FPL transfer round-up: Baleba, Castagne + more

Our latest Fantasy Premier League (FPL) transfer round-up looks at the late deals that took place before the chaos of Friday’s deadline day.

More specifically, we’ll ask what each transfer means from an FPL perspective. The most significant moves will bring their own dedicated Scout Report but all others will be covered in these summaries.

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

LATEST FPL SCOUT REPORTS

• Transfer deadline day: The new FPL arrivals assessed
• Mohammed Kudus (Ajax to West Ham United, £38m)
• Jeremy Doku (Rennes to Manchester City, £55.4m)

FPL TRANSFER ROUND-UP

Carlos Baleba (Lille to Brighton and Hove Albion, £23.2m)

Next up for Brighton and Hove Albion’s talent machine is 19-year-old midfielder Carlos Baleba (£4.5m). He comes in to replace Moises Caicedo (£4.9m), who himself was the young unknown brought in to succeed Yves Bissouma (£5.0m).

By now, faith is so high in the Seagulls’ forward planning that great things are already assumed of the Cameroonian, despite completing just 531 minutes of league football. Furthermore, he’s only started six Ligue 1 games for Lille, the first of which was in January.

Using WhoScored and various reports on the player, we see he’s a hard-working ball-carrier who resembles Bissouma more than Caicedo. He replicates the Spurs midfielder’s route from Africa to Lille to Brighton.

“He has the potential to be whatever he wants to be. In his brief time at Lille, he’s played as a defensive midfielder, in the box-to-box role, and even last season, against Marseille as a centre forward. Right now, his strengths are his speed, aggression, desire to chase down the ball and put in 100% for his team. At the end of last season, he was utilised as a forward as manager Paulo Fonseca tried to stop Marseille from passing out from the back.

“Yves Bissouma is the most obvious player he is most similar to. I’d say they have a lot of similarities, but Carlos looks a tad more agile in possession.” – football journalist Andrew Gibney

As expected, his inexperience currently highlights a few flaws in this game. A bit too one-footed, Baleba’s 531 league minutes have already brought three yellow cards and a sending-off. Goalless with two assists, his eventual integration into Roberto De Zerbi’s line-up isn’t expected to have an FPL impact.

Timothy Castagne (Leicester City to Fulham, undisclosed)

Meanwhile, Fulham have added a full-back with Premier League, Serie A and Champions League experience. Timothy Castagne (£4.5m) arrives from relegated Leicester City to compete with Kenny Tete (£4.5m) at right-back but we’ve seen him at left-back on several occasions.

Attack-minded, Castagne delivered two goals and four assists in both 2022/23 and 2020/21. Only six defenders created more big chances than him last season (see above).

The Belgian international has already played his first minutes for the Cottagers thanks to 17 minutes in Gameweek 4. Their next four fixtures include home meetings with Luton Town and Sheffield United. He’ll have some appeal should Marco Silva comment on his first XI.

Luke Thomas (Leicester City to Sheffield United, loan)

Another Leicester full-back to make a late move is England Under-21 youngster Luke Thomas (£4.0m). He came on against Everton at the weekend but is expected to be Sheffield United’s first-choice left wing-back now that Max Lowe (£4.4m) and Ben Osborn (£4.9m) have picked up injuries.

“Luke has come in to play, he’ll be involved at the weekend. Lowey and Ben are going to be a while.” – Paul Heckingbottom

Upcoming fixtures are unattractive for the Blades but, like George Baldock (£4.0m), Thomas offers attacking width for the lowest starting price around. He scored his first Premier League goal in May 2021, helping Leicester win away at Manchester United, before starting several days later in their FA Cup final victory.

Santiago Bueno (Girona to Wolverhampton Wanderers, £8.5m)

Enso Gonzalez (Libertad to Wolverhampton Wanderers, £10m)

Alongside the deadline day arrivals of Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and loanee Tommy Doyle (£4.4m), Wolverhampton Wanderers have secured the signings of Santiago Bueno (£4.5m) and Enso Gonzalez (£5.0m).

The former is a 24-year-old Uruguayan international brought in to replace Nathan Collins (£4.5m) at centre-back. No relation to new team-mate Hugo Bueno (£4.5m), Santiago brings height to Wolves’ back line, having bagged four goals and five assists during his 102 Girona appearances.

“We were one centre-back short, so now we think in that group of four we’ve got a little bit of everything so we’re really happy. His personality is one we look for in a player – driven, hungry, hardworking and humble, but with a bit of an edge and can play.

“He’s a perfect fit for what we’ve been looking for. He’s six foot four inches and aggressive, as you’d expect from a Uruguayan centre-back, but he can play too. He’ll be our second youngest centre back, so is also one for the future, whilst being ready to go now.” – Sporting Director Matt Hobbs

FPL managers looking to Wildcard in Gameweek 9 could be interested in Wolves’ fixtures, although it sounds like Bueno will begin as a backup.

As for Enso Gonzalez, perhaps they’re looking to replicate the success of Brighton’s Julio Enciso (£5.3m). Both have arrived young from Paraguayan side Libertad.

OTHER TRANSFERS

Bristol City thought they’d pulled off a huge coup when signing Han-Noah Massengo (£5.0m) from Monaco in 2019. Aged 18 at the time, he was the first person born in the 21st century to play in the Champions League and was a highly-regarded youngster.

However, the midfielder never quite found consistency in the Championship. Once Massengo made it clear that he wouldn’t renew his expiring contract, Nigel Pearson banished him to the reserves in October and eventually loaned him out to Auxerre for the final months of his contract. Now 22, Burnley have snapped him up for free.

Elsewhere, amongst Nottingham Forest’s many late deals was £15m centre-back Murillo (£4.5m). It further increases their Brazilian contingent, this time capturing a ball-playing defender who only made his Corinthians league debut in April.

And another Fulham transfer is German goalkeeper Steven Benda (£4.0m). The £1m transfer has little FPL significance, considering he’ll be behind Bernd Leno (£4.5m) once he recovers from a serious knee injury.

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