FPL transfers: The latest new Premier League signings assessed

Our latest Fantasy Premier League (FPL) transfer round-up looks at some more deals from the last few weeks.

The most significant players on the move will be the subject of their own dedicated Scout Report but all the other transfers have been covered in summaries over the summer, continuing with this one.

You’ll find all the major deals in list form on our dedicated Transfers page.

LATEST FPL SCOUT REPORTS

• Marc Cucurella (Brighton and Hove Albion to Chelsea, £60m)
• Mikkel Damsgaard (Sampdoria to Brentford, undisclosed)
• Gianluca Scamacca (Sassuolo to West Ham United, £30.5m)
• Sergio Gomez (Anderlecht to Manchester City, £11m)

FPL TRANSFER ROUND-UP: GOALKEEPERS

There have been a handful of goalkeepers on the move since we brought you our last transfer round-up towards the back-end of July but none of have so far made a Premier League appearance.

The arrival of Alex Smithies (£4.0m) at Leicester City is a significant one, however, as it effectively rubber-stamps Danny Ward (£4.0m) as the Foxes’ number one for the season ahead. Kasper Schmeichel’s departure had thrown up questions about whether the Foxes would recruit in the goalkeeping department but Brendan Rodgers had previously made comments about only signing a ‘number three’ as back-up to Ward and Daniel Iversen (£4.0m), something that has now materialised.

Bournemouth have signed Brazilian goalkeeper Neto (£4.5m) from Barcelona, meanwhile, but the shirt appears to be Mark Travers’ (£4.5m) to lose after he kept his place in Gameweek 2. The once-capped Neto was an understudy at the Catalan giants over the last three years and also at Juventus before that, enjoying a two-season spell as Valencia’s number one in between.

There were suggestions that Bernd Leno (£4.5m) would go straight into the line-up at Fulham following his move from Arsenal but the German was in familiar territory on the opening two weekends, warming the bench for the Cottagers.

Long-term, the plan is likely that Leno replaces Marek Rodak (£4.5m) between the sticks but the Slovak was part of a Fulham side that performed admirably against Liverpool on the opening weekend and then kept a clean sheet a Molineux, so it’s a waiting game for the Germany international at present.

FPL TRANSFER ROUND-UP: DEFENDERS

Conor Coady (£4.9m) made a temporary move to Goodison Park in the last week, which should boost his game-time prospects considerably. One of just two ever-present starters among FPL defenders last season, he was benched in Gameweek 1 as Bruno Lage’s transition from a 3-4-3 to a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 began.

Coady will be in familiar surroundings on his native Merseyside however, with Everton boss Frank Lampard beginning the campaign in the same 3-4-3 set-up that Coady became accustomed to at Wolves. He made a swift Gameweek 2 debut, too, with injuries to Yerry Mina (£4.4m) and Ben Godfrey (£4.4m) leaving the Toffees short at the back.

The England international was the top-scoring £4.5m defender of last season but his price rise hugely limits interest in him for now, with the likes of Kieran Trippier (£5.0m) and Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.0m) available at the same tier. Everton are near the top of the Season Ticker over the next three Gameweeks but the likes of Vitalli Mykolenko (£4.5m) and Nathan Patterson (£4.0m) don’t just offer cheaper routes into their defence but more attacking threat from open play, too.

Ruben Vinagre (£4.5m) has also moved to Goodison Park but would appear to be back-up for Mykolenko for the time being.

The exit of Marc Cucurella (£5.0m) has been well documented but Brighton and Hove Albion were also at the centre of two more early-August moves, both of them involving centre-half loans.

Teenage stopper Levi Colwill (£4.5m) arrives from Chelsea, where he hasn’t yet made a single senior appearance. We’re relying on word-of-mouth potential and a promising loan spell at Huddersfield Town for a kneejerk assessment of Colwill, then, although he’s a ‘watch and wait’ case anyway as begins life at the Amex as back-up to Joel Veltman, Adam Webster and Lewis Dunk (£4.5m).

“I am really looking forward to working with him on the training pitch, and in matches over the course of the season. He plays mostly at centre-back, but has also played on the left as a full-back, and he is a player who is comfortable on the ball.” – Graham Potter on Levi Colwill

Shane Duffy (£4.5m) is no longer part of that Seagulls pecking order at the back as he has swapped Brighton for Fulham, where he was on the bench in Gameweeks 1 and 2.

Representatives of the Cottagers’ porous-looking backline are way off the FPL radar at present, especially with the fixtures, but the aerially dominant Duffy – scorer of five goals when he was last a regular at Albion in 2018/19 – would be a nice target for the corner-taking Andreas Pereira (£4.5m) should the Irish centre-back nail down a starting spot.

Marco Silva has also added Kevin Mbabu (£4.5m) to his roster: the right-back was back-up to Kenny Tete (£4.5m) at the weekend and wouldn’t seem likely to displace him in the short term after a fine opening-day display against Liverpool.

“He is a very attack-minded player, likes to get forward on the wings and has good pace and acceleration. That is what you notice about him immediately. He works hard, is very determined and is a good tackler. He also has an aggressive streak to his game that can be viewed as a good or bad thing, but he isn’t half-hearted in anything he does. Has a good engine and level of stamina.” – Swiss football writer Craig King on Kevin Mbabu

Issa Diop (£4.5m) has meanwhile traded West Ham for west London and like Duffy looks set to put Tim Ream (£4.5m) and Tosin Adarabioyo (£4.5m) under significant pressure. Again, from a Fantasy perspective, Diop is an FPL no-go given the more attractive alternatives elsewhere at this price, Fulham’s fixtures and his lack of guaranteed game-time.

Ben Mee‘s (£4.5m) arrival at Brentford is an interesting prospect, with positional rival Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m) out injured for the foreseeable future, the Bees enjoying some favourable fixtures in the medium term and Mee posing a bit of goal threat from set plays.

HIs debut against Leicester was a bit of a mixed bag, it has to be said: hooked after 58 minutes, the ageing Mee saw the more ball-playing Vitaly Janelt (£5.5m) move to his left-sided centre-half spot and manager Thomas Frank switch formation to a 3-4-3. The Bees subsequently came back from 2-0 down to steal a point.

But Mee was back in the starting XI a week later and bagged a goal and clean sheet against sorry Manchester United.

Crystal Palace’s dismal opening fixture run gives us plenty of time to assess Chris Richards (£4.5m), meanwhile.

The centre-half, who has arrived from Bayern Munich, was named on the bench in Gameweeks 1 and 2 and may initially struggle to break the Guehi-Andersen partnership in what was one of the more settled backlines of 2021/22. Even when Vieira named a five-man backline on Monday, the American stopper wasn’t thrown into the deep end at Anfield. Richards is also an option at right-back, however, and there is a sense that the two thirtysomething options that Vieira has at his disposal – Joel Ward (£4.5m) and Nathaniel Clyne (£4.5m) – could be improved upon.

Nine shots in 19 loan appearances for Hoffenheim last season doesn’t hint at attacking returns aplenty, so Richards does appear to be in the Guehi/Anderson envelope.

Bournemouth’s capture of Marcos Senesi (£4.5m) is quite a coup for the Cherries, with the centre-back joining from last year’s UEFA Europa Conference League finalists Feyenoord. The Argentina international, who will either take Chris Mepham’s (£4.5m) place or allow makeshift stopper Jefferson Lerma (£5.0m) to move back into midfield, isn’t likely to be anywhere near Fantasy managers’ teams this season but it’s worth highlighting that Scott Parker is mimicking what he did with Fulham’s backline in 2020/21 (a move to a three at the back, a defence-first approach and some astute centre-half signings) and the defensive success he had for a large chunk of that campaign.

FPL TRANSFER ROUND-UP: CENTRAL/DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS

Amadou Onana‘s (£5.0m) starting price betrays his playing style. The £33m new Everton signing is a defensive midfielder who scored just one goal in 32 league appearances last season (21 of which were as a substitute, admittedly), averaging just one shot every 90 minutes.

He did show quite a bit of attacking intent in a brief cameo in Gameweek 2, however, setting up Everton’s consolation.

The Toffees were short of central midfield options to the point of playing Alex Iwobi (£5.5m) in the engine room in Gameweeks 1 and 2, while the form of Allan (£5.0m) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.5m) has tailed off noticeably since their initial successes in the blue of Everton.

Tackling appears to be a strong suit of Onana, while national team boss Roberto Sanchez described him as one of Europe’s top prospects – although also highlighted the fact that he very rarely lasted 90 minutes at Lille last season, so the physicality and stamina levels required for the Premier League might be lacking initially.

“I think I can play every position in centre midfield, whether that’s as a holding midfielder or a box-to-box as a number eight. That said, wherever the manager needs me, I will play there.” – Amadou Onana

New Nottingham Forest acquisition Orel Mangala (£5.0m) is cut from the same cloth as Onana, if not quite as highly rated as his compatriot.

Mangala scored precisely one goal in each of the last three seasons at Stuttgart; again, “box-to-box midfielder” seems to be the best that we can hope for and he’ll be situated in one of the two deeper midfield roles in Steve Cooper’s 3-4-1-2.

We can file fellow Forest recruits Remo Freuler (£5.0m) and Cheikhou Kouyate (£4.5m) in a similar category, FPL-wise. Kouyate looks like being back-up in the engine room and potentially at centre-half, where he occasionally played for Palace and often for his country, but Freuler is a headline-grabbing capture from Atalanta.

A regular starter at a side competing not just at the top end of Serie A but also in the Champions League, Freuler is also very experienced on the international stage.

But an FPL asset he ain’t: he’s averaged around four attacking returns per season in the last four years, while he only had a shot in the box once every 340 minutes in 2021/22.

“Remo isn’t especially athletic, but he is the brains of Atalanta. He covers everyone, recovers balls, tackles, and – most importantly – builds play from behind. His pass completion ratio is very high. He is the conductor of the orchestra.” Il Giorno correspondent Fabrizio Carcano

We won’t waste too many column inches on central midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka (£4.5m) just yet, despite his burgeoning reputation as one of English football’s top prospects. The teenager’s move to Chelsea from Aston Villa was widely discussed but his immediate game-time prospects are very likely no better than they were in the Midlands, where he made just two Premier League starts and a further 12 substitute appearances.

FPL TRANSFER ROUND-UP: ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS

Bournemouth’s Marcus Tavernier (£5.0m) could belong in the category above, having previously played in central midfield for Middlesbrough – as well as in every attacking midfield position and even at wing-back. Even boss Scott Parker didn’t know his best position after signing the player.

The versatile 23-year-old has been given a bit of attacking license in the opening two Gameweeks, not just handed free-kicks and corners but also operating as quite an advanced right-sided midfielder.

We can’t take much away from a thumping at the Etihad but he impressed in Gameweek 1, creating a game-high three chances.

“I thought he was superb. I thought he was brilliant. He’s only been in the building for a week. I was half and half whether to play him today, because obviously he’s not been in for a long time.

“But in a short space of time he’s showed his qualities and his attributes, what he is going to bring to this team. I think you see that today. Set plays of course, some lovely deliveries and then his general play as well. A real threat for us on the counters at times. Powerful, technical. I was pleased for him really.” – Scott Parker on Marcus Tavenier’s Gameweek 1 debut

Tavernier delivered a modest five goals and five assists in 44 Championship appearances for Boro last season.

Two wingers on the books of Burnley in 2021/22 have rejoined us in the Premier League.

Dwight McNeil (£5.5m) certainly hit the ground running with two goals on his Everton debut in pre-season but let’s not forget that he managed just one attacking return in the whole of last season and he has never hit double figures for goals and assists combined in a single campaign.

In 2021/22, he took 52 shots without scoring once.

He’s lasted an hour in each of his first two starts this season without looking like much threat but perhaps the time to judge will be when the Toffees actually have a bona fide striker up front for him to feed, as they have looked toothless in a ‘false nine’ set-up in 2022/23 to date.

McNeil was actually second among all FPL midfielders for crosses last season, so he’s perhaps missing a targetman as much as Frank Lampard at present.

“I know last season my stats for my position were really low and obviously coming here it is something to improve on. I think the manager can help me impact games more this season and that’s what I want to do… He played the game at such a high level and you can see what he achieved throughout his career. I’ve spoken to him about what he wants from me. His compliments were obviously nice to hear but he also spoke about areas where I need to improve.” – Dwight McNeil

Maxwel Cornet (£6.0m) is a more exciting-looking prospect at West Ham United, if he can banish the fitness issues of last season.

When he was on the pitch, he kept some fine company, scoring nine goals in under 1800 minutes of football despite playing for a Championship-bound Burnley.

Above: FPL midfielders sorted by goals per 90 minutes in 2021/22 (min: 10 apps)

An average of 2.4 shots per match is also almost exactly what new teammate Jarrod Bowen (£8.5m) recorded.

Getting into the West Ham side is the first task, as he was on the bench for the Hammers’ Gameweek 2 defeat at Forest.

West Ham’s fixtures don’t really appeal until Gameweek 8 anyway, so we’ve got time to assess not just his game-time prospects, fitness and rotation risk (David Moyes’s troops are in Europa Conference League action from this week onwards) but also where his manager intends to play him, as he was handed an ‘out of position’ tag by Sean Dyche at points last season.

Goncalo Guedes (£6.0m) has joined the ever-growing band of Portuguese players at Molineux, making his debut as a substitute in Saturday’s goalless draw with Fulham.

Mostly a winger in his early days at Valencia but increasingly used down the middle, his versatility and ability to play as a striker was an obvious draw for a Wolves side not only lacking goals but also an orthodox forward while Raul Jimenez (£6.9m) remains sidelined.

 “I think he can give us solutions to be as a winger or a striker. It’s so important. With five subs, to have these players who can do several things and understand more than one system, it’s easier for us to change the dynamic of the game.” – Bruno Lage on Goncalo Guedes

“He’s strong and his physicality will suit the league. He has goals and his shot is unbelievable. So I think he will be a great addition to the squad.” – Ruben Neves on Goncalo Guedes

Guedes scored 11 La Liga goals and assisted a further six last season, with over half of his 69 shots coming from outside the box – underscoring not just the fact that he will occasionally be operating from midfield but also his Neves-like love of a screamer from distance.

The issue with Wolves’ FPL assets is that they now sit bottom of our Season Ticker for fixture difficulty from now until the international break, facing three of last season’s top four and a defensively sound Newcastle United side in the next six Gameweeks.

FPL TRANSFER ROUND-UP: FORWARDS

One of only two forwards featured in this round-up is Sekou Mara (£5.5m), who has joined Southampton from Bordeaux. A torrid debut in pre-season had the kneejerk brigade sharpening their knives, with even manager Ralph Hasenhuttl admitting that the youngster would “need time” to adjust to life in the Premier League.

Barely out of his teens, he’s also only made 10 league starts in his entire career.

But Mara impressed as a substitute in Gameweek 2 and provided a sumptuous assist in the comeback draw against Leeds. He hit the goal trail with five strikes in little more than 350 minutes of pitch-time at the tail-end of 2021/22 (in a relegated side, too), so he’s one to monitor in a budget FPL forward pool not exactly brimming with talent.

Where else could we end but with the return of an old Fantasy friend/foe, Emmanuel Dennis (£6.0m).

The Nigerian hit 10 goals and assisted a further seven in Watford’s relegation campaign, a very decent return from a £5.0m starting price despite the bad memories of a Double Gameweek red card and the 14 blanks in his final 17 appearances.

The problem now, of course, is that he’s more expensive and competing with Taiwo Awoniyi (£5.9m), Brennan Johnson (£6.0m), Sam Surridge (£5.0m) and maybe even Neal Maupay (£6.4m) for two starting spots at Forest.

Any kind of stats analysis may amuse former owners and non-owners alike: he was frequently overlooked in some quarters because of his poor underlying numbers (a minutes per xGI of 260.8 was one of the worst among FPL forwards in 2021/22) but continued to deliver regardless in the first half of the campaign.

That freakish overachievement wasn’t sustainable, however, and his modest returns in 2022 were more in keeping with his relatively poor shot/chance creation stats.

Above: Emmanuel Dennis’s xGI figures in Gameweeks 1-20 (left) and Gameweeks 21-38 (right) of 2021/22