Twelve down and just several hundred to go, then. For the fourth successive day we were handed three more player values from the official Fantasy Premier League (FPL) twitter stream to mull over, with last season’s top scoring midfielder amongst them. Tomorrow, we learn the fate of another trio, including a couple of promoted players, Kevin Nolan and Rickie Lambert…
Clint Dempsey has been handed a valuation of 9.5 for the upcoming campaign. After returning 17 goals, seven assists and 22 FPL bonus points last term, the US international accrued a total of 209 points – leaving Gareth Bale trailing in his wake in the midfield charts by 14 points. The new cost sees Dempsey’s starting value rise by 1.0 from 2011/12 and still looks fairly reasonable for a player who proved a strong captaincy option, with eight double figure returns and a points per game (ppg) average of 5.6 in FPL.
Looking at the other prices so far, this mirrors the price tag of Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, though the Belgian’s classification still remains unclear. The pricing could, perhaps, be a hint towards the rest of the midfield values – last season saw Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard arrive at 12.0 and 11.0 respectively but if Dempsey, as last term’s top scorer, costs 9.5, then it’s feasible that this will be close to the ceiling for midfield prices. In the Sky Sports game, Dempsey is fifth costliest midfielder available – a price of 8.6 is indicative of his exploits last time round, with David Silva the dearest option at 9.0.
Perhaps a little surprisingly, Luis Suarez keeps the same starting price as the previous campaign. Despite a hugely disappointing season, the Uruguayan remains at 9.5 – on a par with Papiss Cisse and more than both Carlos Tevez (9.0) and Nikica Jelavic (8.5). Clearly, FPL reckon he is capable of producing the goods this time round after notching just 136 points from 31 appearances – an average of 4.4 ppg. Bearing in mind that Cisse averaged 7.5 ppg after joining Newcastle in January, a punt on the Magpies forward looks more appealing at that price, though the Brendan Rodgers effect may well see Suarez prosper as a Fantasy force in the season ahead. Sky Sports have also maintained faith is the Liverpool man – Suarez is the fourth most expensive frontman at 9.6, just behind Wayne Rooney (9.8).
Finally today, we learned that Jonathan Walters will come in at 6.5 in FPL next season – crucially, though, we still don’t know if the Stoke player will be listed as a midfielder or forward for the campaign ahead. Although classified as a midfielder last term, Walters started the vast majority of his games up front and, for the first half of the season at least, was a strong out-of-position alternative. Tony Pulis did, however, start him in midfield in nine of the Potters’ fixtures – clearly, the Irishman would receive far more Fantasy interest if he remained a midfielder, though the idea is admittedly unlikely. The Sky Sports game certainly agrees; Walters comes in as a 7.9 priced forward there and, with spot-kicks under his belt, offers a cheaper alternative to Peter Crouch at 8.8 for Pulis’ side.
