After a celebrated and free-scoring career in the lower depths of the English game, Jermaine Beckford will go into the new campaign having successfully found his feet in the top flight. Next season will be huge for the ex-Wealdstone striker as he looks to cement himself as a Premier League player; both Everton and Fantasy Managers could be in line to benefit should he continue to make progress.
Beckford certainly took is time to adjust. Following his move from Leeds United to Everton last summer, the striker initially found the going tough after being thrown in at the deep end in the opening games and he struggled to make an impression. Beckford himself, was all too aware of his early shortcomings…
“To go to a new club and go straight into the starting XI is really exciting but it can also be a little difficult as you don’t know your team-mates and they don’t know you. You need to spend time on the pitch to get to know each other, so it is an exciting time but also a slightly difficult time from a footballing point of view.”
The striker started three of Everton’s first five games but, having failed to make an impact, did not make his next league start until January 5 – gameweek 22. Things improved markedly from that point on and Beckford eventually won the Goodison Park faithful over, finishing the season behind Tim Cahill as their second highest scorer with 8 Premier League goals in 14 starts and 18 substitute appearances. He also contributed 2 assists and notched up 5 Fantasy Premier League Bonus Points along the way, ending the year with 82 FPL points – a decent haul for a player who started less than half of Everton’s league matches.
Key Factors
- At present there are less strikers on the club’s books than on the final day of the season. James Vaughan has recently left the Goodison Park for Norwich and, although David Moyes is set to acquire further firepower, Beckford looks to still be firmly in the manager’s plans. Having finished the season strongly, Beckford will surely get the opportunity to flourish further – particularly if the pre-season goes well.
- The two major competitors to Beckford for a position up front, Louis Saha and Victor Anichebe, are both relentlessly injury prone. It might be a touch unfair to predict their misfortune, but it would be surprising if both managed to finish next season without some sort of spell on the sidelines. Beckford on the other hand has managed to steer clear of any kind of serious lay-off since he began his professional career at Leeds United in the 2005-06 season.
- The gap in the quality of League One and the Premier League is, of course, rather extreme and it takes a striker a while to settle in to the demands of facing superior defences. It was no surprise that Beckford’s second half of his first top flight campaign was much more successful – he grabbed 6 of his 8 goals in 2011, indicating he had come to terms with the demands and was ready to produce the goods.
- Beckford is unlikely to see a massive hike in price so be could an ideal candidate to sit next to more expensive forwards in our FPL squads. Starting last season at 6.0, Beckford’s value decreased as the season went along and finished on 4.3. We can expect his initial valuation to come in around the 6.5 mark.
- Fixture-wise, Everton have a pretty decent August and September facing the likes of QPR, Blackburn, Villa and Wigan. Investment is Leighton Baines looks highly likely but, in attacking terms, many will be reluctant to gamble on the inconsistent Mikel Arteta and the injury-prone Tim Cahill. If he can cement a starting role, Beckford could just be the solution for those looking to back the Toffees heavily over the opening set of matches.
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