With over 73,000 transfers out since Friday evening’s deadline, the Zlatan Ibrahimovic (11.5) fire sale is gaining momentum.
From Gameweek 1-4, the Manchester United frontman blazed a trail and found the net on four occasions as Fantasy Premier League managers clambered on board the bandwagon.
In the past three league matches, which coincides with Marcus Rashford’s (6.9) return to the first XI, he has garnered just one assist.
As Jose Mourinho begins to solve the puzzle of how to integrate all the attacking talent at his disposal, Zlatan’s role appears to be changing. He’s becoming more of a front man around which the pace of Rashford and Jesse Lingard (5.7), the guile of Juan Mata (7.4) and the surges of Paul Pogba (8.3) can thrive.
All well and good, but do you really want to have 11.5 tied up in someone taking it for the team?
Let’s get one thing straight. Parting company with a player still owned by over 51% of FPL managers is by no means an easy call to make.
Over the last three Gameweeks, he is the top-ranked forward for attempts on goal (16), shots inside the box (12) and efforts on target (seven).
Those are hardly the statistics associated with an out-of-sorts striker.
Yet with back-to-back trips to Liverpool and Chelsea up next, it’s no real surprise to see so many looking for alternatives up front.
Costing 11.9 as recently as Gameweek 5, his price dropped 0.4 in two rounds of fixtures. With an international break now upon us, Ibrahimovic could feasibly be sitting at 11.2 by the time United make their way to Anfield a fortnight this evening.
Recent weeks have seen the veteran drop to fifth in the forward standings, with Diego Costa (10.0) and Romelu Lukaku (9.4) moving into the top two slots.
The former has scored or assisted in six of his seven appearances under Antonio Conte and Lukaku has bagged five goals and an assist in five starts for Ronald Koeman.
Despite missing two matches through suspension, Aguero also sits above the Swede – the Argentine is also the top forward for points per match, with an average of 7.8 some way ahead of Ibra’s 5.3.
With so many appealing mid-price picks in the centre of the park, Ibrahimovic’s budget would go a long way to help strengthen our options.
Swapping him out for Lukaku, for example, would more or less free up the budget to draft in Tottenham’s in-form Heung-Min Son (7.6) for Etienne Capoue (5.2) as a fourth midfielder.
In a weekend where we saw the likes of Alexis Sanchez (11.2), Roberto Firmino (8.4), Michail Antonio (7.3) and the aforementioned Son all lead the line for their respective clubs, there’s plenty of out of position potential to target.
Yes, Ibrahimovic still leads the way in total attempts, shots in the box and attempts on target after seven Gameweeks.
For many, that will be more than enough to hold in spite of the inevitable price drop.
The underlying numbers clearly suggest Zlatan could very well burn any sellers.
Yet bearing in mind that 11 midfielders have bettered Ibrahimovic’s tally of 37 points already, parting company while his stock plummets and cannily reinvesting the cash elsewhere doesn’t seem such a radical idea.
