It’s nearly time to finalise those teams for the official UEFA Champions League (UCL) Fantasy game and, with an abundance of premium options to pick from, a cheap player or two may be needed to pad squads out.
Not bench fodder, mind you. UCL Fantasy, unlike FPL, allows you to utilise all 15 players in your squad through the use of manual substitutions.
So, if you’re going cheap with one or two picks, make sure they’re playing.
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In this article, we’ll look at the cheapest potential starters in all four positions. There are bargains to be had slightly higher up the price rungs but these will focus on the absolute lowest-cost players.
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€4.0m GOALKEEPERS
Dinamo Zagreb sit near the bottom of our 36-team fixture ticker but Ivan Nevistic should be around to rack up some save points. It’s a similar story for Marko Ilic of Crvena Zvezda, although Young Boys’ Marvin Keller gets some decent-looking matches from Matchday 4 onwards.
€4.0m DEFENDERS
Set to play their first match at the top table since 1983, Aston Villa have been handed a generous set of fixtures that come fifth on our ticker. Their opener at Young Boys should bring a start for either Lamare Bogarde or Kosta Nedeljkovic.
Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen almost went the whole of last season unbeaten in all competitions. At such a price, Jeanuel Belocian could be a bargain for their trip to Feyenoord.
The clash between Bologna and Shakhtar pits Martin Erlic against Yukhym Konoplia, whilst Brest’s Jordan Amavi begins with a promising encounter with Sturm Graz. Likewise, Auston Trusty should start for Celtic at home to Slovan Bratislava.
In fact, all of the Slovakian champions’ defenders come at this price, as do those of Crvena Zvezda. The latter face Benfica’s Tomas Araujo in Matchday 1.
PSV Eindhoven pair Rick Karsdorp and Adamo Nagalo would’ve appealed if early outings looked nicer but it’ll be Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain during their opening three.
Other names of note include Aissa Mandi (Lille), Mohammed Salisu (Monaco), Kamil Piatkowski (Salzburg) and Joaquin Seys (Club Brugge). Furthermore, most of the Dinamo Zagreb and Young Boys defenders come at the lowest price.
€4.5m MIDFIELDERS
Meanwhile, fewer starting midfielders are around to enable such squad depth. Bryan Gil and Romain Faivre are on loan at Girona and Brest from Premier League clubs, with Celtic’s Paulo Bernardo also familiar to British fans.
Salzburg have a nice early trip to Sparta Prague for Mamaday Diambou but Eliesse Ben Seghir and Maxim De Cuyper are about to go against Barcelona and Dortmund respectively.
Luka Ilic is the second Crvena Zvezda mention for that surname, whilst Nikola Moro is expected to get game time for Bologna at home to Shakhtar.
€5.0m FORWARDS
Up front, there is only one forward priced at €4.5m: Benfica’s Tiago Gouveia. He actually was getting minutes, featuring in the Portuguese side’s first three league matches. But a shoulder injury has since sidelined him.
So, going up to €5.0m, our standout picks are Abdallah Sima (Brest), Adam Idah (Celtic) and Victor Olatunji (Sparta Prague).
