Jay Rodriguez – Fantasy Premier League Potential

West Brom have completed the signing of Jay Rodriguez, who has joined from Southampton on a 4 year deal for a fee around £12 million. Rodriguez missed the whole of the 2014/15 season with a serious knee injury and even struggled to get back to full fitness last season.

This move gives the English striker a chance to put those injuries behind him and get back to his goal scoring ways, as he only managed 35 goals in 126 appearances during his 5 year stint with the Saints. Jay Rodriguez has been quoted saying:

“I’m genuinely delighted to be joining a club of Albion’s stature. The team is full of top players and it’s pretty clear that they are also a great set of lads..”

Fantasy Football Potential

As mentioned, Rodriguez did miss the whole of the 2014/15 Premier League season. During the 2015/16 Premier league season Rodriguez only made 24 appearances (15 from the bench), scoring 5 goals and making 2 other. Playing 1,492 minutes, Rodriguez managed to score 73 points in his 24 outings last season, which equated to 3.0 points per match. This doesn’t sound the best fantasy returns, but if you only consider his starts it shoots up to 5.6 points per game.

Rodriguez’s 2013/14 Premier League season was his best to date, which saw him play 33 games (3 from the bench), scoring 15 and assisting 3. His points per game in this season was at 4.6 points per game or 5.1 points per Premier League start. This really shows that if he can keep fit and nail down a starting spot within the West Brom side then he may be a brilliant option this season.

West Brom have been given arguably the best start of the season, with a first 5 of; Bournemouth (H), Burnley (A), Stoke (H), Brighton (A) and West Ham (H). Arguably none of these fixtures are out of West Brom’s depth and are all ‘winnable’, which makes for good reading if you are looking to bring Rodriguez in from the start.

The Englishman started last season with a price of 6.5m, finishing the season at 5.9m. If he comes in anywhere around 6.5m marker, with the start that The Baggies have, he should be one on the radar of all FPL managers. It makes it even more appealing that Rodriguez is currently classified as a midfielder. Jay Rodriguez does often find himself high up the pitch, meaning that if he does find the back of the net he will get that extra point as he is classified as a midfielder.

If you have enjoyed this early view of the fantasy potential of those moving teams this transfer window, be sure to check the others here.

Written by Jacob (@JacobJull)

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