Last season the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) saw something of a gold rush in the budget bracket. The fast bucks ostentatiously displayed by early investors in the likes of Andy Carroll and Charlie Adam drew a torrent of fortune seekers in their wake, and a thriving seat of industry sprang up in the land of cut-price plenty.
A town in decline for much of this season, less prodigious yields from the newly promoted hopefuls turned many Fantasy managers away to more upmarket territory, but the resurgence of the budget performer in recent weeks is tempting hardy prospectors back to this unfashionable seam. From old favourites like Kevin Doyle to new men such as James McClean, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Grant Holt, the points are again flowing in the budget belt.
Here at The Scout we’ve got an eye on a budding cut-price acolyte of the Arsene Wenger academy, Bolton loanee Ryo Miyaichi. Signing for Arsenal after an impressive trial last winter, Miyaichi was immediately sent on loan to Feyenoord for the remainder of the season. Nicknamed “Ryodinho” by the Dutch media he was quick to make his mark in the Eredivisie, grabbing three goals and five assists in his twelve matches.
Featuring in the Gunners’ pre-season tour but subsequently destitute of competitive opportunities, Miyaichi was sent in January – like Jack Wilshere before him- to learn the Premier League ropes at Bolton. Scoring just four minutes into his full debut against Millwall in the FA Cup, he retained his starting berth wide left against Chelsea in the league the following weekend, emerging from that game streets ahead of the rest of the Bolton midfield across the board in our members’ OPTA data.
Named “Player of the Month” for February by the Bolton faithful on the basis of just one league start, and drawing gushing praise from Owen Coyle, Miyaichi’s place in the side looks secure, and his attacking potential could be given free reign over a run of fixtures that are the envy of his cut-price contemporaries (QPR avl BLA wol FUL).
Currently priced at a paltry 4.9, and with only 0.2% ownership, it likely that Miayaichi will not be flying under the radar for long. The rush for late-season differential gold is well under way, and prospecting is a notoriously tricky business. With price, fixtures and form aligning, however, the temporary Trotter could yield rich reward for those managers willing to invest in his Fantasy fortunes.
