The Fantasy Premier League (FPL) twitter drip-feed continued this afternoon and following on from the player price revelations of Wednesday and Thursday, we have been given our first glimpse of valuations from Man City, Arsenal and Everton. After a couple of misfires, where our hopes over a certain Argentine were momentarily raised, we received the following information in the end:
Carlos Tevez has been handed a price tag of 9.0 – down dramatically from 12.0 and a valuation that gives Fantasy managers plenty of food for thought ahead of the new season. Having made his peace with Roberto Mancini, the Argentine’s return to the first-team in Gameweek 33 earned City six back-to-back victories as his partnership with Sergio Aguero up top went from strength to strength. Although there’s talk of AC Milan reviving their interest in a bid if the Serie A giants can finalise the transfer of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to PSG, the ideal scenario now for Fantasy managers would be to see Tevez staying put at the Etihad – at that price, he could be a real prospect if he replicate the FPL returns of 2009/10 and 2010/11, where he returned 210 and 185 points respectively. Tevez’s cost looks all the more enticing bearing in mind that Aguero, with 211 points in his debut season, is surely set for a rise from his starting cost of 11.0 in the previous campaign. Clearly, FPL have been far kinder on Tevez than Sky; he comes in at 9.4 in the latter game – the sixth most expensive forward and just 0.5 less than Aguero.
Olivier Giroud is also priced at 9.0, though his appeal is almost certainly dependant on whether Robin Van Persie leaves the Emirates this summer. The Gunners admitted earlier this week that Giroud has been purchased as a direct replacement for their want-away skipper – Van Persie’s departure would afford us the chance to pick up Arsenal’s main forward for a more than reasonable price. If the Dutchman stays, however, Giroud’s starts and subsequent game time will take a turn for the worse; bearing in mind Van Persie is also surely set for a price hike from last year’s starting value of 12.0 after he finished the season with 269 points FPL points, his departure from the Premier League altogether could well be the ideal scenario as we look to balance our budgets. The Frenchman comes in at 8.7 in the Sky game – dearer than Lukas Podolski (8.5) but far behind Van Persie at 10.0.
Finally, Nikica Jelavic comes in at 8.5 for the new season. With little competition for the lone forward role in David Moyes’ preferred 4-5-1, the Croatian looks fairly priced when you consider his level of returns upon arriving at Goodison last January. Jelavic grabbed nine goals and 11 FPL bonus points in just 10 starts since his move from Glasgow Rangers – an average of 5.3 points per game sums up just how quickly he settled. Bearing mind Papiss Cisse was slapped with a 9.5 price tag yesterday, the Everton man looks strong value and providing he can keep injury-free, will find himself in plenty of Fantasy teams if he can maintain anywhere near the same level of performance. Sky have also been kind to the Croatian – he comes in at 8.1, the same as Darren Bent, but less than the likes of Daniel Sturridge (8.5) and Danny Graham (8.4).
