Trades can make or break your Fantasy EPL season. Fact. A successful Fantrax Draft Premier League manager needs to be active in the trade market, always sniffing out a deal to improve their roster. Be it trading in a player before they explode, or trading out a player who just isn't performing, our Gameweek 12 Trade Advice article has all of your needs covered!
Get out there and use the below advice for Fantrax trades this week. Trading is fun!
Trade In Advice
Here we're going to be recommending Fantasy EPL players to trade into your side. These may be Premier League players who are performing consistently well and are likely to continue to do so. Or they could be players who are currently underperforming but are likely to improve their points haul in the near future. These are your "buy low" players.
Leon Bailey
Position: Forward
Team: Aston Villa
Rostered: 83%
Prospects: We've been huge Bailey fans here at the Draft Society since the lockdown offered us the opportunity to play an amazing Bundesliga Draft game that used Fantrax Default scoring, created by Colin Greaves and our very own Drafterthoughts. With Steven Gerrard appointed the new Villa manager and all the tactical analyses highlighting his successful previous use of wingers who cut in, Bailey seems the ideal candidate to benefit from this managerial switch. His stock will be high due to everyone expecting a new manager bump, but he hasn't really performed miracles when he has started the last few weeks. Therefore, you might be able to trade for him before the dust settles and Gerrard waxes lyrical about him after his first training session.
Verdict: I would try to offer a continually underperforming big-name player or a steady performer to get Bailey, who still is a relatively unknown commodity. Players to offer could be: Mahrez/Sterling, Adama, Greenwood, or Richarlison.
Allan Saint-Maximin
Position: Midfielder
Team: Newcastle
Rostered: 100%
Prospects: ASM completed 1 (one) Key Pass and 1 (one) Shot on Target in the month of October in 350 minutes played. He accumulated just shy of 6 points per start. Safe to say it has been a bad bad month for the electric Frenchman. This is a once-in-a-season opportunity to try to trade for him, as surely Eddie Howe will do everything to get the most out of his talisman to steer the club clear of relegation. With transfer targets expected in January, trading for him in now will definitely provide value in the long run, even if he might have teething problems in the first few games with Howe. (So don't panic if you successfully trade for him during the IB and he posts sub 10 numbers in the first few games)
Verdict: I still believe that ASM is a walking injury threat, but he has been remarkably healthy so far, so there is hope that he will continue to put together his first 23+ start EPL season. I would offer the likes of Bowen, Gallagher, McNeil or Gundogan (you may need to add a sweetener here like Rodrigo or Douglas Luiz) for him.
Trade Out Advice
Here we're going to be recommending Fantasy EPL players to trade out of your side. These may be Premier League players who are performing badly and are likely to continue to do so. Or they could be players who are currently overperforming and are likely to decline in value of the coming weeks. These are your "sell high" players.
Reece James
Position: Defender
Team: Chelsea
Rostered: 100%
Prospects: What a month James has had. After early-season struggles with injury and rotation, Reece James has established his spot in the RWB role with aplomb. 2 clean sheets, 2 goals and 1 assist in 3 starts makes him the runaway top scorer in the last 3 games. So why am I suggesting trading him out? Well, this period coincided with Chelsea suffering so many injuries that the infamous Tuchel Rotation was barely possible in this period. CHO, his usual partner in crime in the right wingback spot, had to deputise one row higher as the forwards got injured and Havertz had to be played up front. Azpilicueta (whose appearance in the right wing-back spot forced James to the bench or to play in the RCB spot) was injured for most of this period meaning there was no-one to challenge James for his spot. This will all change quickly as the team becomes more healthy and the fixture congestion will push rotation into overdrive. His unsustainable production coupled with looming rotation issues make him an ideal sell-high candidate.
Verdict: You can literally target any MID1 or FWD1 for him right about now. Mount, Grealish, Cancelo are good targets, even an underperforming, AFCON blighted Mané might not be out of reach.
Diogo Jota
Position: Forward
Team: Liverpool
Rostered: 100%
Prospects: This is probably the strangest one of the lot. Firmino's injury essentially means that Jota is guaranteed the spot for the next few weeks for sure. This and the looming shadow of AFCON are exactly the selling points I would emphasise when trying to trade him out. So why am I suggesting trading him out?
Klopp (and the results to go with it) has proven that he still prefers to play Firmino ahead of the Portuguese so once Bobby is back from the hamstring injury, Jota is likely to lose his spot again.
Salah and TAA have absolutely monopolised the number of attacks per side (22 G+A for Salah and TAA to 7 G+A for Mané+Robbo) which means Liverpool are driving all their attacks on the right side, therefore, limiting his potential through the middle or deputising for Mané during AFCON.
Verdict: I would target a player whose spot is nailed on and performs similarly per start. Someone like Jimenez, Watkins, or Vardy could be good targets. A 2:1 for Lukaku is not totally out of the question, adding in a mid-range player as the second (someone like Tarkowski, Momo Salisu or McGinn could do the trick).
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