Luke Freeman – Fantasy Football Potential

Sheffield United have made their first signing of the summer transfer window, signing Luke Freeman from QPR for a club record fee, surpassing the £4 million that was paid for John Egan. The midfielder, who was voted QPR’s fans player of the year last campaign, joins as the Blades as QPR finished 19th in the Championship.

Sheffield United’s manager Chris Wilder has clearly been impressed by Freeman and has said the following about the midfielder:

“Luke gives us balance off his left foot. His stats add up and all the eyes we’ve had on him have come back with glowing reports. He’s one of the best players in the Championship and he can play in a number of positions. Luke is ideal to complement what we already have at the club, I think he will be a good fit for us.”

Player History

Luke Freeman started his career at Charlton Athletic as he joined their youth academy in 2001. However he was released by the club after 2 years and he subsequently joined Gillingham. The midfielder made his debut for the Gills in the FA Cup aged just 15 years and 233 days where he became the youngest player to feature in the competition!

His potential didn’t go unnoticed as he was snapped up by Arsenal in January 2008 for a fee believed to be around £200,000 on a two year deal. After playing for the Arsenal under-18’s for two seasons he signed for Yeovil Town on loan ahead of the 2010/11 season. He scored on his debut for Yeovil and went on to made a further 12 appearances in the league as his season was cut short after an injury. That said he only managed 2 goals in the 13 appearances.

Freeman then had a short loan spell with Stevenage before the move was made permanent in January 2012. During his first season (2012/13) with Stevenage, Freeman made 26 league starts, scoring twice and assisting on 3 occasions. The following season the midfielder scored 6 times and assisted 6 others in 45 league games.

In June 2014, Freeman signed for Bristol City on a 3 year deal. He had a very successful first season with his new club, scoring 7 goals and creating 18 others across 44 league starts as Bristol City did the double winning League One and the Football League Trophy. 2015/16 wasn’t as sucessful as he only managed to score a single goal, whilst assisting on 6 occasions across 36 games.

January 2017 saw Freeman join QPR on a three year deal. His first full season at the club was the 2017/18 season, as he scored 5 goals and 13 assists in 43 starts. Last season he found the net on 8 occasions and created 6 assists in 43 appearances, being voted the fans player of the year.

Embed from Getty Images

Internationally, Freeman did play for England at the under-16 and under-17 levels, making 19 appearances and scoring on 5 occasions.

Fantasy Football Potential

Sheffield United have signed a midfielder who clearly has an eye for goal, whilst a concern from a fantasy football perspective is whether he has the talent to make the step up to the Premier League. Being left footed, he is utilised mostly on the left side of midfield, even used as a winger on occasions.

Freeman has is likely to be priced at £5.0m – £5.5m, in line with current Sheffield United midfielders; Duffy, Fleck and Norwood. Considering the four Blades’ midfielders, here’s how their 2018/19 seasons compare:

Player Freeman Duffy Fleck Norwood
Mins Played 3777 2449 3975 3807
Goals 8 6 2 3
Assists 6 7 10 9
Mins per return 270 188 331 317
FPL Price ? £5.5m £5.0m £5.0m

With Freeman being somewhat of an unknown at Premier League level, he could be a gamble to g with from the start. That said, Sheffield don’t have the worst start to the Premier League, playing; Bournemouth (A), Crystal Palace (H), Leicester (H), Chelsea (A) and Southampton (H) in their first five.

Overall it may be worth watching from a distance with regards to Sheffield United FPL assets, seeing how they settle into the Premier league season. Their fixtures are tough from gameweek 4 to gameweek 13, however their fixtures are favourable from gameweek 14 through to gameweek 19, which could make Freeman or another Sheffield United fantasy asset a good differential.

2 Responses

  1. July 19, 2019

    […] announced their third signing of the summer, as Callum Robinson joins from Preston North End, after Luke Freeman and Phil Jakielka joined the Blades earlier this month. Robinson has been brought in as their new […]

  2. August 4, 2019

    […] exceeding £3 million. He becomes the Blades’ sixth signing of the summer transfer window after; Luke Freeman, Phil Jagielka, Callum Robinson, Ravel Morrison and Lys […]

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