Ruben Vinagre (£4.5m) could prove to be one of the most effective budget defenders in Fantasy Premier League this season.
The 21-year-old defender looks certain to fill the gap left in the Wolves team by a long-term injury to Jonny Otto (£5.5m).
The Spaniard is unlikely to feature for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men for an extended period following an operation on his damaged anterior cruciate ligament, injured against Olympiakos earlier this month.
Preliminary estimates indicate that Jonny may not play until 2021, which could unlock Vinagre’s FPL potential as a set-and-forget budget option.
After two years as an understudy on the left-hand side of Wolves’ wing-back system, Vinagre finally has a chance to string together consistent starts in 2020/21. That could see him surpass his 24 and 32-point total scores from the two previous campaigns by a considerable margin.
In fact, Vinagre may even act as a powerful differential in the early weeks of the campaign provided we don’t see massive ownership shifts between now and Gameweek 1. The left wing-back currently sits in 11.7% of Fantasy teams, roughly half the ownership of Matt Doherty (£6.0m).
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m), owned by 56%, is currently the only more fashionable defender than the Republic of Ireland international and the heavy backing for Wolves’ right wing-back could see Vinagre slip under the radar for those outside the hardcore Fantasy community.
This article serves to bring the Wolves youngster into the light, examining what he produced in fleeting appearances during 2019/20 using some key underlying statistics.
As this article uses Opta data, only those with a valid Fantasy Football Scout subscription can access it in full.
Are Wolves defenders worth owning for 2020/21?
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