Premier League Summer Transfer Analysis 24/25 [Part Five]

Transfer season is well and truly under way, with multiple Premier League clubs already confirming one or more new signings ahead of the 24/25 EPL season. We'll share our analysis on what to expect from each of these new arrivals from a Draft EPL Fantasy perspective between now and when the transfer window slams shut on September 1. Our forth installment looks at players confirmed by their respective clubs between August 19th and August 26th. To see part 4 and coverage of Evanilson, Rutter, Felix, and more click here. Part 1, 2, and 3.

Check out our 24/25 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need. We've got a Live Draft Aide, Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Cheat Sheets, Strategy Articles, Draft 101. Dominate your draft!

24/25 Premier League Summer Transfers Analysis

Below, DraftLad will cover each Premier League transfer individually, providing his analysis of how they will be expected to perform in the upcoming 24/25 season. We use a five-star rating model to rank the new signings relative to their draft value; use these as a guide to help get your Draft Premier League season off to a flyer!

We’ve ranked the transfers, based on a star rating, from 1 to 5:

⭐️ = Steer clear

⭐️⭐️ = Wait and see

⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Could be worth a punt

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Great prospect

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = The Premier League signing you’ve been waiting for!

The Premier League Summer Transfer Analysis covers signings that were confirmed by their respective clubs between August 19tht and August 26th (future signings will be a part of Part 6!). Part 4 here. If you would like to see the converted fantasy points scored by many of the below players this past season (in their respective leagues) check out our table here: https://www.thedraftsociety.com/transfers-fpts PP90 = fantasy points per 90. GPP90 = ghost points per 90. PPS = fantasy points per start.

Sepp van den Berg, Mateus Fernandes, Georginio Rutter, Alex Moreno, Sander Berge covered in Part 4.

Matt O'Riley

Position: Central Mid (M in Fantrax)

Team: Brighton

Signed From: Celtic for €30m

WARNING, EDIT 8/29: O'Riley came off after 10 minutes with an ankle injury from a nasty challenge. He went straight into the Brighton XI for the cup match but was taken out and had to be helped off the field. On Wednesday 8/29, Hurzeler announced he'll need surgery on the ankle. Twitter docs suggest he'll be out 8-10 weeks as a result. That likely means at least 7 GW's missed.

Prospects: Let's get the comparison out of the way; Brighton have signed a ton of players this summer and O'Riley is the closest like for like replacement to Pascal Gross that they've acquired. He's a flexible central mid, who can play as a 6, 8, or 10. He has mega good goal-creation stats for a midfielder and a strong defensive work rate as well. For Celtic last season in the Scottish league he had 18 goals (2 pks) & 13 assists in 37 starts, In 6 UCL starts vs far tougher competition he had 3 assists, 12.2 PP90 & 9.9 GPP90. He was 99th percentile for xA (with 0.43 p90), 97th percentile for key passes (2.8 per 90), 88th in shots on targets, 80th in tackles, 75th in interceptions, 75th in blocks, & 79th in clearances amongst all central mids in Men's Big 5 Leagues, UCL, & UEL over the last year. So he put up amazing stats in big numbers in big minutes in the inferior Scottish league but also managed to do it in smaller minutes in the UCL (in mostly losses vs Atletico Madrid, Lazio, & Feyenoord). In doing so, he took most set pieces (taking both in-swinging and out-swinging corners as a righty, and indirect, crossed free kicks). He played as 1 of 3 CM's in a 4-3-3 nearly all of last season, but sometimes as more of a 6 or 10 in previous seasons with Celtic (when former Prem ledge, Aaron Mooy was around). The relevant quote from manager Hurzeler is: "He enjoys getting forward and attacking the opponent’s penalty area, but he also has a good defensive instinct. That balance makes him special. He is a great character, and has a good ambition to succeed and that’s something which is very important for us."

So where does he fit at Brighton? Well for a Scottish League record fee, Brighton have surely brought O'Riley in to challenge for big minutes in the engine room, offering more energy, creativity, goals, and youth to the hub containing fellow big money, new signing Mats Wieffer (more of a defensive mold), 38yo James Milner, likely departing Billy Gilmour, and still green, 20yo Carlos Baleba. Dahoud and Moder are also technically around but seemingly not in Hurzeler's plans. So, despite a very crowded attack, O'Riley actually has a pretty clear path to minutes at Brighton: beat out James Milner for the central mid slot next to more defensive-minded Wieffer. If he manages that, and I expect him to do so more than not, he'll also likely get the benefit of Milner's sets (50% of BHA's so far). This is a 38yo James Milner who hasn't started more than 11 games in the Prem since the 18/19 season (9, 11, 9, 7, 11 in past 5 years) and was signed as an experienced old-head for the Gulls 2 years ago. Has he been good through 2 starts? Yes, but will it last and will his legs allow more than 15-18 starts this season? I doubt it. It feels like a matter of time before O'Riley finds himself in the preferred XI. He'll have to get acclimated to the Prem and his new manager's 2 CM system, but he's already started 2 games for Celtic this season (1 assists) and had a full pre-season.

Great attacking stats, good defensive floor, sets-taking, solid path to big potential minutes in a high-powered offense team? Sign me up. Don't expect close to the same, absurd production as in the weaker Scottish league, and expect some time to transition to the Prem/crack the preferred XI but do be hopeful that we have ourselves a new, exciting midfielder finally in this transfer window. Your FAAB bid will as always, but particularly with a more unknown name from a smaller league, will be highly conditional on how competitive and tuned in your league and league mates are. In the most competitive leagues, I think you'll need to spend 70+ FAAB to acquire O'Riley. In less competitive, home leagues where people may never heard of O'Riley or found the hype train, 15-20 could do the job easily. Post-injury, which will put him out for 2 months, this FAAB suggestion goes out the door. Besides in the deepest, most competitive leagues, I wouldn't bother rostering O'Riley for atleast another month.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Ilkay Gundogan

Position: Central Mid (M in Fantrax)

Team: Man City

Signed From: Barca for free (TM value of €15m)

Prospects: The 33 yo German is largely a known commodity to fantasy managers who've been around the game for 2+ years. He returns on a free to Pep's City after just 1 year away at Barca, after they've mismanaged their finances yet again and been semi-forced to lose one of their best players. He started a whopping 33 times in La Liga, where he had 5 goals (1 pen), 9 assists, 11.4 PP90, 9.7 GPP90 (2.5 PP90 coming from set pieces) as a CM in the midfield 3, mostly as part of a double pivot but also sometimes as the most advanced 8/10 (similarly to his time in Manchester). Gundogan has always been a good points scorer in the past (11.2 PP90 in 22/23, 13.4 in 21/22, 54 in 20/21). You'll notice a downward trend there, but he still was quite good and played big minutes for the Catalan powerhouse last season.

So the key question with Gundo remains: just how many starts will he get in the 24/25 Man City side? There's 2 sides to look at here. Optimistically, factually he started 27, 20, and 23 Prem games for Pep in his last 3 seasons in England and 33 last season in Spain. He's 33 but he's at the top of his game and his availability has been consistently great. City lost Julian Alvarez (31 Prem starts in 23/24) and possibly Matheus Nunes (7 starts) this summer. On the pessimistic side, Pep and City let Gundogan leave for free (albeit, largely unwillingly) only a year ago and played just fine (another Prem title) in his absence. Alvarez played loads, Bernardo Silva played loads everywhere, Foden thrived centrally, they signed Kova to largely replace Gundo's steel and box crashing, and KDB even missed half the season. They've retooled in attack, signing Doku & Savio to complement Grealish & Haaland and look well-tooled to chase another title. The excellent Man City reporter, Sam Lee for the Athletic framed Gundo's signing as 1 more of financial opportunity and a depth-filling move to keep the tricky balance of squad happiness intact, instead of an XI upgrade. So where does that leave Gundo? In the words of Pep: “The impact depends on how he plays." “If he plays good, the impact will be good, if not then the impact will not be good. But knowing him a little bit, as a manager, I am not a big fan of re-signing players with this age, but I know him quite well and his mentality is in the right position, he is a huge competitor and financially he came back free so we said, okay, we can do it."

Pep immediately went to Gundo off the bench in his first game back at the club, subbing him for Savio or Doku in the 71st minute in a beat-down of Ipswich. But Rodri & Foden were also out that game. It's admittedly more of an opportunity guessing game than most (even someone new to the league like O'Riley above) but my opinion is somewhere in the middle. I'd put the line of Gundo's Prem starts this season around 16. With Savio, Doku, Grealish, and sometimes Foden/Bilva likely to hog the winger minutes, KDB fit again, and Rodri all but assured to start 30+ games if fit, Gundogan will need to compete/rotate for CM/AM minutes with Bilva, Foden, & Kova predominantly+. A lot will surely come down to how much Foden & Bilva end up on the wings (instead of Doku, Savio, & Grealish) and how many games KDB will be fit to start in the center of the park. If KDB gets another big injury, Gundo becomes a top mid (like Alvarez became last season). If Haaland or Foden do, the same. But in the meantime, I think he'll be in and out of the lineup, and more so when UCL starts up. If we assume 16 starts and 11 PP90, that would land Gundo as the 60th best WAR projected player ROS. That's a great number and puts him in the Tavernier, Iwobi, Pereira range. But, like the Nunez's, Jesus's, and Trossard's of the world, he'll also come with frustration for impatient managers who may be inclined to drop after a string of 3 non-starts in a row or finding himself outside Pep's go to XI.

So how much you should chase Gundo will be a factor of your managing-style & roster makeup. If you're willing to hold rotational, high upside/PPS guys or have another City mid, like Bilva or Doku, Gundo will be a great add and worth a first waiver or 70ish FAAB in competitive, community league (probably more like 30 in less-so, home leagues). If you're already fed up with Nunez or Summerville or Maatsen or the like, you like consistent starters, and/or you don't want to deal with Pep's rotational shenanigans, let Gundo be someone else's problem/waiver/FAAB over-spend. It's a tricky comparison, but gun-to-head, I'd say I slightly prefer O'Riley to Gundogan. They're both risky buys in the sense that O'Riley needs to adapt to a much harder league (and on a worse team), but Gundogan needs to find enough starts. I think their PPS's could be similar (some might say that's optimistic for O'Riley) but I think the Danishman has an easier path to many starts than the German Gundo.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Ferdi Kadioglu

Position: Left/Right Back (M in Fantrax)

Team: Brighton

Signed From: Fenerbahce for €32m

Prospects: The 24yo Dutch-Turkish defender (but an M in Fantrax) is yet another young, versatile player signed from a non big-5 league for the Gulls. He's likely being signed predominantly as a fullback (as he played a large amount of LB and RB in the past 2 years) but he's also played as a defensive mid, central mid and winger in the past. Hurzeler is quoted as saying about him: "I'm very excited because we are getting an excellent player and a great character. He has great ability, is a strong runner and very good at passing. He is predominantly a full-back and can play on the right or left side; he can also play in the centre of midfield." Stylistically, he's naturally a great all-arounder, strong on the ball creatively and good in duels.

He started big minutes in Turkey for the last 3 seasons and had 1 goal and 4 assists in 37 starts last season. Due to a lack of Turkish league stats, we're left with a hodge-podge of cup and international stats. In 4 starts, 7 apps in the European Conference league he put up 11.1 PP90, 10.5xPP90 & 9.7 GPP90 (excluding CS & GA in all). In 5 starts for Turkey in the 2024 Euros, he put up 10.7 PP90, 12 xPP90 & 10.7 GPP90. The ghosts came from heavy tackles, key passes, and dribbles for a fullback.

At Brighton he should have a good path to consistent starts at fullback. Despite playing LB mostly last season, he may have a better shot at displacing Veltman at RB than Estupinan at LB on talent. But Estupinan is coming back from a long term injury, Valentin Barco is off on loan, and former midfielder Jack Hinshelwood is now being used at full back. Lamptey is also still around but hasn't started big minutes in ages and Brighton seems to be open to letting him leave. So with all that said, there's a lot of starting minutes available likely at both full back positions. The Gulls have started strong offensively and defensively (in 2 games vs Everton and Man United) but are still favored to finish around the 8th or 9th mark by the bookies. Fener were comparatively top 2 in Turkey, but in the previously mentioned stats, they were only mediocre to good in UECL as were Turkey in the Euros. That leaves Kadioglu as an exciting, stat-sheet-filling, high floor, decent ceiling real-life defender, fantasy midfielder, with limited competition for minutes in a solid Prem side. The pessimistic case is that he's a smaller defender jumping up in league difficulty level significantly in a team that has a lot of attacking talent but might need more defense than offense from its fullbacks to succeed. Still, the upside case and historical production make Kadioglu likely a good midfielder waiver add at this time of the year. I'd expect a pretty quick integration to the XI and I'd suggest a 20-25 FAAB bid in competitive leagues. It's a shame we don't have another upside fantasy defender on our hands but a lack of goals against and clean sheet points will probably benefit his PPS in the long run, he just wont be as relatively good to his position as he would have been.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mikel Merino

Position: Central Mid (M in Fantrax)

Team: Arsenal

Signed From: Real Sociedad for €32m

Prospects: The 28yo Spaniard comes in to Arteta's Gunners side as much needed midfielder depth, particularly after losing Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira. At his previous club, he played predominantly as a left-sided 8 next to the more defensively inclined Zubimendi. But Mikel's also a big time duel and aerial-winner at 6'2" and should add further steel to the Arsenal midfield. Outside of Ollie McBurnie, Merino's nearly 6 aerials won per 90 would have made him the 2nd highest winner in the Prem last season (of guys who played 300+ minutes). In his 27 La Liga starts and 32 apps, he put up 5 goals, 3 assists, 9.5 PPS, 8 GPPS, 10.5 PP90, and 8.6 GPP90. Outside of his aerials, his ghosts came from solid combo of key passes, tackles, and take-ons. He's a solid & hard-working but unspectacular mid in real life, and his fantasy outlook will likely mirror that.

Expect a Xhaka-esque presence as an Arsenal mid, with a good floor, occasionally popping up for a return (via set piece or open play), but a rarely hit ceiling or attacking creativity or excitement. Playing-time wise, he'll be competing with Partey and Jorginho (and possibly some Havertz at LCM when Jesus plays up top) for starts. Most Arsenal fans and analysts believe he'll eventually win out as the superior, younger option to Partey & Jorginho. One potential knock-on effect could be moving Declan Rice's average position further back, so less open play attacking for him. Perhaps he also changes the left side attacking dynamics and helps Martinelli (or even Zinchenko) prosper like they have in the past. Regardless, as for his own value, if you reckon he gets about 18 starts at say 9 PPS, I think he's about worth 20-25 FAAB in competitive/community leagues. He's not going to be a stud, but he also should have the floor not to be a dud. Do be warned, he may take a couple weeks to a month to crack the XI too, given his late arrival.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Federico Chiesa

Position: Winger/Forward (F in Fantrax)

Team: Liverpool

Signed From: Juve for €12m

Prospects: The 26yo Chiesa was once a wonderboy and primed to be the next great Italian attacker of this generation before an ACL injury derailed his rise during the 21/22 season. Before that he had 4 good to great years for Fiorentina & Juve (from ages 18-22). After missing 10 months, he came back and had a productive 23/24 season playing 33 games, accruing 25 starts, 9 goals, 2 assists, 6xG, 6xA, 10.8 PPS, 7.4 GPPS, 9.3 PPS wo sets (took most corners/free kicks), 12.8 PP90, 9.0 GPP90 for 2nd placed Juve. But his contract is up soon and Juve have signed other players in his position so Liverpool have seized the market opportunity and very likely gotten a bargain.

Chiesa is capable of playing all 3/4 positions across the front line, but predominantly played as a second striker, off the left, next to the bigger, target man Vlahovic or at LW for Juve last season. In the past though, the righty has favoured playing as a RW, and thus finally offers Liverpool a proper backup to Salah when he needs a rest. But with Salah incredibly likely to play the vast majority of games, that'll mean Chiesa will need to compete for starts at LW or even through the middle. Stylistically, Chiesa is a great ball-carrier, dribbler, and creator, but not a big goal getter, as witnessed by his 0.24 xg/90 for Juve last year (10th percentile for forwards, 50thish for wingers). Still, he's a talented attacker, with solid ghosting abilities, in a top Prem attack. So his fantasy value largely comes down to how many starts he'll get (and expect Diaz-lite numbers when he does). Given the amount of quality bodies in attack and Diaz, Jota, and Salah currently being the favoured 3, Chiesa will likely need to settle for a backup role for a while until injury or UCL rotation kicks in. As a result, 30% of starts(12) this Prem season feels like a reasonable estimate for the Italian. At say 11PPS that could put him around the 100th ranked estimated WAR player for the rest of season, but he could be a frustrating hold as a sporadic starter. He'll likely be most useful for other Liverpool attacker-holding managers as a handcuff/cover. Still, there's upside there, so managers with bigger/freer benches may be willing to take the punt on him. Think of him like a Gakpo, Jesus, Trossard, or Grealish type asset. I'd say put about 20-25 FAAB into him but at this stage of the window and with the name and big club, you may need to pay a premium up to 40 FAAB to secure his services. Just understand the risk and reward. The knock on effects of less minutes for Gakpo, Diaz, and Elliot, as well as more frequent resets for Salah may end up the biggest impact of Chiesa this season.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bilal El Khannouss

Position: Attacking Mid/Winger (M in Fantrax)

Team: Leicester City

Signed From: Genk for €21m

Prospects: The Foxes may have finally found their replacement #10. After years of Maddison and KDH breaking out over the past couple seasons, particularly last under Maresca, Leicester have been crying out for creativity and attacking intent. With a big outlay for a cash-strapped (or at least PSR-restricted) club, the 20yo Moroccan El Khannouss they may have gotten just that. In 25 starts & 27 apps playing as an attacking mid or winger, he accrued 13.4 PP90, 10.8 GPP90, 3 goals, & 6 assists (8 xA). Yes, he played in the Belgian Pro league, but he put up staggering creation numbers: 6.1 shot-creating actions per 90 (97th percentile in Next 14 competitions for attacking mids), 0.37 xA per 90 (96th percentile), 3.4 key passes per 90 (99th percentile). He also put up solid dribble, tackle, and aerials numbers.

However, those numbers come with asterisks. Outside the obvious one of an inferior league, Genk were a 5th placed team (Leicester likely a relegated one), and El Khannouss got a ton of sets (98th percentile for corners, 97th for passed free kicks). He's not likely to get so many dead ball opportunities, nor time on the ball to create, at Leicester. Minutes-wise, while young, Leicester really do need his talent. With Fatawu nailed plus a striker (Daka, Vardy, etc.) there's really 2 spots up for grabs in the Leicester offense, currently being occupied by loanee Buonanotte in the 10 & a combo of recent signings Bobby DeCordova-Reid, Jordan Ayew, and Mavididi on the wing. While Buona has started well for Leicester, he is a loanee at the end of the day. But, realistically, Leicester will need all the fire power and creativity they can get, and that might mean it's easiest for El Khannouss to displace BDCR/Ayew on the wing instead and play alongside the Brighton youngster (or them in opposite positions). As for sets, the righty will need to take them off Harry Winks (doable) and the lefties Buona (less likely unless he loses his starting spot) and Kristiansen. So where does that leaves us with El Khannouss? He's a young attacker taking a big step up in league quality onto a poor side. But he's got great historic numbers and could be a creative catalyst in his new team. In my opinion, he's in for a big amount of starts but a serious (and obvious) decrease in PPS. That leaves him as a likely high variance, good ceiling, bad floor player, who likely needs sets (and consistent starts) to be a season-keeper. We may not know those answers now, but there's not a lot of high ceiling mids, so El Khannouss may be the last and best one to take a punt on at this stage. I'd suggest 15 FAAB or so.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Chiedozie Ogbene

Position: Winger/Wing Back (F in Fantrax)

Team: Ipswich

Signed From: Burnley for €10m

Prospects: The 27yo pacy, Irish winger may be familiar to many of you as he excelled (in the fantasy world at least) for the relegated Burnley last season in the Prem. Starting 20 times, at a combination of right winger and wing back, he put up 10.5 PPS and 7.4 GPPS due to an impressive combination of successful take-ons (2.8 per 90), key passes (1.1 p90), aerials, tackles, and clearances. Despite the expected similarities in finishing position between his new club and old (aka bottom 3 likely), Luton were a gung-ho attacking side, and Ipswich may not be as much so. Still, Ogbene's versatility will be useful in that he'll be able to play on the wing or at wing back if Ipswich opt to continue with the 5 back in some games (as they did in 1 of 2 so far). That means he'll be competing with Wes Burns, Omari Hutchinson, and Ben Johnson for starts on the right side of the attack/mid or less likely Jack Clarke, Hutch, & Szmodics on the left side. In the first half of their cup game today, Ogbene was used at RW in front of Johnson at RB and that's probably his best path into the side. A 4 back enables 1 more attacker and allows for 3 of 4 from Smzodics, Hutchinson, Delap, and Clarke to play in the other 3 and Ogbene in the final spot. A 5 back makes that math harder for Ogbene, but also perhaps more likely that he fills in at RWB for Ogbene. That's all to say despite solid production for Luton last season, Ogbene is unlikely to become a nailed starter in the short, or even medium term. But his pace in transition and off the ball work could certainly end up being favored by McKenna in a side clawing to stay up, in the longer term. He's proven solid PPS in a poor side, and that may come down in a less aggressive offense, but due to his well-rounded profile, he's still worth a punt or more as potentially a good FWD3 if he can break into the side and stick. As always, it may take some patience as he finds starts. He played only 45 minutes in the cup and I wouldn't expect much at all this weekend. 10ish FAAB range for me in a crowded forward pool. Do be warned, some may remember him more fondly and splurge up to 25.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Jack Clarke

Position: Winger (F in Fantrax)

Team: Ipswich Town

Signed From: Sunderland for €18m

Prospects: The 23 yo Clarke was a former Leeds & Spurs youth product who broke out in the Championship over the last 2 seasons for Sunderland. Playing frequently as a winger/outside mid (mostly on the left), and occasionally as an attacking mid or even centre forward, the Englishman put up 15 goals, 4 assists, 16 PPS, 12.3 GPPS, 14.3 PPS without sets (5 pens and a fraction of righty corners/fks) in 39 starts . The year prior 9 G, 11 A, 11.4 PPS, 8.4 PPS in 44 starts. His goal and chance creation were good (0.46 npxG+xA p90, 73rd percentile compared to wingers/AM in Men's Next 14 comps), he's a big time dribbler (3.9 successful take-ons p90), and good key pass (2.4 p90) and shot-on-target guy (1.1 p90). However, promotion team/relegation favorite qualifications as always. Ipswich are expected to finish 18th and are odds on to be relegated. They've looked okay but still gotten beat badly by Liverpool and City (38 & 25% possession in those games). Sunderland were a midtable side (8th on xG), finished 16th out of 24, and kept 56% possession on average (4th best) in the Championship.

So expect a serious drop-off in Clarke's numbers. If he can find consistent starts, keep a fraction of sets (doable, taking righties off Ben Johnson and Sam Morsy) and be allowed to dribble and shoot often, he could be an Ogbene-esque (look out for him to Ipswich too..) forward option (albeit in a likely less open side, and without the defensive work rate). If starting, that suggests he'll be useful in good matchups, but I wouldn't bother in poor to mediocre ones. Minutes wise, it'll depend how often Kieran McKenna opts for a 4 back (like he did in GW1 vs Pool vs a 5 back like he did in GW2 vs Pool). Hutchinson, Delap, and Szmodics are the starting attackers at the moment, with Chaplin, Burns & Hirst (injured for a while) more likely to come in when playing 4 attackers. Beating out the 3 latter players appears fairly doable but the former 3 a bit trickier. Szmodics has a knack for the goals, Delap is the most natural 9, and Hutchinson was integral to Ipswich's promotion. But Delap and Hutch are young too and had comparable to worse stats in the Champ. last season, so Clarke beating them out (Szmo going up top) or at least rotating/playing with them is a reasonable outcome too. With a plethora of forwards, particularly questionable to start ones, I think letting Clarke marinate and break into the likely relegation-bound side is the best course of action in most leagues. But if you're forward hungry or looking for a fun, dribbly, potential option in a competitive, I certainly don't mind a sub 10 FAAB bid on the youngster.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dara O'Shea

Position: Centre Back (D in Fantrax)

Team: Ipswich Town

Signed From: Burnley for €14m

Prospects: The 25 yo O'Shea is back where he belongs. Scrapping it alongside Aro Muric for a promoted side, winning aerials, stealing hearts. O'Shea was a great ghoster but a poor fantasy point scorer last season for Kompany's Burnley side. He won 4 aerials per 90, had 9 GPPS, but only 6.3 PPS (5.9 xPPS which would be about 7.9 PPS in current season scoring). That's a solid defender in a team that gave up a lot of goals 78 (70.4 xGA). The quick, right-footed Irishman is likely to start at RCB in a 4 or 5 back in place of Tuanzebe or Woolfenden. His biggest blocker towards becoming a good fantasy option may actually be his teammate Jacob Greaves, a 6'4", fellow aerial beast (4.1 won per 90) stealing his ghost points. That coupled with playing for another poor, promoted side means O'Shea (and now more-so Greaves) become borderline rosterable guys, useable during good stretches, droppable during others. Fulham and Southampton as 2 of the next 3 meet that criteria so I don't mind snagging O'Shea now (for a couple FAAB at most) but don't be surprised if he doesn't start for a couple games and you send him right back to the pile. If Ipswich opt for a fairly defensive, uglier approach and don't concede (nor likely score) often O'Shea (and Greaves) could become more than streamers. Certainly, one to watch. Note: O'Shea is going to be less viable in leagues that did not adopt the no -2 for the 1st goal against scoring.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Joachim Anderson

Position: Centre Back (D in Fantrax)

Team: Fulham

Signed From: Crystal Palace for €28m

Prospects: Anderson was a solid, sometimes good fantasy CB at Palace. He had some nice, memorable runs (10.2 PPS for the first half of last season in new default scoring) but was also often unremarkable (7.6 PPS in the 2nd half, under Glasner, and 7.6 PPS the year before too). He goes to a slightly worse defense (last season atleast) under Marco Silva at Fulham with a settled, if uninspiring, centre-back pairing of Diop (27yo) and Bassey(24yo). He's much needed defensive depth for a team that lost Tosin for free and Ream to the MLS. They signed 24yo Jorge Cuenca too, who got big minutes in La Liga last year, but its really just the 4 of them. He's right footed but more than capable of playing LCB (or as a CCB if they chose to transition to 3 atb) so realistically could unseat either current CB but may have a better chance with Basset. Neither current starter is a high volume defensive CB either so Andersen could eat up a fair few aerials, tackles, and clearances. It'll be his passing and offensive contributions too that may prompt Silva to start him sooner rather than later, as he's a great ball-playing, progressive CB. Still, fantasy-wise he's a slightly above average defender on a slightly below average team who may take some time to get to the starting lineup. I wouldn't be rushing to pick him up unless he happens to start against Ipswich on Saturday and you stream him. Couple FAAB at most if you think he returns to temporary glory.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jordan Ayew

Position: Winger (F in Fantrax)

Team: Leicester City

Signed From: Crystal Palace for €6m

Prospects: 32 yo Ayew has found himself yet another Prem team in need of attacking bodies. Cooper's Leicester are not stocked in attack, with 37yo Vardy, 31yo Bobby Reid, and Brighton loanee, 19yo Buonanotte, complimenting the electric 20yo Fatawu. Mavididi was good on the wing last season but seemingly not preferred by new manager, Steve Cooper, and Patson Daka is out hurt for months. So Ayew needs to likely beat out Reid and Mavididi for starts on the wing, or otherwise backup Vardy, Daka, and Fatawu. He seems capable of the former, given that he's started 30 and 31 games in the past 2 seasons for similarly, previously, attacking-challenged Palace. It's a somewhat shrewd, yet uninspiring cheap signing for the PSR-challenged Foxes. Statistically, he put up 7.8 PPS last season and similar in the past. He's not a good goal scorer, nor chance creator, but similarly to BDCR he works hard off the ball and presses and tackles well. That might be appealing at times to a relegation-threatened Cooper, but certainly does help them in the goal department. His PPS won't be enough to make you roster him outside of a stream anyways.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Gustavo Nunes

Position: Forward (F in Fantrax)

Team: Brentford

Signed From: Gremio for €12m

Prospects: Nunes is an 18yo Brazillian winger, who broke out into senior football this year in the brazillian Serie A. He started 11 games, had 20 apps, 9.8 PP90, 7.0 GPP90, 3 goals, and 1 assist. He's particularly good in a 1v1, averaging 3.7 successful take-ons per 90 (good for 99th percentile among wingers in Men's Next 14 comps) with a good 51% success rate (80th percentile). Manager Thomas Frank said about him "Gustavo has a lot of potential and of course we need to maximize that in every aspect. He needs time to settle, but this is a very exciting signing." That reads as not a lot of starts anytime soon, but he's at least 1 to keep an eye on due to his dribbly profile. Brentford have a fair few attackers that are likely ahead of him in the pecking order (Mbeumo, Wissa, Schade, Carvalho, KLP roughly in order) so I wouldn't count on him anytime soon. Wait for an impressive sub app, then consider streaming in the next week if it's a good matchup

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Manuel Ugarte

Position: Defensive Mid(M in Fantrax)

Team: Man United

Signed From: PSG for €50m

Prospects: Man United have long, long needed a proper defensive mid, ideally a young one. The aging Casemiro was their stop-gap solution and showed signs of finally falling off last season. As a former Galactico, at age 32 and massive wages, he's one of the worst contracts in the league and hard to get off the books. But United have gone ahead and finally (according to Romano anyways) gotten in a young, ball-winning mid to hopefully shore up their middle of the park defensive mids once and for all. Ugarte is a 23yo Uruguayan who wins a ton of tackles (4.2 per 90) and interceptions (2.0 per 90). Besides that and passing safely (not progressively), unfortunately for fantasy managers, he does very little. In 21 starts for PSG he put up 6.7 PPS, 6.6 GPPS, 7.9 PP90 & 7.4GPP90. He didn't contribute offensively with PSG and is very likely to be used similarly by United. He may have more defensive work to do as United hold less posession than PSG did, but he still has almost 0 upside. He may replace Casemiro in the lineup before long (despite Cas's recent improved form and ETH rumoured to have wanted to keep McTominay over him) but he likely won't replicate his fantasy value, due to his lack of goal or attacking threat. He's a stay away and let a United or big-club/name-attracted fan bid on him for me. I wouldn't bother picking him up and dare I say, not even streaming him in good matchups.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

The Rest, Abridged for Sake of Timing

Jens Cajuste

Position: Central Mid (M in Fantrax)

Team: Ipswich Town

Signed From: Napoli on loan (TM value of €10m)

Prospects: Cajuste is a 25 yo defensive-minded central midfielder brought in to increase competition for Sam Morsy, Kalvin Phillips, and Massimo Luongo in the pivot. The Swede hasn't played big senior minutes since 20/21 for Midtjylland in the Danish league and scored 6 PPS, 6 GPPS, and 2 assists in 11 starts & 26 apps in the Serie A last season. As a non-nailed, 6/8, in a poor team, we'd avoid altogether

Rating: ⭐️

Oliver Skipp

Position: Defensive Mid (M in Fantrax)

Team: Leicester City

Signed From: Tottenham for €23m

Prospects: Copy and paste Cajuste for Skipp. Young, defensive-oriented central mid who hasn't played big senior minutes in a couple years, with poor PPS (2.2 last season, 5.0 xPP90) coming into a bad team. Avoid.

Rating: ⭐️

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Pour One Out: Transferred Out Players

Valentin Barco: What looked like a great dark-horse, late-round, set-piece taking, defensive punt, who could thrive in the temporary injury absence of Estupinan, ended up benched in GW1 and out the door by GW2.

Others: Abdallah Sima, Facundo Pellistri, Sekou Mara, Joe Worrall, Nathan Fraser, Omar Richards, Bobby Clarke, Carlos Alcaraz: No memorial needed.

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