Sponsored by FanTeam
It’s almost time to pause Fantasy Premier League (FPL) whilst the World Cup takes place. The quadrennial festival of football kicks off on Sunday 20 November and, thankfully, this is where FanTeam steps in with a fantastic World Cup Fantasy game to keep the FPL community occupied.
We at Fantasy Football Scout are thrilled to be partnering with FanTeam, whose main single-entry game costs £5 to buy into but has an enticing minimum prize pool of £50,000 that awards £5,000 to the winner.
For those who like the multiple-entry version of FanTeam, the £20 buy-in alternative allows up to 25 entries per user, boasts a minimum guaranteed prize pool of £100,000 and at least £10,000 for first place.
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PLAYER PRICES
Managers have a £90m budget to pick an 11-man team. A previous article has looked into Gameweek transfers and scoring rules, so let’s pick out some of the headline starting prices.
FORWARDS
No surprise to see Kylian Mbappe (£12.5m) and Harry Kane (£12.0m) as the two most expensive forwards, followed closely by the £11.5m trio of Memphis Depay, Karim Benzema and Lautaro Martinez. All will be expected to go deep into the knockout stages, just like Cristiano Ronaldo (£10.5m).
Meanwhile, some of the world’s elite forwards are cheaper, in line with the lower expectations of their teams. Poland’s Robert Lewandowski (£9.0m) and Wales’ Gareth Bale (£8.0m) immediately come to mind.
Assuming he recovers in time, Richarlison (£10.5m) is expected to lead the line for Brazil but Germany’s Timo Werner (£10.0m) has been ruled out – it’ll be interesting to see if a bargain replaces him up front.
Uruguayan pair Luis Suarez (£9.5m) and Darwin Nunez (£9.0m) are familiar to FPL managers, just like Aleksandar Mitrovic (£8.5m). Neither have straightforward groups, so perhaps it’s time to look lower down to unearth some potential gems.
Ghana are alongside Uruguay in the competitive Group H and newly-naturalised Spaniard Inaki Williams (£6.5m) walks into their starting XI. Then there’s the Iranian pair of Serdar Azmoun (£6.5m) and Mehdi Taremi (£6.0m) who scored ten and seven goals respectively during qualifying.
MIDFIELDERS
What immediately stands out is that Argentina’s Lionel Messi (£12.0m) and Brazil’s Neymar (£13.0m) are listed as midfielders in this game. Affording both alongside a premium forward will be tough but the South American pair are extremely hard to resist given how strong both nations are looking.
Price-wise, the level below them has Kai Havertz at a high £11.0m, then the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling at £10.5m.
Yet the major nations offer great alternatives for when the budget gets tight. Raphinha (£9.5m) saves money on Neymar, whilst England offers Bukayo Saka (£9.5m) and Jude Bellingham (£6.5m) – who is already on nine Borussia Dortmund goals this season. Dani Olmo (£9.5m) looks good too.
A potential bargain could be Jonas Hofmann (£7.0m). He started five of Germany’s six summer Nations League matches, scoring twice. It sounds like he has played himself into Hansi Flick’s first 11.
Elsewhere, the ‘talisman who played for Spurs’ category brings Luka Modric (£9.5m), Christian Eriksen (£9.0m) and Son Heung-min (£8.0m) into consideration, with Premier League fans also aware of Senegal pair Sadio Mane (£8.5m) – if fit – and Ismaila Sarr (£7.5m).
For Serbia, Mitrovic has a superb supply line of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (£7.0m), Dusan Tadic (£8.0m) and Filip Kostic (£7.5m) whilst, in Portugal, the Diogo Jota injury could end up making a bargain out of AC Milan’s Rafael Leao (£9.0m).
DEFENDERS
At the back, four players sit on top with a £7.5m price – including England’s Ben Chilwell and Trent Alexander-Arnold. The former has since been ruled out of the tournament with injury, whilst the latter isn’t sure of his place in the starting line-up.
Marquinhos and Alex Sandro are also priced at £7.5m, with right-back Danilo (£7.0m) slightly cheaper. It’s the same for Kieran Trippier (£7.0m) and Luke Shaw (£7.0m).
For the Netherlands, Denzel Dumfries (£7.0m) was a wing-back revelation at Euro 2020, scoring twice and winning a penalty during his four matches. It’s the same price as France’s Theo Hernandez, with Portugal’s Joao Cancelo slightly less at £6.5m.
As with Cancelo, FPL managers will already be very familiar with the attacking intentions of both Matty Cash (£5.0m) and Timothy Castagne (£6.0m), who play for Poland and perennial dark horses Belgium.
Potential bargains could be found through Alphonso Davies (£5.5m) – who tends to play further upfield for Canada – and Ricardo Rodriguez (£5.5m), part of a Switzerland defence that only conceded twice during qualification.
At a tempting price, Uruguay’s starting right-back should be Damian Suarez (£4.5m).
GOALKEEPERS
Five stoppers are priced at £7.0m, including Nick Pope and Jordan Pickford of England. There is also Brazilian duo Alisson and Ederson, alongside France captain Hugo Lloris.
Amongst the other big nations, the lead goalkeepers are Manuel Neuer (£6.5m), Unai Simon (£6.5m), Emiliano Martinez (£6.5m), Thibaut Courtois (£6.0m) and Diogo Costa (£6.0m).
Beyond that, different qualities are offered by Yann Sommer (£5.5m), Keylor Navas (£4.5m) and Alireza Beinranvand (£4.5m).
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