The build up to the new season is the most exciting part of the year for Fantasy Football addicts as we welcome new faces from far off lands to the Premier League to propel our squads to glory.
Then after a few Gameweeks reality kicks in and those fresh faces, who brought so much promise with them through the arrivals lounge, turn out to be flops, leaving our dreams and season in tatters. But are new recruits from abroad really that bad an investment for Fantasy managers?
Let’s take a look at the 2015/16 season for evidence. In this season just 15 of the new signings into the Premier League scored more than 100 points in standard FPL scoring.
Now you might be thinking that actually that’s not all that bad. But let’s also consider some further evidence from last season.
 – Only seven of those players featured among the top 120 FPL points scorers. That’s just 7.5% of new recruits.Â
Should we take a risk on these expensive new faces?
Arguably not. A far better group of players to consider is those that have had at least one Premier League season to get used to the English top flight. Last season proved the merits of this tactic with Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez as well as Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin and Christian Eriksen of Tottenham all excelling after building up their Premier League experience the season before. This may not be the sexiest of strategies but it does give you a better chance of starting well.
Another group that is better for investment is those players that have been firmly established in a promoted Championship side.  You are far better off picking from the newly promoted teams, with Watford’s Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney as well as Bournemouth stalwarts Matt Ritchie and Charlie Daniels all scoring in excess of 120 points in their first Premier League season.
Last year’s rare successes
So, I know you’re only half reading this and you’re really trying to work out who those seven successes from foreign leagues were aren’t you? Let me put you out of your misery:
1.  Andre Ayew – 171 points
1.  Dimitri Payet – 171 points
3. Georginio Wijnaldum – 170 points
4. Roberto Firminio – 155 points
5. Anthony Martial – 141 points
6. Kevin de Bruyne – 131 points
7. Virgil Van Dijk – 130 points
Last year’s flops
So how about those new signings from abroad that failed to feature amongst 2015/16’s top 120?
Chelsea proved a happy hunting ground for foreign flops, with £17m signing Baba Rahman and Pedro failing to live up to expectations.  Ramiro Funes Mori and Gerard Deulofeu of Everton gave some great performances, but too often succumbed to rotation or injury.
Meanwhile in Manchester, City’s Nicolas Ottamendi may have cost £33m but that didn’t buy him one of 120 seats at FPL’s top table.
Who can forget the disaster that was Memphis Depay at United? Nearly £35m in total was spent by the Red Devils on Depay and Sebastian Schweinsteiger for almost no return whatsoever in terms of FPL points – they actually only just manage 100 points between them. Matteo Darmian proved to be another newbie to blot Manchester United’s copybook.
Other’s include Newcastle’s Florian Thauvin and Aleksandar Mitrovic at Newcastle, while Spur’s new faces Son (who cost an eye watering £22m) and Clinton N’Jie offer two more names for the dustbin of history.  The list is quite long, and we have barely touched the surface.
The simple fact is, that for the first few weeks it is a far less risky strategy to pick players with experience in the Premier League or at least have already got a year of English football in the Championship under their belt.
Conclusion
With the ability in FPL to transfer in players that improve as the season goes on we can afford to be patient with the Premier League’s new recruits to see how they settle at their new clubs. Some may take a whole season to improve, while others, such as Roberto Firmino only need nine Gameweeks to get going, with the bulk of his impressive tally of 155 FPL points coming in the final 29 Gameweeks.
Now, after saying all that I’m thinking of picking Manchester United’s new face Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has zero minutes of competitive action for an English side under his belt, for my Gameweek 1 squad. What could possibly go wrong?
