Our latest Fantasy Premier League (FPL) transfer round-up looks at some more moves from the last fortnight.
The most significant players will be the subject of their own dedicated Scout Report but all the others will feature in regular round-ups over pre-season, continuing with this one.
You’ll find all the major deals on our dedicated Transfers page, while you can get a club-by-club guide to the key moves via our comprehensive Pre-Season tab.
Our sister website, Fantasy Football Community, also has a daily round-up of the latest transfer rumours.
LATEST FPL SCOUT REPORTS
- Neco Williams (Liverpool to Nottingham Forest, £17m)
- Raheem Sterling (Manchester City to Chelsea, £47m)
- Djed Spence (Middlesbrough to Tottenham Hotspur, £12.5m)
You can find more articles on the likes of Erling Haaland, Gabriel Jesus and Ivan Perisic in our Scout Reports section.
FPL TRANSFER ROUND-UP
Lisandro Martinez (Ajax to Manchester United, £57m)
Following the arrivals of Tyrell Malacia (£4.5m) and Christian Eriksen (£6.5m) is centre-back Lisandro Martinez, who has swapped Ajax for Manchester United. Erik ten Hag knows and trusts him well enough to spend big, offering versatility at both left-back and defensive midfield.
Yet Martinez is predominantly a centre-back. Some onlookers have raised eyebrows at his 5ft 9in height and how it will adapt to the Premier League but his ‘Butcher of Amsterdam’ nickname suggests fearless aggression that will cope just fine.
“We Argentines do everything with passion – and when I go out on the pitch I fight for every ball. When I step onto the pitch, I think back on the times I couldn’t even buy shoes. This is why we are so combative. Argentinians kill to win. If I have to step over dead bodies, I do it.” – Lisandro Martinez
He makes up for his height by having great awareness and a wonderful range of passing, something which will likely endanger the starting spot of either Harry Maguire (£5.0m) or Raphael Varane (£5.0m).
He’s predominantly left-sided, too, which would seemingly further threaten Maguire’s spot, but ten Hag has given the much-maligned England international some hope by switching him to the right in pre-season.
FPL managers may prefer the more attacking £4.5m Diogo Dalot option at full-back, should he emerge as ten Hag’s first choice.
Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli to Chelsea, £34m)
After years of being linked with a major move away from Napoli, 31-year-old Kalidou Koulibaly (£5.5m) has finally departed for the Premier League. This elite centre-back begins Chelsea’s task of filling the huge void left by the departures of Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and possibly Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.0m).
“He brings experience, top defending quality, height, and everything we are looking for to play in a back-three or a back-four. It’s another brilliant signing for us, and we hope Kalidou can show his quality as soon as possible.” – Thomas Tuchel
As head coach Thomas Tuchel suggests, this season could see Chelsea evolve into a back-four team rather than the wing-back system that has brought success to FPL owners of Reece James (£6.0m), Marcos Alonso (£5.5m) and Ben Chilwell (£6.0m).
Like Martinez, Koulibaly is very good with the ball at his feet. The Senegal captain is good at anticipating situations and pulling off interceptions, although gives away a few too many fouls. In attack, he has scored 13 goals over 236 Serie A appearances, at a rate of roughly two per 38 games.
Andreas Pereira (Manchester United to Fulham, £10m)
Over 23% of FPL managers have already committed to Andreas Pereira being their cheap £4.5m midfielder, in the hope that his eye for goal will make him more than the usual two-point appearance machine.
He signed from Manchester United to replace new Liverpool man Fabio Carvalho (£5.5m) and has immediately grabbed set piece duty for the Cottagers.
The Brazilian developed an eye for goal whilst on loan at Flamengo, following past campaigns at Lazio, Valencia and Granada. Seven goals in 31 games made it a productive 12 months for Pereira, which newly-promoted Fulham will need after a frustrating start to the transfer window was worsened by a 5-1 friendly loss to Benfica.
Keane Lewis-Potter (Hull City to Brentford, £20m)
Over recent years, the Championship has been a fertile place for emerging attacking talents ready for Premier League progression. Names like James Maddison (£8.0m), Ollie Watkins (£7.5m), Michael Olise (£5.5m), Eberechi Eze (£5.5m) and James Justin (£4.5m) have made the step up, with Djed Spence (£4.5m) about to do the same.
Brentford have spent £20m on Hull City’s Keane Lewis-Potter (£5.5m) in the hope that he’ll be as successful as their own Ivan Toney (£7.0m) and maybe even Hull’s previous major sale Jarrod Bowen (£8.5m).
It remains to be seen whether Lewis-Potter gets a bedding-in period or immediately takes the place of either Yoane Wissa (£5.5m) or Bryan Mbeumo (£6.0m). The right-footed attacker prefers dribbling inside from the left flank, suggesting that Wissa is in more danger.
Thomas Strakosha (Lazio to Brentford, free)
Despite losing Christian Eriksen, it’s been a productive summer for Brentford. Both Aaron Hickey (£5.0m) and then Lewis-Potter broke their transfer record, alongside the curious free transfer of Albania goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha (£4.5m).
With David Raya (£4.5m) a key part of Brentford’s inaugural Premier League season, he has been a popular name in early FPL drafts for the upcoming campaign.
Yet now there is competition from Lazio’s number one stopper over the last six years. His 208 appearances in Rome have included two Coppa Italia wins, so it’s hard to see Strakosha arriving at Brentford in his 27-year-old prime to simply be back-up.
Raya’s contract situation and the lack of a senior reserve option perhaps forced Brentford’s arm into recruiting someone of a higher calibre than your typical back-up custodian, so it’ll be interesting to monitor the situation in west London over the rest of pre-season and into the first few Gameweeks.
Nathan Collins (Burnley to Wolverhampton Wanderers, £20.5m)
Wolves have splashed out on centre-back Nathan Collins (£4.5m) to replace the departed Romain Saiss, after the Irish international’s strong run during Ben Mee’s absence in the Burnley team.
“We’re getting someone who is physically very good, very tall, very athletic, and is very comfortable on the ball – he can step in and take the ball forward, which is what we need. He’s very good in both boxes and has real aerial strength. He comes across as expected, a humble young man who is appreciative of the opportunity, so we’re all going to be very happy.” – Wolves’ technical director Scott Sellars
The Clarets kept clean sheets in two matches versus Wolves last season and Collins played both times, impressing Bruno Lage enough to spend big.
According to our Season Ticker, Wolves rank first for fixture difficulty in the opening six Gameweeks.
Collins’ arrival dents the appeal of Max Kilman (£4.5m), especially if Wolves do indeed revert to the four-man defence they operated with in the pre-season win over Alaves, as Conor Coady (£5.0m) and Willy Boly (£4.5m) are also in the running for a starting spot.
Lewis O’Brien and Harry Toffolo (Huddersfield Town to Nottingham Forest, joint-£10m)
Less than two months after defeating Huddersfield Town in the play-off final, Nottingham Forest have taken two of their key players for a combined £10m.
In a busy summer, Harry Toffolo (£4.5m) is their second signing for the left wing-back spot following the capture of Omar Richards (£4.5m). The latter has already suffered a hairline fracture of the leg and will miss the season’s early weeks, suggesting Toffolo begins with the shirt.
Rampaging forward, he netted six times for the Terriers last season and therefore offers an attacking threat, although FPL bosses will still likely prefer the cheaper Neco Williams (£4.0m) on the opposite flank.
In central midfield, Lewis O’Brien (£5.0m) is a promising, progressive player but doesn’t score many – just eight from the last three campaigns. He has a similar style of play to James Garner, who totalled four goals and eight assists during last season’s loan at Forest.
Wayne Hennessey (Burnley to Nottingham Forest, undisclosed)
It’s hard to keep up with all of Forest’s new additions but Wayne Hennessey (£4.0m) is undisputedly arriving as back-up to loanee Dean Henderson (£4.5m) and has been priced accordingly.
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