Kelechi Iheanacho’s (£7.5m) remarkably good late-season form has seen him join the ranks of the mid-price forwards.
The Nigerian had dropped to £5.6m from a starting price of £6.0m by the time his purple patch started in Gameweek 26 of the campaign just gone.
He then embarked on a run of 11 goals in Leicester City’s final 12 matches at the tail-end of 2020/21, outscoring Jamie Vardy (£10.5m) by 90 points to 57 in that time.
That made Vardy’s rise to £10.5m – his highest starting price ever – all the more surprising.
The veteran scored on only four occasions in the final 24 Gameweeks, although did, in fairness, finish joint-top of the 2020/21 goals created charts with 14 assists. New signing Patson Daka (£7.5m) from RB Salzburg appears to be the Foxes’ planned successor to Vardy, but the former England striker’s place does not look under immediate threat.
Iheanacho’s rise to prominence was triggered by a formation change in the wake of a serious knee injury that ended the season for Harvey Barnes (£7.0m). The dynamic midfielder was playing his way into many Fantasy Premier League squads at the time and opens at the same price as last season as we wait to see if he is ready to regain a starting berth.
James Maddison‘s up-and-down campaign sees him also remain at £7.0m while FA Cup winning goal scorer Youri Tielemans, who took over some set-piece duties from Maddison towards the end of the season, is again available at last year’s starting price of £6.5m.
Someone whose starting price has actually gone down is centre-back Wesley Fofana (£4.5m). When he arrived at the King Power from Saint-Étienne last October he was initially offered to Fantasy Premier League managers at £5.0m, a halfway house between Leicester’s regular defenders who had been priced £0.5m higher and their backups available at £0.5m lower.
The game’s decision-makers have gone with a similar approach for Leicester’s backline this time around, but there was great surprise to see Fofana, a first-team regular, priced the same as Luke Thomas (£4.5m) rather than Çaglar Söyüncü (£5.0m) or Jonny Evans (£5.5m). This valuation of one of the finest young defensive prospects in Europe has seen a quarter of FPL managers add him to their early squad drafts.
A 156-point season saw Kasper Schmeichel‘s price rise last summer to £5.5m, but his total of 128 for the most recent campaign has seen him revert to the £5.0m he was available at two years ago.
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PRICES WE KNOW SO FAR
- Arsenal’s 2021/22 FPL prices
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- Brentford’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Brighton’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Burnley’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Chelsea’s 2021/22 FPL prices
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- Everton’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Leeds’ 2021/22 FPL prices
- Leicester’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Liverpool’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Man City’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Man United’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Newcastle’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Norwich’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Southampton’s 2021/22 FPL prices
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- West Ham’s 2021/22 FPL prices
- Wolves’ 2021/22 FPL prices