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So here we are – the first day of these European Championships. A summer of football is about to get underway, with a free, no-deposit FanTeam ‘Beat the Pundits League’ offering prizes.
Having picked out players who are cheaper than in the official Fantasy game, plus those ideally suited to its slightly different scoring system, it’s time to see if our final FFScout Team has changed since Tuesday.
As a reminder, every manager who finishes ahead of this squad will receive a free month of our Premium Membership.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW
Alongside the main cash-entry game, this free FanTeam league invites 5,000 managers to win a bunch of exciting prizes.
Not only are Scout Premium Memberships up for grabs but the top 160 will share £2,000 (as seen above). And you’re all invited to defeat some well-known FPL content creators, too.
Simply follow this link and enter the password: pundits2024
You can then pick a 15-man squad that fits within the £100m budget. There are seven Gameweeks and each deadline goes right up until the first kick-off but decisions can’t be tweaked afterwards.
Each manager gets one Wildcard to use. Points are similar to FPL, except slight tweaks for instances like saves, shots on target and giving away decisive fouls.
CLICK HERE FOR FANTEAM AND ‘BEAT THE PUNDITS’
SCOUT TEAM: FINAL DRAFT
One thing that hasn’t changed in this draft is the light substitutes bench. Knowing there can’t be mid-Gameweek switches in personnel or captaincy, this allows the budget to focus on our starting XI.
And with the chip situation being different to the tournament’s official game – where there are effectively two Wildcards plus Limitless for only seven rounds – ‘Beat the Pundits’ requires thinking beyond the first set of fixtures.
Five changes have been made to the previous squad, headlined by the removal of Harry Kane (£11.0m). His 16 attempts during qualifying were surprisingly low and – although he scored 50% of them – we felt that his sacrificing could bring multiple benefits elsewhere.
Instead, Gianluca Scamacca (£6.0m) is up front. Picked out as someone cheaper than in the official game, the former West Ham United man should start against Albania despite just one goal from 16 Italian caps.
There’ll still be an England attacker though – Jude Bellingham (£8.5m) replaces Scott McTominay (£6.5m) in midfield. Bellingham is also one million cheaper here and had a great debut season at Real Madrid, netting 23 times.
Forfeiting Kane then enables Florian Wirtz (£7.5m) to be our German midfielder, rather than Ilkay Gundogan (£6.0m). It’s simply hard to ignore the youngster’s 18 goals and 20 assists that took Bayer Leverkusen to the verge of three trophies.
The other two amendments are in defence. Doubling up on Jordan Pickford (£6.0m) and Marc Guehi (£5.5m) felt excessive, with a shock Iceland defeat highlighting England’s weaknesses. However, it’s a backline that conceded fewer attempts (39) and shots on target (nine) than all other nations throughout qualifying, so let’s keep Pickford and move Guehi to attacking wing-back Federico Dimarco (£6.0m).
A tougher call was to lose Virgil van Dijk (£5.5m). The centre-back scored in the Netherlands’ latest two friendlies and is seemingly on penalty duties too – his selection was almost a no-brainer. Yet we still think Joao Cancelo (£6.5m) is an upgrade. He ranked as the best defender in qualification for goals (three) and shots on target (nine), the latter of which will soon be rewarded with 0.6 points each time.
In fact, getting Portugal coverage feels essential, considering they won all 10 games and were the team with the most goals (36) and fewest conceded (two). So we’re keeping in-form Bruno Fernandes (£9.5m), as he scored six, assisted seven and created a high of 37 chances.
They have a favourable group, as do Belgium. Romelu Lukaku’s (£10.0m) incredible 14 goals came in just eight appearances, making him an easy pick.
It’s not quite as straightforward for injury concern Kylian Mbappe (£11.5m). Arguably the world’s best player, he accumulated the most penalty area touches (85) and second-most shots (38) during qualifiers. He’s one of those rare regularly starting forwards that never get taken off, something rewarded with an extra FanTeam point.
Furthermore, the French superstar bagged a brace in both qualifiers against the Netherlands, who they face again in Gameweek 2. But if he’s not passed fit for the first match, that spot could go to Kane or Cristiano Ronaldo (£10.5m).
Playmaker Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.0m) played every single minute of Hungary’s eight matches and dominated their set-pieces. Meanwhile, we think there’s value in Mykola Matviienko (£4.5m) as it’s a fairly even-looking Group E.
CLICK HERE FOR FANTEAM AND ‘BEAT THE PUNDITS’
FURTHER DETAILS
It’s free for verified FanTeam account holders aged 18 or older, limited to one entry per person. No deposit is required. However, new users who do put money into their account and then enter any Fantasy cash game will also qualify for a free £10 ticket into the main contest that boasts a £175k prize pool.
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