Fantasy managers will be reeling from this morning’s news that Leighton Baines has withdrawn from the England squad with a hamstring injury picked up in training.
The FA have released a statement on the matter, saying only:
“Leighton Baines has returned to Everton, having sustained an injury in training on Sunday. Baines has been ruled out of England’s Euro 2012 qualifier with Wales on Tuesday evening, and is now with his club for further treatment. No replacement has been called into the squad.”
Last season’s top-scoring Fantasy Premier League (FPL) defender must be considered a major doubt for Everton’s weekend fixture at home to Aston Villa, then. With another Goodison showdown the following week against Wigan, his 236K Fantasy owners would have been anticipating some decent returns, particularly with the left-back on set-pieces and penalties in light of Mikel Arteta’s departure to Arsenal.
It’s a tricky one- Baines’ price (8.0) takes up a large chunk of our early-season budgets and there’s certainly no point in having him benched if he proves to be unavailable for those upcoming fixtures. Until the club assess the player and make any official statement, though, it’s a case of “wait and see” right now for his Fantasy owners- the potential is clearly there for Baines is Gameweeks 4 and 5 and to bail out now before any confirmation by David Moyes would be folly.
