Team of the Season – Nicolas Otamendi

Nicolas Otamendi has been named among the Fantasy defenders of the season after winning our recent poll.

The Manchester City centre-back’s starting price of £5.5m, combined with a steady stream of clean sheets (15), goal threat (four goals) and bonus points (21) paved the way for a hugely successful Fantasy season.

After ending 2017/18 as the most owned defender (25.8%), Otamendi topped our poll with 23.3% of the votes.

However, in Fantasy terms, the centre-back did not even begin the 2017/18 campaign as the most popular defender at the Etihad Stadium.

Going into the opening weekend, just 146,000+ Fantasy managers named Otamendi in their squads. Kyle Walker, recently signed from Spurs, was the far more popular figure having claimed 847,000+ initial owners.

That made perfect sense at the time as Walker had outperformed his new team-mate over the previous season.

Otamendi had not been a guaranteed starter in Pep Guardiola’s defence and had made just 29 appearances compared to Walker’s 31 for Spurs. Even Danilo (168,000+ owners), John Stones (193,000+) and Vincent Kompany (220,000+) all experienced greater demand than the Argentinian as managers prepped for a new season.

But the opening day trip to Brighton was to set the tone for the months to come.

Otamendi registered eight points, including two bonus point, in a 2-0 win, despite not being involved in either of the goals. Meanwhile, Walker, Danilo, Stones and Kompany were awarded the six points for the clean sheet.

Even so, Walker in particular still proved more popular in the market and pulled in another 169,000 new owners for Gameweek 2, only to be sent off against Everton. Otamendi meanwhile, convinced only 166,000+ managers to snap him up following his standout score at the Amex Stadium.

It wasn’t until Gameweek 8 that the Argentinian finally eclipsed Walker’s popularity.

By this point, Otamendi’s importance to the team had become clear, with his security of start boosted by Kompany’s Gameweek 4 calf-injury. Price rises had taken him to £5.7m, but that still represented strong value for managers compared to the £6.6m required for Walker.

Indeed, that sum proved an efficient investment over the first nine Gameweeks where Otamendi recorded 6.11 points per match. In that time, no defender had more penalty area goal attempts (nine), with only Marcos Alonso (five) landing more shots on target (four). Otamendi had already found that net twice.

Most importantly, by now, we had the data to determine that the Bonus Points System (BPS) favoured Otamendi and his role for City.

As a ball-playing defender in a team that dominated possession, he was top of the charts for pass completion for his position, a factor which boosted his BPS totals.

Otamendi’s most productive spell, between Gameweek 15 and 21, saw him score a further two goals, one against West Ham and another away from home in the Manchester derby. Adding in four clean sheets, this took his match average for that period to an impressive 7.42 points.

By Gameweek 23 his price had spiked at £6.5m.

The second half of the campaign was far less productive, with Otamendi registering negative points after conceding four and being booked in the memorable defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in Gameweek 23.

Between that setback and the end of the season, Otamendi produced just 3.38 points per match and failed to even feature in three of the last four matches.

THE PROSPECTS

Otamendi seems unlikely to rival his value to Fantasy managers in 2018/19 after recording his best FPL total score (156).

Only Azpilicueta (179) and Alonso (165) outperformed him among defenders, which will mean that the City man is set to start the new campaign in the £6.0m+ bracket after his modest initial value of £5.5m this season.

Rising £0.9m between Gameweek 1 and Gameweek 38, no defender experienced a more significant increase in price. Given that value was a key factor in his popularity, it’s difficult to see him maintaining similar ownership levels once placed among the top bracket.

But that won’t affect Otamendi’s points output, and we should still expect to see the centre-back challenge at the summit of the defender standings. That should ensure a healthy level of investment.

Indeed, we will have to consider cover of Man City’s defence.

Manchester United (19) were the only side to record more clean sheets than the champions (18), and both Otamendi and goalkeeper Ederson rank among the top three scorers in their respective positions. Both will go into 2018/19 as targets, regardless of price.

Otamendi’s goal threat provides the extra incentive to invest. Only three defenders bettered his totals of four goals and 32 shots this season.

And bonus points will also remain a key factor. Overall, Otamendi finished the season in third place on the BPS among defenders, his total of 742 ranking behind only Azpilicueta (913) and Vertonghen (778).

His impressive passing statistics made a crucial contribution, with Otamendi attempting and completing more passes than any other defender. He collected 182 BPS points from pass completion alone, with Azpilicueta ranked second back on 152.

Despite Guardiola’s team selection over the final fixtures, Otamendi should remain his go-to option at the back as City bid to retain the title. And if rotation becomes more of a factor in attacking areas, we may be confident in filling our third City slot with a defender.

Otamendi can undoubtedly push over the 150 barrier for a second season. But his popularity will come down to his price tag and whether we again struggle to find assured starters in the defences competing with City for clean sheets.