Will Hughes – Fantasy Premier League Potential

Last week Watford completed the £8 million signing of Will Hughes from Derby County on a 5 year deal. This was the first signing of Watford’s new manager Marco Silva, who succeeded Walter Mazzarri and it finally brings Hughes to the Premier League, as he has been spoken as a Premier League prospect since he made his debut for Derby in 2011.

Will Hughes made 187 appearances for the Rams and will look to help Watford improve on their 17th place finish last season. Named in the England U21’s European Championship team, Hughes will be returning to Watford to complete the formalities after their defeat to Germany, but he has already been quoted saying:

“I think I bring both sides to my game, with my main strength being creativity. I’m looking to score a lot more goals than I have previously and to set up lots of chances too.”

Fantasy Football Potential

Last season, Will Hughes made 38 appearances for Derby, with 28 of those being starts. In that time, Will Hughes only managed to find the back of the net twice and assisted on three occasions. This doesn’t sound to be the best fantasy football returns if you were to pick Hughes, however it is evident that the youngster has a lot of talent and potential that could turn him into a prolific goal scorer.

Hughes is a hard worker in the middle of the park and will look to push forward wherever he can, but he doesn’t shy away from his defensive responsibilities, which was reflected in him picking up 10 bookings last season.

Will Hughes will likely be priced around the 5.0m possibly lower, due to his not so prolific goal scoring history, which could make him a brilliant 5th midfielder or budget option allowing you to invest in some more expensive ‘big hitters’.

There will be other options within the Watford line up such as Tom Cleverley and Etiene Capoue and it will be interesting to see how Hughes fits into Silva’s new plans. Looking at Watford’s start, they have a tough game in gameweek 1 against Liverpool (H), but then they play Bournemouth (A) and Brighton (H) in gameweek 2 and 3, which do make better reading for fantasy managers.

This all being said, Will Hughes could work well if you chose to have two budget players to rotate with as 4th and 5th midfielders, but it’s not quite clear how Hughes will fit into Watford’s system and how much of a fantasy football prospect he really will be.

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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