian looks well worth it whatever the price.

Philippe Coutinho
Liverpool took all the time available to secure their Champions League place, and they had a lot to thank the Brazilian for.

He was a man possessed from Gameweek 30 onwards, scoring seven goals and providing two assists in a 71-point charge into the midfielders’ top ten.

Not bad for a man who lost seven matches to injury and then took a further five fixtures to regain his scintillating form.

Coutinho was always great value at the mid-8m mark this season. That will surely rise to around 9.5-10.0m for the next campaign, which should still remain a fair price, although we’ll have to factor in potential fatigue from Champions League duties.

Cesc Fabregas
Out of favour for the first half of the season, outstanding by the end, the Spaniard showed us all that he’s still got it in Fantasy terms – if he’s allowed to prove it with pitch time.

Two assists against Sunderland took him to six assists and a goal from his last six appearances of the campaign, two of which were little more than late-match cameos.

The Spaniard’s home form was particularly impressive – he returned a goal or assist in 11 of his last 12 home matches – and a man seemingly treading water before a summer move is now surely in manager Antonio Conte’s future plans.

His prospects, however, are still difficult to call. But given his late-season form, Conte will surely look to find a role for him, particularly with Champions League rotation to factor in.

Wait and see is perhaps the best policy for Fabregas for now. All will become clearer fairly early into next season.

The Liverpool Defence
Nathaniel Clyne was the only Liverpool defender to enjoy double-figure percentage ownership this year, and with good reason.

The Reds kept 12 clean sheets in the league this season and five of them came in the final six Gameweeks.

Champions League football will doubtless prompt a number of new signings, with an extra centre-half, an actual left-back and goalkeeper likely to be among them.

But while we might not be clear on the exact personnel, it’s probably time to take Jurgen Klopp’s rearguard a little more seriously.

Joel Matip could be the choice option from the defenders, while Simon Mignolet’s price is likely to remain around the 5.0 mark if, that is, he’s still the Reds’ number one come August.

Sam Vokes
Budget strikers providing decent returns have been few and far between this season, but the Burnley man made a late bid from the bargain basement.

Five goals in as many Gameweeks was a welcome late-season gift and pointed to real potential ahead of next season.

Vokes started this campaign at 6.0 and would seem likely to hold around that mark.

Fernando Llorente
Another striker to show us enough to earn him a high Watchlist rank ahead of next season, the Spaniard hit four goals in the last five Gameweeks to keep Swansea City up and his own reputation intact.

A 12-point haul against West Brom yesterday was his fifth double-figure return of a season marred by niggling injuries and managerial madness.

He, and the team, took time to adjust but, once settled, Llorente showed enough form to suggest that he could fit the bill as a mid-price third striker next time out.

Junior Stanislas
Josh King deserves all the plaudits at Bournemouth this season, but Stanislas shone bright when fit.

The midfielder ended the campaign by netting in each of his final three league outings, having scored the Cherries’ opener at Leicester City yesterday.

Injury hugely disrupted his season, but seven goals and six assists from just 18 starts between lengthy spells on the treatment table point to a player capable of excellent returns at a good price.

Stanislas cost 5.5 initially this term, a figure that plummeted to 4.6 by Gameweek 38. His value could well be very competitive again come August.

Definitely one to monitor through pre-season.

Jack Butland
The England man was in the team of the season for 2015/16 before injury destroyed this campaign.

But a 10-point return at Southampton yesterday – from a clean sheet, six saves and two bonus points – reminded us all of what might have been.

Just five 2017 starts mean his price could hold in the budget bracket for next season.

His understudy, Lee Grant, might have won Stoke City’s player of the year award, but we have to presume that Butland will be the one between Stoke’s sticks in August – and at a very reasonable value.

In Decline

Laurent Koscielny
The centre-half was the one reliable figure in a flighty Arsenal defence until late-season injuries scuppered many of our double Gameweek plans – Koscielny missed a fixture in each of the Gunners’ extra fixtures.

He then compounded matters by seeing red on the final day and will miss the FA Cup final and the first two matches of next term.

That will severely dent his early-season appeal in what will be an intriguing, Champions League-free, campaign for Arsenal.

Whether he can recover ground on alternative assets in the side when priced at the higher end of the market for Gunners’ defenders will be the key question.

Manolo Gabbiadini
From triumph to troll in just a few Gameweek, the Italian looked a bargain Fantasy asset on his January arrival, only to endure a torrid spring that has potentially ruined his reputation among managers severely burned by his dismal form.

A missed Gameweek 37 penalty meant bench duties yesterday. But even when given 26 minutes for redemption against Stoke, Gabbiadini fluffed his lines and missed a great opportunity to begin repairing the damage.

On the bright side, that should mean his price is likely to remain around the 6.5 – 7.0 mark for next season.

While that’s not massive, it’s not exactly peanuts either. And many will not easily forget what monkeys he made of us all in double double Gameweeks from which he produced just four miserable points.