Having covered goalkeepers and defenders, it’s time to look at midfielders ahead of the Allsvenskan season which starts this weekend. Bear in mind that the game weeks come closely, with GW deadlines Sunday – Wednesday – Sunday, meaning we will have a busy schedule and are likely to see some rotation, especially as 5 subs will be allowed. Look out for injury doubts as a week out can result in 3 GWs missed!
Most of the familiar names are still in the league, with only Gudmundur Thorarinson (Norrköping) and Filip Rogic (Örebro) having departed from the 20 highest scoring midfielders last season. We’ll look at four different price brackets in this article: Premiums (9.0+), Upper mid-price (7.5-8.5), Lower mid-price (6.0-7.0) and Budget (4.5-5.5), starting with the Premiums.
Premiums (9.0+)
The most expensive midfielder is Muamer Tankovic (11.0), having had the most points in the game last season with 181. Tankovic had the most goal involvements of all with 14 goals and 9 assists, the most shots in the league and was justifiably many fantasy managers’ captain most weeks. HOWEVER, Tankovic dropped form at the end of the season and his contract expires at the end of the month, whereby it is still uncertain whether he will remain at Hammarby. Perhaps because of that – or simply because his points per 90 minutes was better than Tankovic’s – Alexander Kacaniklic (10.0) is the by far most selected player in the game (45,6%). His 6.93 points per 90 minutes was beaten only by Aslak Witry’s 6.96 last season. With 15 goals and 11 assists in his last 19 competitive games, it will be a dangerous gamble going without the Hammarby winger. Many will double up, or even triple up on Hammarby midfielders which was a viable tactic last year but somewhat more difficult this campaign as Darijan Bojanic (9.5) has seen a 2.5 million price increase after his 148 points last season – stemming from the 3rd most bonus points collected together with 4 goals and 11 assists.
Malmö premium options are, naturally, widely popular with Sören Rieks (9.0), Anders Christiansen (10.0) and Arnor Traustason (9.0) finding their way in as the 4th, 6th and 8th highest scoring midfielders last year. The Malmö players will face fierce competition tough, as Director of Sports Daniel Andersson has made sure to have an even larger squad this year. With the fixtures coming fast, Christiansen should be the most appealing option having had the best points per game last year, and having been appointed the new club captain after Markus Rosenberg, to further highlight that he is probably the first name Jon Dahl Tomason will put on the team sheet.
On-loan West Ham player Sead Haksabanovic (10.0) followed the form of Norrköping and picked up pace in the latter part of last season, which saw him earn the third best points per game ratio of all midfielders (6.63). Despite that, Haksabanovic is owned by less than 10% of the submitted teams as of today, as his loan spell is currently only agreed until the end of June. In that period, Norrköping face both AIK and Djurgården in the first three games.
Speaking of AIK, Seb Larsson (9.0) and Nabil Bahoui (9.0) round off the premium segment of players costing 9.0 or more. Bahoui is a real threat for the opponents on his day, but struggles with a knee injury and should be out for the start of the season. Seb Larsson is looking a more appealing option – his set-piece duties led to 6 goals and 8 assists last season.
Upper mid-price (7.5 – 8.5)
As you will notice later, the budget options are fairly scarce, but we are presented with a large number of options in the mid-price bracket.
Jonathan Ring’s (8.5) 150 points was the second highest by all midfielders and has led to a 1.0m price increase. His 12 clear cut chances was the most by any player together with Kharaisvili, and the end-product of 7 goals and 7 assists played an important part in Djurgården winning their first championship since 2005. As the champions have lost only Buya Turay from their attacking options, we should expect similar returns from Ring this year. Team-mate Fredrik Ulvestad (7.5) came in as the 5th highest scoring midfielder after 5 goals, 3 assists and 33 bonus points. Still fairly cheap, that is a 1.5m price increase and places him on the same level as Astrit Ajdarevic (7.5) who despite normally featuring as a sub registered the 11th most shots in the league last year (of which none found the net). Ajdarevic has been praised by the Djurgården managers ahead of the season and could possibly be an interesting, slightly more attacking Djurgården midfield option if he nails down a regular spot.
Daleho Irandust (8.5) and Hossam Aiesh (8.5) are two interesting players from Gothenburg rivals Häcken and IFK Göteborg. Irandust registered 5.14 points per game last season and after his summer move from Östersund, Aiesh started to find some form that reminded us of the 2018 season in which he registered 14 assists.
A very popular choice is Adel Nalic (7.5), who has returned to Malmö after a successful loan spell at AFC Eskilstuna. Nalic had some struggles with injuries but still managed 5 goals and 3 assists for the relegated side, in only 1672 minutes. Nalic has been featuring heavily in the Malmö pre-season and the Europa League Round of 16 games against Wolfsburg, meaning he should have a fair chance of game time together with far better colleagues than the AFC side that finished bottom of the league.
Those wanting to buy into the Hammarby side that scored 75 goals in 30 games, but struggle for funds, might look at Vladim Rodic (7.5) and Jesper Andersen (7.0) – although new signing Abbe Khalili (7.5) and Junior (7.0) could take game time off the two.
Jonathan Levi (7.5) is a new IFK Norrköping signing from Norwegian powerhouse Rosenborg, although having spent last year on loan at Elfsborg registering 5 goals and 4 assists in 21 games. Looking like a perfect fit for the Norrköping way of playing, the fans will hope for him to replace Simon Skrabb and Kalle Holmberg’s shoes. Alexander Fransson (7.5) might be a more solid route for returns, but Levi probably has the higher ceiling from the Norrköping options.
Lower mid-price (6.0 – 7.0)
Fan-favourite Ebenezer Ofori (7.0) has returned to AIK from New York City FC, although his previous spell in “Gnaget” only resulted in 4 goals in 81 games. His style of play could, however, be very well suited for the bonus point system, as the playmaker has a strong defensive part of his game. A shift to 3-4-3 for AIK has seen Ylätupa (6.5) and Jasir Asani (6.5) featuring regularly as the two wingers in the front 3, scoring 2 respective 3 goals in pre-season. It remains to be seen who plays when the season starts, but whoever nails down the spot could be a worthwhile shout as an attacking out of position mid-price option in a predicted top team.
Another team providing plenty of options is Örebro SK, where Gerzic (6.5), Besara (8.5) and Jake Larsson (7.0) are all interesting options. Gerzic’s 36 bonus points was 4th best in the league last season, in addition to 7 assists. Larsson scored 8 goals and Besara scored 19 in 73 goals for Örebro before leaving for Saudi Arabia and Cyprus.
Max Svensson (7.0) had the 10th most shots on goal last season with 23 from a total of 46 shots. 7 of those found the net, in addition to 3 assists meaning 10 goal involvements in his debut season for Helsingborg.
Batanero (7.0) and Romario (7.0) will provide you solid returns but little explosiveness, whereas Alexander Farnerud (7.0) and Simon Kroon (7.0) provide options for the gamblers. Farnerud is believed to provide support for the Göteborg strikers, meaning he probably isn’t nailed, but has a delicate left foot and can be brilliant on his day. Kroon has scored 3 in pre-season and could provide an interesting option should he keep that form going into the season.
Svante Ingelsson (6.5) is on loan from Udinese to Kalmar and provides an interesting option as he looks to find form again, although he isn’t known for scoring or assisting heavily yet in his career. Sam Lundholm (6.5) broke the 100 point barrier last season but is struggling with a foot injury that might keep him out of action for Sirius at the weekend.
In the lower price range of this bracket, Djurgården captain Jesper Karlström (6.0) scored the most out of all players priced 6.0 or cheaper with 108 points and team-mate Edward Chilufya (6.0) could be an interesting option should he nail down a regular spot. He has shown very encouraging signs when he plays but remains a rotation risk.
Budget (4.5 – 5.5)
To be fair, budget options are fairly limited this year but there are some options who could turn out well.
Many believe in a bright future for Göteborg’s August Erlingmark (5.0) but Yusuf (5.5) might be worth the extra 0.5 as he provided 2 goals and 2 assists in comparison to Erlingmarks lack of goal involvement. Yusuf is the most selected player in this price bracket, featuring in 17% of the squads.
Elfsborg midfielders Simon Olsson (5.5) and Samuel Holmén (5.0) are somewhat regular sources of points with Olsson having registered 2 goals and 6 assists and Holmén 2 goals and 3 assists.
Armin Gigovic (5.0) is rumoured to be on the radar for both Manchester City and Arsenal. Far from that ability today, the 18 year old could very well take Allsvenskan by surprise this year should he remain at Helsingborg.
Isak Jansson (4.5) is the 4.5 option of choice for the Fantasy Allsvenskan managers, selected by 12.6% of the managers after his 2 goals against Jönköping Södra in the Swedish cup and against Örebro in a friendly after that. The 18 year old Jansson seems to have made his spot his to lose having featured from start in all three cup games, and provides us with at least one interesting budget option to start with.
Have you identified any other hidden gems? Which options are you looking at? Comment below, and make sure to join the FFS league using the code v5ajyz!
Hansel
3 years, 9 months ago
Cheers Hansel!
Meltens has already submitted the final part of this preview which I'll look to get up tomorrow. Not long until the restart now!