This is very likely the first and last time a former Real Madrid player graces the pages of the Moneyball series. Esteban Granero made an astonishing 31 appearances in the league in 2009-10 for Los Blancos, more than Guti, Rafael van der Vaart, Kaka and even Cristiano Ronaldo. The arrivals of Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil pushed Granero out of favour in future years, though he still managed to finish his time in Madrid with almost 100 appearances in three seasons before making his way to Loftus Road this season.
Despite that pedigree, his arrival in England barely registered on the transfer radar and he’s hardly captured the collective eye of Fantasy managers – Granero has just a 0.5% ownership in the Fantasy Premier League game, which has risen by just 10,000 or so transfers all year. Given that this is a Moneyball piece, though, we’re not going to settle on a player based on his CV: it’s when we delve into his statistics so far this term that Granero really catches the eye.
11 years, 11 months ago
Who to play
1. Nelsen or Cameron (have Begovic)
2. Sterling or Pie (have Baines)