Welcome to the pre-season series “Pre-season bargain hunting”, the four-piece series where we find the bargains for all positions. It’s important to find THAT little gem that scores high and costs low. As frustrating as it is, the budget in fantasy football will never allow us to have star players across all places in our team, we need to fill some of those gaps with cheap but effective players to ensure we score points and have a nice chunk of cash for the big buys.
This is the final edition of the series and we are covering the forwards. The forwards are the positions that fantasy football managers love to splash out the cash on, but the budget we are given makes it close to impossible to have star players across the three places we are given for the forwards. There is always that one surprise upfront that will cost you close to nothing but score you close to everything, last season we had Harry Kane and hopefully this article has that player. The bargain price we have chose for the forward position is 6.0m, just under half of the price for the most expensive forward and 1.5m more expensive than the cheapest forwards available.
Hopefully you have enjoyed the series and it helped you make some of the frustrating decisions we have to make before the season starts.
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City, 6.0m)
5 goals and 12 assists last season for Jamie Vardy and nobody has blinked towards the England international (I can say that now he’s had a cap, just). At only 6.0m I feel that Jamie Vardy would make a fine addition to your fantasy football team. One of the main reasons persuading me to put Jamie Vardy in my team is Leicester’s easier than usual start, their first five fixtures are; Sunderland (H), West (A), Spurs (H), Bournemouth (A) and Aston Villa (H). Looking at the five teams they will come up against I really do struggle to see a game without goals in, goals which Jamie Vardy will be looking to either score or set up.
Troy Deeney (Watford, 5.5m)
Season after season after season we’ve seen Troy Deeney scoring goals for fun in the Championship, wondering when will a Premier League club come in for him! His goals have paid dividends and his Watford side are now in the Premier League with him leading the strike force. In the last three seasons the 27 year old has scored an average of 22 goals per season in all competitions and I’m confident that the step up from the Championship to the Premier League will not bother him. Costing you only 5.5m, I feel that Troy Deeney will make a great addition to your team and I feel getting him in early is crucial as once he starts scoring goals, the price will only go up!
Jermaine Defoe (Sunderland, 5.5m)
Sunderland fans must be delighted with the start they have, they really do have a great opportunity to pick up some crucial points early in the season as they will play; Leicester (A), Norwich (H), Swansea (H), Aston Villa (A) and Spurs (H) in their first five games! That’s 15 points up for grabs and Sunderland need a man scoring the goals. The experienced striker costing you 5.5m is a reliable and cheap purchase for the first fixtures of the upcoming season. We know Jermaine Defoe will be involved in every Sunderland attack giving him the best possible chance to score goals and more importantly for us managers, points!
Callum Wilson (Bournemouth, 5.5m)
Last season in the Championship we saw Bournemouth score 98 goals with Callum Wilson scoring 20 of them. This tells us two things; one being that Bournemouth are a team that loves to attack and two being that Callum Wilson loves to score goals, perfect for a fantasy football manager! Callum Wilson will only cost you 5.5m which will leave you a nice amount of money for the other available positions in your squad. I can see Bournemouth coming into the Premier League with a no fear approach and I can see Callum Wilson flourish just like he did in the Championship. A bargain and a transfer that may pay off.
Tom Mellor
@MellorFootball
