Craig Bellamy has got his wish and sealed a move away from Upton Park, agreeing a four-and-a-half year contract with Man City earlier today. The striker joins for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be around the £14 million mark. As you can see by the image on City’s site (is he in a prison cell?), he looks delighted and clearly cannot wait to start screaming at Robinho for not giving him the ball.
Fantasy managers will have to pay considerably less than £14 million to bring the impish Welshman into their squads. The question is, does this move make the training-tantrum striker a more attractive option?
For me, Bellamy will always be a short-term option, rotated out of fantasy lineups when his yellow card count borders on the edge of suspension and brought in when fixtures look handy enough to get the most from his pace and trickery. It just so happens that this move to Eastlands coincides with Bellamy having served his 5-card suspension and at a period of obliging run of games for Mark Hughes’ side (NEW stk MID liv whm). There’s every chance that Bellamy, who was already in hot form for West Ham, will hit the ground scampering then.
City’s form, in contrast to Bellamy’s, has dipped alarmingly of late – particularly in the goal-getting department, so he is surely is set for immediate starts ahead of Sturridge and Caicedo. A debut against his former club Newcastle, having scored at St James’ Park just a fortnight ago against them, is on the cards. A game that will also see Ireland return to the midfield to further bolster City’s attacking options against Kinnear’s beleaguered side who are shipping goals. The conditions for early Bellamy profits looks good then.
Bellamy is priced in the mid-range bracket across the games and in the Fantasy Premier League he remains at his modest starting price of 6.5. That represents strong value with only former team-mate Carlton Cole (5.8) and perhaps Sunderland’s Jones and Cisse (6.9), the only other viable options in that bracket. City’s fixtures get somewhat nastier in March so January/February looks the time to get on board if you’re a Bellamy believer.