Time To Say Goodbye to Bojan Krkic

The budget forward option of pre-season has let Fantasy managers down and his owners are dwindling fast. At the time of writing more than 56,000 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers have parted company with the Stoke player. Here I examine why, despite strong fixtures and undoubted talent, now is the key time to join the exodus and look elsewhere for a reliable cheap striker.

A Brief History

The 24-year-old came through the Barcelona youth ranks before making it into the first team where he featured for four years. From 2011 until now he has spent time at Roma, Milan and Ajax, though never finding the form or productivity that saw him score 26 goals in 104 appearances for Barcelona.

Form

A high-calibre player, but the fact that over time Barcelona became willing to part ways with him tells us where he’s currently at. Bojan’s pre-season form was decent, netting three of Stoke’s six goals that came across seven matches. But with just two points and one start across the first two games he has failed to translate his successful pre-season to the Premier League so far.

Fixtures

Stoke have an amazing run of fixtures up until Gameweek 12. Having already played (AVL, hul) they now face a difficult tie (mci). However, Gameweeks 4-12 see a staggering run of fixtures (LEI, qpr, NEW, sun, SWA, sot, WHM, tot, BUR).

Gameday

Over the pre-season and first two games mananger Mark Hughes has deployed a 4-2-3-1, with Bojan featuring on the right of the advanced midfield three. Starts are far from guaranteed, though, with Marko Arnautovic (a 6.4-priced midfielder) currently fulfilling the wide-left role and Peter Odemwingie (another 6.4-priced midfielder), providing a strong alternative should Hughes feel the need to rest or rotate the trio – which is exactly what happened away to Hull in Gameweek 2 with Bojan.

FPL Price Drop

Bojan will drop to 5.4 in FPL before Gameweek 3 even happens, and any budget midfielder or forward that only plays in 30-40% of an FPL manager’s games yet drops in value is a big Fantasy no-no. What about post Gameweek 3? What if Bojan fails to deliver against Man City? Or worse… makes another sub appearance? It seems almost a certainty that momentum from the current disembarking bandwagon will see Bojan drop another 0.1 in a week’s time. Over the coming weeks his 14.5% ownership will turn into a fire sale and a price plummet is surely on the horizon.

Weighing It Up

The fixtures say keep, everything else says abandon. The price drop is simply unacceptable for a player that has yet to deliver and has short-term doubts. Funnily enough, if Bojan drops to 5.3 quickly enough we could see a resurgence, with managers picking him up for Gameweek 4 (LEI), but that would be foolhardy based on current form and lack of starts.

Other Options

Assuming no FPL manager would have Bojan playing (mci) and therefore not need an immediate replacement, I’ll focus on Gameweek 4 onwards. The budget forwards currently receiving investment are Everton’s Steven Naismith (5.1) and West Brom’s Saido Berahino (5.6). The latter’s next six games read (swa, EVE, tot, BUR, liv, MUN). Even with good fixtures I would need some convincing, so with only one locked-in start (BUR) this would be a real punt and I could even justify hanging onto Bojan. On the other hand, Naismith offers up (wba, CPL, liv, mun, AVL, bur, SWA, sun WHM). I see this as a very encouraging set of fixtures in the short-term that will drive further investment. Although somewhat dented by (liv, mun), it is a scenario that FPL managers can plan in advance of, taking advantage of the prime fixtures afterwards.

Conclusion

Unless there are other moves required in your team then removing Bojan is a no-brainer. Even if you think he’ll make an impact at some stage you’re still better off getting rid of him, even if it’s only for a week.