Fantasy Football Potential – Mikel Merino

Newly promoted Newcastle United have bolstered their midfield with the signing of Mikel Merino on a season long loan deal from German side Borussia Dortmund. The Spain U21 international joins the Magpies due to a lack of first team action in the Bundesliga.

Last season, Merino played just 11 times in all competitions, failing to score in any of those appearances. However, of those 11 matches, Dortmund lost just twice; against German giants Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin. Merino isn’t a renowned goal scorer; he has bagged just 5 goals in 86 games through this whole career.

Manager Rafa Benítez said: “Mikel is a midfielder with talent, an under-21 international for Spain. He’s a good size, has quality on the ball and he’s very, very focused and professional. Hopefully he’s the kind of player we can improve a lot – he certainly has the mentality to get better and better.”

Fantasy Premier League Potential

Merino is more than likely going to be paired with Englishman Jonjo Shelvey in the heart of the Newcastle midfield, playing a deep role, which isn’t ideal for FPL managers who may want to select him. In addition to that, his disciplinary record is poor. He has been booked 24 times in his 86 career appearances, and received 2 red cards in the process.

The price tag he has been given is 5.0m, which in my eyes is reasonable for a player of his standards and potential in FPL. His ownership is also as low as it can be at 0.0%. Mainly because he was a late release onto the FPL scene on Tuesday afternoon.

Newcastle’s opening fixtures are as follows; Tottenham (H), Huddersfield (A), West Ham (H), Swansea (A) and Stoke (H). These first five fixtures could potentially be tempting for FPL managers as a set of fixtures may not come any easier than that for Newcastle.

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

Written by Harry Clark (@HarryClark67)

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