The January transfer window closed on Monday and late developments in the market could potentially shape Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers’ thinking going into Gameweek 24 and beyond.
Amid the carnival of yellow ties, made-up sightings in chip shops and besieged television reporters with rude objects in their ears, this article rounds up the confirmed deals that could present Fantasy bosses with new targets or have a negative impact on existing assets.
Free-spending Newcastle United were again busy, recruiting two left-footed defenders in the form of Dan Burn (£4.4m) and Matt Targett (£4.7m).
Everton, who also appointed Frank Lampard on deadline day, secured the loan signing of Donny van de Beek (£5.7m) from Manchester United and the permanent signature of Dele Alli (£6.2m).
Winger Dejan Kulusevski and central midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur have joined Tottenham Hotspur from Juventus, while there’s an emotional return to the Premier League for Christian Eriksen, who has signed for Brentford.
Finally, add the name Wout Weghorst to your FPL watchlists as Burnley – who still have a cluster of as-yet-unannounced Double Gameweeks to come – have secured the services of the beanpole Dutch striker.
Just a reminder: the prices given in brackets are the players’ Fantasy Premier League cost, rather than their actual transfer fees.
You can read about all the other key January moves, from Chris Wood (£6.7m) to Luis Diaz (£8.0m), in our dedicated page here.
TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY – AS IT HAPPENED
00:20 – DELE ALLI (SPURS TO EVERTON)
Frank Lampard’s first day in charge of Everton was a busy one and he secured the services of a second new signing in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Dele Alli‘s (£6.2m) seven-year stay at Tottenham Hotspur is now over, with the England international penning a deal with the Toffees until June 2024.
At the height of his powers, Alli – who is still only 25 years old – was a Fantasy force to be reckoned with. Hitting at least 22 attacking returns in each of his first three seasons in north London, he peaked with a 225-point campaign in 2016/17.
But we haven’t seen that player for some time.
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where it’s gone wrong for the former MK Dons prospect, be it mentality and confidence or the succession of injuries that made his 2018/19 campaign a stop-start affair. The departure of Mauricio Pochettino, who he excelled under at Spurs, in November 2019 may also have been a catalyst.
With his touch and speed (of both body and thought) visibily deserting him, Alli has been out of favour with successive managers in north London and off the FPL menu for a good while.
A possibility to feature in the ‘hole’ of a 4-2-3-1 or left-centre midfield of a 4-3-3, it remains to be seen whether Lampard – who may be a better fit for the midfielder than the more detached and demanding Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte – can kick-start Alli’s career. If he can, and it’s a massive if, then we’ll have a bargain on our hands.
22:45 – DAN BURN (BRIGHTON TO NEWCASTLE)
Blyth-born Dan Burn (£4.4m) has completed a move to his boyhood club, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal with Newcastle United.
The left-footed centre-half joins from Brighton and Hove Albion for a fee reported to be in the region of £13m and is the third defender that Eddie Howe has signed, following in the footsteps of Kieran Trippier (£5.0m) and Matt Targett (£4.7m).
Fabian Schar (£4.3m) looks the most at risk of the 6’7″ Burn’s arrival, having occupied the left-sided centre-back spot of late.
“I’m delighted to bring Dan back to the north-east. He knows exactly what it means to represent this club and he will be a big presence for us on and off the pitch.
“We have been very keen to add competition defensively and Dan fits the profile we have been looking for. He is naturally left-footed, which provides further balance to our backline, and he will be a great addition to the group.” – Eddie Howe
Above: Newcastle’s possible line-up in Gameweek 24
18:45 – DONNY VAN DE BEEK (MAN UTD TO EVERTON)
Donny van de Beek (£5.7m) has joined Frank Lampard’s Everton on loan from Manchester United for the remainder of the season.
“I hope to bring my football qualities, my passing, and, of course, scoring goals. It is a big part of my game to score and give assists and I will try to do that again. And it is not only offensive, you have to defend as a midfielder and I can do that as well.
“I had a really positive meeting with the new coach. We have the same ideas about football and he had a lot of influence on my decision. I played against him when I was at Ajax, and he was at Chelsea [as manager], so he knows me as a player. He thinks I have qualities that can help the team.
“I can learn a lot from him because he was a little bit in the same position – a midfield player who scored a lot of goals.
“I’m fit. I train a lot for myself and I was training a lot with the team at United. I have a few days to train fully and I’m sure I’ll be there [ready for Newcastle in Gameweek 24].” – Donny van de Beek upon signing for Everton
There’s very little Premier League experience to go off when assessing van de Beek’s credentials on Merseyside, as the Dutchman has made only four starts and clocked up just 580 minutes of game-time since he made the move to Manchester United in summer 2020.
Capable of operating as both a central and attacking midfielder, he previously described himself as someone who “…likes to go into the box, making runs, goals, assists”.
Never likely to get a sustained run with Bruno Fernandes (£11.7m) and Paul Pogba (£7.4m) hogging the minutes in his preferred positions, it’ll be interesting to see where van de Beek fits into Lampard’s set-up at Goodison Park, with the former Chelsea boss having flitted between a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 during his time in west London.
We previously analysed the Dutchman in a Scout Report upon his transfer from Ajax, which you can read about here.
18:00 – MATT TARGETT (ASTON VILLA TO NEWCASTLE)
There was good news for Lucas Digne (£5.1m) owners on Monday as Matt Targett (£4.7m) left Villa Park to sign for Newcastle on loan.
Digne had immediately established himself as first-choice left-back under Steven Gerrard but Targett could nevertheless have still been a rotation risk during periods of fixture congestion, which look likely in the coming months due to the number of previously postponed matches still to be rearranged.
Eddie Howe has already used four different players at left-back during his short time on Tyneside: Paul Dummett (£4.5m), Javier Manquillo (£3.9m), Matt Ritchie (£4.9m) and Jamal Lewis (£4.2m).
Ritchie and the injury-prone Dummett are both currently flagged in FPL, while Manquillo is more at home on the opposite flank.
“We have gone into this transfer window with a plan to add strong competition in specific areas of the team and Matt will be a fantastic option for us on the left. He has important Premier League experience and know-how at this level, so I’m really pleased we’ve been able to add him to the squad.” – Eddie Howe
Targett is third among £5.0m-and-under FPL defenders for chances created this season (see the above table from our Premium Members Area), with Ritchie one of the two names above him.
16:30 – RODRIGO BENTANCUR/Dejan Kulusevski (JUVENTUS TO SPURS)
After allowing club-record signing Tanguy Ndombele (£5.7m), Bryan Gil (£5.7m) and Giovani Lo Celso (£5.9m) to leave the club on loan and with Dele Alli (£6.2m) set to depart north London for good, Tottenham Hotspur have bolstered their midfield ranks with a double signing from Juventus.
Winger Dejan Kulusevski and central midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur have both arrived from Turin, the former joining on loan with a view to a future permanent move and the latter sealing a £15m switch.
Bentancur is likelier to be priced at the lower end of the market in FPL, being as he is a more defensive-minded midfielder in the mold of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£4.9m), Oliver Skipp (£4.4m) and Harry Winks (£4.4m).
Two goals in 133 Serie A appearances is a summation of his goal threat in a nutshell, with 17 assists across those matches a modest positive.
A regular in the Juventus side for much of his time in Italy, the ball-winning Uruguay international has that Hojbjergian tendency to pick up a booking – there have been 23 yellow cards and two dismissals since the start of 2018/19.
Of more interest from an FPL perspective is Kulusevski, the Serie A young player of the year from two seasons ago.
It’s fair to say that he hasn’t built on that promise at Juventus over the last two campaigns, returning only 11 attacking returns in his 55 appearances with the Old Lady – although, crucially, 31 of his run-outs have come off the bench, with first-team opportunities limited.
A versatile attacking midfielder who can play across the frontline, it was cutting in off the right flank at Parma where he really caught the eye: the left-footed Kulusevski delivered 10 goals and nine assists in that one year on loan with the Serie A side in 2019/20.
“From the beginning, my role was a trequartista (central playmaker behind the striker). I can be a winger, last season I was a mezzala [on the side in a three-man midfield], so I can play wherever the coach wants, but I see myself as a trequartista behind the strikers.” – Dejan Kulusevski, speaking in 2020
The Sweden international looks set to be competition for Lucas Moura (£6.5m) on the right of a 3-4-2-1 or behind two forwards in a 3-4-1-2, then, and he’ll very much be a ‘wait and see’ from an FPL perspective given his lack of assured game-time and struggles for form of late.
14:00 – JULIAN ALVAREZ (RIVER PLATE TO MAN CITY)
There’ll soon be another Manchester City attacker to factor into Pep Guardiola’s rotation plans but the good news for starting XI predictors in this office and elsewhere is that we won’t see this new recruit in a City shirt until the 2022/23 campaign.
The current Premier League leaders and reigning champions have completed the signing of Argentina international Julian Alvarez from River Plate.
The 22-year-old forward has signed a long-term deal but will stay with River Plate on loan until at least July 2022.
“Julian is a player we have monitored for some time. He is capable of operating in a number of attacking roles, and we firmly believe he’s one of the best young attacking players in South America.” – City’s Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain
Alvarez has registered 36 goals and 25 assists in 96 River Plate appearances, with his game-time divided between playing on the right wing and through the middle. He is, effectively, a replacement for the similarly versatile Ferran Torres.
The young Argentinean contributed 27 attacking returns in 21 league run-outs in the 2021 campaign alone.
13:15 – NEW FPL PRICES
11:00 – WOUT WEGHORST (WOLFSBURG TO BURNLEY)
Burnley have replaced a Wood-shaped hole with the capture of the even taller Wout Weghorst from Wolfsburg.
Signed for an undisclosed fee, the 29-year-old Netherlands international has penned a deal at Turf Moor until 2025.
While Eredivisie goalscoring figures have to be taken with a pinch of salt (Weghorst netted 51 times in 124 league games for previous clubs AZ Alkmaar and Heracles), the 6’6″ centre-forward has plundered 59 goals in 118 Bundesliga appearances for Wolfsburg over the past three and a half seasons.
The Dutchman hit the 20-goal mark in the German top flight in 2020/21 and has also contributed an eye-catching 27 assists since signing for Wolfsburg in 2018.
“Wout is a player that our scouts have been strong on for some time and we feel that he can add to all that we do at Burnley Football Club. His signing is a continued show of the club’s and team’s development. We wish Wout well as he earns the right to push our group forwards.” – Sean Dyche
The signing is obviously bad news for Matej Vydra, Ashley Barnes and Jay Rodriguez (all £5.2m), with a strike partnership of Wehgorst and Maxwel Cornet (£5.9m) surely Sean Dyche’s preferred option up top.
We may get a glimpse of that double-act on Saturday, when Burnley take on Watford in their second Double Gameweek 23 fixture, and Weghorst’s name is definitely one to monitor given that the Clarets still have four outstanding fixtures to be crowbarred into the schedule somewhere between now and the end of the season – ergo more Double Gameweeks.
08:00 – CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN (UNATTACHED TO BRENTFORD)
The first confirmed deal of the day is a real feel-good story, with Christian Eriksen returning to football following his horrific on-field cardiac arrest last summer.
The former Spurs schemer has hooked up with a number of Danish expats at Brentford, signing a deal until the end of the season.
He also reunites with Thomas Frank, who coached the then-teenage Eriksen while in charge of Denmark under-17s.
“We have taken an unbelievable opportunity to bring a world-class player to Brentford. He hasn’t trained with a team for seven months but has done a lot of work on his own. He is fit but we will need to get him match fit and I am looking forward to seeing him work with the players and staff to get back towards his highest level.
“At his best, Christian has the ability to dictate games of football. He can find the right passes and is a goal threat. He also has very, very good set-piece delivery, both from corners and direct free-kicks. He is a player you can find with the ball, and he will come up with a solution to the problem in front of him. Christian will also bring experience of top-level football to the club. I expect him to have an impact in the dressing room and at the training ground.” – Thomas Frank
The Danish playmaker has at least been training with young players at AFC Ajax during his downtime but, as Frank mentioned there, it may be a while before we see Eriksen starting a league match as match fitness will be an issue.
On top of that, the Bees report that the midfielder recently received his Covid-19 vaccination and, “in order to comply with rules regarding entry to the UK, he will travel to west London in the coming days and will not train with Brentford this week.”
When we do see him ready and raring to go, Eriksen will presumably threaten the starts of Mathias Jensen, Shandon Baptiste and Frank Onyeka (all £4.9m) in the middle of the park, likely slotting in alongside Christian Norgaard (£5.0m) and, for now, Vitaly Janelt (£5.0m) in the engine room of a 3-5-2. Josh Dasilva (£5.3m) is also on the cusp of a return, to swell Frank’s options in midfield.
Bryan Mbeumo (£5.3m) may well lose some set-piece responsibilities to Eriksen but while the Dane has been his national side’s first-choice penalty-taker in the past, Ivan Toney (£6.6m) surely won’t be forced to hand over spot-kick duties to his new teammate given how good the striker’s record is from 12 yards.
While we can’t expect the Eriksen of the mid-2010s (see above) to reappear in west London, he’ll likely be a darned sight cheaper in FPL than he was while in his pomp at Spurs.
