Andre Gomes – Fantasy Football Potential

In what is probably the least surprising signing so far in the transfer window, 25 year old Andre Gomes has finally been confirmed as an Everton player, after the club agreed a £22 million deal to secure him from Barcelona.

The Portuguese midfielder spent the year on loan at the club, scoring once and assisting once, which while they don’t seem like good numbers, his influence at the club goes much further than the amount of goals he’s involved in. He’s signed a 5-year contract and seemingly every Everton fan is delighted with the news, especially Marco Silva, who said this about Gomes:

“Andre was a really important player for us last season, and I am delighted we have been able to do that as he is a quality player and we were so happy with what he gave us. He is someone who has shown he can operate to a high level in the Premier League and for our Club, and I know our fans will be fantastic in welcoming him back.”

If he was such a priority to sign him, does this mean that everyone should rush into sign him in fantasy football?

Player History

It is important know how he fared at his previous clubs, before determining if he’ll be a success next season in FPL. He’s only played for 4 clubs in his career, starting off in Benfica, before moving to the La Liga, playing for Valencia and Barcelona in the 3 years he spent in Spain.

At Benfica, he played 31 games and scored 10 times, although it’s vital to know that 8 of those goals came for Benfica B, their youth side. He impressed the eyes of Nuno Espírito Santo, the manager of Valencia at the time, and he secured a loan for the player, scoring 7 times and assisting 4 goals in the 2 seasons he spent at the club.

In fact, he was that good for Valencia that it prompted Luis Enrique to sign him for Barcelona in 2016 for £35 million, with an additional £20 million in add-ons, one of which was a ‘Balon D’or’ clause, that’s how much he impressed Barcelona officials. As what has happened many times over the years though, is that Gomes really struggled to break into the Barca squad, and was listed as the worst transfer signing of the summer by Spanish newspaper Marca.

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Everton took a gamble on him last season by offering him a way out of the club, ending his disastrous spell at the Catalonian club, leaving fans and pundits wondering, what went wrong at Barca? He was genuinely a young, promising player that was compared to being the ‘New Xavi’, controlling the midfield effortlessly with class and elegance. Except for Barca, he was the polar opposite and every game seemed to uncover more problems with his game. But despite that, he was a success at Everton, but there still more he needs to do!

Fantasy Football Potential

Looking at his stats, he seemingly has very little potential, a Jorginho/Kante type of player that offers a lot for their respective club, but not so much for FPL teams. Fantasy Premier League should incorporate some way of rewarding these players, but alas, they haven’t done so this season.

His only goal came against Wolves in a 1-3 loss, but it was a quality finish that was nominated as one of Everton’s goals of the season. His only assist came against Watford in a 2-2 draw, which is slightly disappointing, but hardly surprising, as he just isn’t that sort of player to be consistently scoring and assisting all season.

He does, however, consistently average one of the highest amount of touches for Everton, making 71 touches on average per game, showing that everything seemingly flows though this man, going forward and backwards. But 40% of his touches are in the midfield, while just under 70% of his touches or in his own half, which isn’t great for FPL.

He isn’t on set piece duty, that falls to Digne and Sigurdsson, and with so many of his touches being away from the goal, you have to start to wonder if he has any FPL potential at all. 21 shots in 27 games is a worrying stat too, especially when you see that only 5 of which are actually on target. He was a success, but he needs to do more when attacking for me, as he only created 6 chances in the entire season too.

So overall, I’d say it’s best to avoid him for the time being, and opt for other Everton players who have much better FPL potential, such as Richarlison and Digne. His attacking stats are pretty average, because, put simply, he just isn’t a player who plays like that. He controls the midfield, doing his defensive bit while maintaining the tempo, and very rarely gets forward trying to get in on attacks, because it isn’t his role. I really like him as a player, and what he does, because I think you need to watch him rather than look at the stats, his work off the ball plays a very important role for Everton hence why they signed him after a successful loan period.

Written by Bonus FPL (@BonusFPL)

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