Scout Reports

What impact will Semedo have on Wolves FPL assets this season?

Nelson Semedo‘s (£5.5m) arrival in the Premier League is likely to have an impact on several different areas of Wolves’ squad this season.

The highly-regarded right-back joins the Molineux side from Barcelona in the wake of Matt Doherty‘s (£6.0m) departure to Spurs.

As a result, Fantasy Premier League managers are likely to have some questions about his role at Wolves. Will Semedo become a viable asset on his own? Can he improve the club’s attacking threat? Will his arrival impinge on the Fantasy credentials of any other options? We have taken a closer look.

The History and Statistics

The fact that Semedo arrives at Molineux as something of a coup-signing tells you much of what you need to know about his pedigree.

In three years at Barcelona, the 26-year-old has won four major trophies, including two La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey and another Supercopa de España.

“It isn’t often that we have the opportunity to sign a world-class player from a world-class club. Nelson’s signing shows we will never stop progressing and we are still hungry and humble in our heart.” – Jeff Shi

Semedo has hardly been a bit-part player either, making 82 league appearances for the Catalan giants since the start of 2017/18.

2019/20 was when the Portuguese international was most useful to Barcelona, appearing 42 times in all competitions and providing six assists.

As well as regularly turning out for Barcelona in La Liga, Semedo has plenty of Champions League experience too. Over the last three seasons, he made a minimum of seven appearances in that competition, playing ten times in 2018/19 when Barcelona made it to the semi-finals.

Semedo’s rise to Barcelona’s first-team occurred quickly. He spent the 2011/12 season in Portugal’s Terceira Divisão for Sintrense, joining Benfica in 2013/14.

After a couple of seasons in their B-side, he broke into the first team in 2015/16, making 12 Primeira Liga appearances, scoring once.

Then a full campaign as the first-choice right-back for Benfica in 2016/17 saw Semedo turn out 31 times in the league, adding a goal and six assists.

He also made eight Champions League appearances for the Portuguese side that year, finding the net once too – all enough to capture Barcelona’s attention.

Across his time with those two major European clubs, Semedo has displayed powerful pace, allowing him to cover plenty of ground either as a traditional full-back or a flying wing-back.

Combined with excellent dribbling skills, Semedo is known for his ability to move possession up the field with his driving runs, but is also capable of progressing it through the use of his passing.

During his time at Barcelona, Semedo has shown an eye for a killer pass, although these are usually of the shorter kind. In contrast to a Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m), Semedo is less likely to be firing in sweeping crosses than getting involved in more intricate pieces of passing play. 

Meanwhile, experience at the highest level in Spain and Europe has instilled positive mental attributes in the player too. 

He has now made 13 international appearances for Portugal, so has already had the chance to train and play competitively with a large handful of his new Wolves colleagues.

But what does all this mean for Semedo in comparison with the rest of his new defensive colleagues? We need to look at some comparisons to find out.

Comparisons

2019-20Mins per shotMins per shot in the boxMins per shot on targetMins per key pass
Boly395.8395.8659.7282.7
CoadyN/AN/AN/A684
Doherty81.186.1189.3135.2
Jonny160.6262.7578125.7
Marcal208N/A83269.3
Saïss112.8150.3338.3225.5
Semedo262.1419.41048.5174.8
Vinagre129.2129.2N/A161.5

The Prospects

The first thing that the comparisons tell us is that Semedo will probably have to work very hard to provide the same level of attacking threat Doherty offered during his time at Wolves.

The Spurs wing-back was involved in 12 of Wolves’ league goals last season, while Semedo scored just once and put up two assists in one of the continent’s biggest and best teams.

That output appears to be consistent with the player’s underlying statistics too. In 2019/20, Doherty had the best figures for minutes per shot (81.1), minutes per shot in the box (86.1) and minutes per shot on target (189.3).

When it came to the frequency of shots, Romain Saïss (£5.1m), Ruben Vinagre (£4.4m), Jonny (£5.5m), Marçal (£5.0m) and Willy Boly (£5.5m) all performed better than Semedo last season.

While neither one of Marçal or Conor Coady (£5.0m) managed a single shot in the box in 2019/20, Vinagre, Saïss, Jonny and Boly all registered efforts there more frequently than Wolves’ new right-back – and each of them, other than Vinagre, more regularly saw their shots land on target.

Meanwhile, Semedo’s rate of creativity was not particularly strong compared to his new team-mates.

Marçal played a key pass every 69.3 minutes last season, while Vinagre and Jonny both did better than Semedo in this department. And for anyone wondering if the new signing can be the new Doherty, the latter also had a better figure for minutes per key pass (135.2) than his replacement (174.8).

Naturally, these figures are somewhat underwhelming, especially for someone who turned out for such a high-end club in a division that arguably has a lower overall quality of opponents.

However, there may be mitigating circumstances in terms of formations played and team-mates. The full-backs in Wolves’ 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 systems usually get to spend more time around the final third than those in a 4-2-3-1, the formation preferred at Barcelona.

And, paying no disrespect to Wolves, it was probably harder to be heavily involved in key areas when sharing the pitch with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez than it might be in a more advanced roles with less big-name players.

But those factors, in and of themselves, could play a part in Semedo’s integration into the Wolves team. The player should fit nicely into the all-action role quickly given his pace, but it could still be something of a waiting game for anyone interested in his Fantasy signature. After all, it is hard to know exactly how Nuno will use Semedo this season. For example, for all the intrigue surrounding Marçal’s arrival, he played an exceptionally deep role in the 2-0 win at Sheffield United.

Saïss delivers on Project Restart promise as Jiménez returns to his FPL best

Considering centre-back Saïss offered an encouraging amount of threat in the final third and penalty box last season, and at the start of this, for a cheaper price, Semedo will have to improve his underlying numbers and make a seriously explosive start to life at Wolves to pull Fantasy interest away from the Moroccan international.

Furthermore, Nuno’s next press conference carries serious Fantasy significance. If Marçal is ruled out for a particularly long-term period, then Vinagre becomes an exceptionally promising value option on the opposite flank to Semedo.

As you can see from the charts above, Vinagre outperformed his compatriot in each of the four key areas considered other than minutes per shot on target last season.

However, Semedo’s Fantasy impact is not limited to Wolves’ defensive assets. His arrival is expected to heat-up competition for places further up the pitch.

Adama Traoré (£6.5m) has been filling in for Doherty in the initial Premier League matches of the season, used in the right wing-back role of a 3-4-3 formation.

That has allowed Daniel Podence (£5.6m) and Pedro Neto (£5.5m) mostly unrivalled access to starting berths either side of Raúl Jiménez (£8.5m) in the front-three, while Vitinha (£5.0m) has, for the most part, contributed as an impact substitute.

The addition of Semedo to the Wolves squad should relieve Traoré of his wing-back duties very soon and shift him back into competition with Podence, Neto and Vitinha further up the field.

That might be of some slight concern to the 260,000+ managers who signed Podence ahead of the Gameweek 3 deadline. Wolves’ number 10 has probably done enough to start the trip to West Ham on merit, but Neto has been no slouch so far this season.

While Podence still looks like a good option in the short-term, some examination of how Traoré compares to him, Neto and Vitinha in Nuno’s mind may be needed to find out of the former Olympiacos man can retain his Fantasy appeal over a longer period.

791 Comments Post a Comment
  1. DAZZ
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Is James nailed for Chelsea? See a lot of WC goinf with him. Im currently on this WC, thoughts?

    Martinez
    TAA Saiss James Taylor
    Salah KDB Son Podence
    Werner Jiminez
    (Steer, Mitchell, Bissouma, Brewster)

  2. Where dahoud at
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Martial to jimenez

    Grealish to greenwood or can de beek

    For - 4?????

    1. Breaking FPL
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Not worth a -4. Just do Martial to Jimenez

  3. New Article Posted
  4. Gazpilicueta
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Wildcard team, any thoughts appreciated.

    Guiata (4.0)
    Robertson, Saiss, James, Lamptey, Justin
    Salah, KDB, Hamez, Foden, Podence
    Jimenez, DCL, Bamford

    0.5 in the bank.
    would love to hear what you like/dont like. cheers people.

    1. JoeJitzu +42
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Looks very good but just watch out for benching headache and sometimes getting it wrong?!

    2. Scotters333
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      I'd downgrade Foden to bench fodder and upgrade Bamford or Podence

  5. wulfrunian
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    And something i didn't expect.I might sell Son.

  6. Uns95
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Best 7m midfield option? Deciding between Mount, Barnes and Zaha (but open to other options?).

    Current think is Mount this week v W Brom and then move him on for Barnes for his upcoming fixtures post City.

    Team below:

    McCarthy
    VVD Saiss Digne
    Salah KDB Son Mount Podence
    DCL Jimenez

    Steer KWP Mitchell Brewster

    1. ritzyd
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Consider Grealish

    2. Old and Slow
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Would personally take Foden over Mount... Of course so soon as I day that, Pep will sit him for 3 weeks straight

  7. Kodap
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Bottomed:

    On a WC... how would you finish this?

    Martinez (Steer)
    Trent - Semedo - Taylor (Lamptey & Mitchell)
    Salah - KDB - Podence - x - x
    Werner - DCL - x

    1. Jiminez, Foden & Alzate
    2. Brewster, Son & Klich

    1. Purse83
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      My WC team is almost identical - just can’t decide of which 2 from Jimi, Werner and Son...rest picks itself

    2. Scotters333
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      I prefer 2

  8. OverTinker
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    1. Son + Werner
    2. Salah + Mitro

    1. diabydoesgallas
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      2

  9. The Red Devil
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    On WC, 3 spots left, 18.3 mn
    XX/4.0
    XX/James/saiss/Mitchell/Dunne
    Kdb/son/Salah/XX/McCarthy
    Werner DCL mitrovic

    Midfielder is mostly - Zaha/Rodriguez
    Defender/keeper can be anyone
    Suggestions?

    1. shiraz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      taking into account you are taking zaha/rodriguez, you should have 10m-11m left. for gk i would go for ryan/mccarthy (4.5m) and digne (6.1m) or justin(4.6m)

  10. JohnnyRev7
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    I seriously don´t understand why people are WCing. Weeks and weeks of preseason planning and preparing thrown away? I´m currently mediocre at 2.5m OR. Certainly no need to panic. So little data after 2GWs, transfer window still open and Covid in play.

    The first WC pre-Xmas is possibly the second most valuable chip to hold.

  11. FULLSERVICECOVER
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Can someone help me here please?
    Someone was in mini league and was removed after end of gw1. He was reinstated back into the mini league for the upcoming gw3. On rejoining will they start on their current points or will there score in that mini league restart at 0? Surely they enter mini league on their current overall points?

    1. Gnu
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Overall points is correct.

      1. FULLSERVICECOVER
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Thought so. Thanks gnu

  12. Sulley
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 3 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Which is going to be better for next few gameweeks:
    a) Son + DCL
    b) Rodriguez + Jimenez

    1. Jimmy Bee
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Tough call, but I'd be inclined to opt for b. Rodriguez looks class and is only likely to improve as his fitness and understanding of team mates gets better. Everton look good and have a pretty good run of fixtures. Jimenez looks sharp and wolves have the best fixtures for next few weeks.

  13. BaasB
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Saiss or Reece and why?
    Both 5.1m. I cant decide.

    1. Jimmy Bee
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      I would say Saiss, probably slightly less attacking threat, but he is more nailed on to start every week (with Azpilacueta due back at Chelsea soon) and Wolves have an amazing run of fixtures now.