With the Premier League season now as close as ever, all football fans are scrambling to finalize their teams for the new season of the Fantasy Premier League.
The importance of picking good strikers can’t be overstated enough. They’re always players like Harry Kane and Daniel Sturridge who have fantastic goals to games ratios and have to be picked when they’re fit, but the tight budget in the game means that you can’t just fill in your strikeforce with the most expensive players.
A lot depends on trying to predict which forward could have a breakout season, and if you get your decision right you’ll have the windfall of points and reap the benefits of his price increase as well. Here are some players we think could turn out to be this year’s Bargain Buys in attack.
#5 Ahmed Musa – £7.5m
Leicester were following Ahmed Musa for a long time before they eventually signed him this summer window. It wasn’t a panic buy as they lined him up if they had lost Jamie Vardy and was not a player who was considered out of the blue. A January approach by the new Premier League champions had been turned down by CSKA Moscow but now they’ve finally got their man.
Musa has pace to burn, and with 17 goals in 40 appearances last year, is constantly improving his finishing. Musa could be a great asset for Leicester this year, and he’s priced at a reasonable fee and could be worth your faith.
#4 Troy Deeney – £7m
It’s hard to find someone with as much value for money as Troy Deeney in the entire Fantasy Premier League game. The 28-year-old forward consistently racked up the points last season with 13 goals and 9 assists.
There were doubts over his ability to replicate the form that he had shown in the Championship in the Premier League, but his technical ability shone through last year and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be amongst the goals again. You can only take one Zlatan Ibrahimovic in your team, so Deeney might play the perfect foil.
#3 Salomon Rondon – £6.5m
The West Brom striker initially caught the eye at Malaga, when he scored 14 league goals in 30 games in the 2010-11 season. He was only 21 years old at the time, and six full seasons have passed since. His goalscoring return has always been consistent, although his four-year stint in Russia meant that he was not as prominent on the footballing map.
West Brom were convinced enough of his abilities (or flushed with cash) to break their club transfer record to sign him. With 10 goals in his first season, he’s built a solid platform to do even batter this year for The Baggies.
#2 Alvaro Negredo – £6.5m
Negredo is back in England after making a grand entry in England with Manchester City. He’s not had a great last season with Valencia, but the 23 goals in 48 appearances he netted with The Citizens will be fresh in the memories of City fans.
Powerful in the air, a good finisher and priced at a reasonable £6.5m, he could be the ammunition Middlesbrough need to stay in the Premier League, and could turn out to be excellent value for his fee. Middlesbrough face Stoke, Sunderland, Crystal Palace and West Brom in their opening games, so if Negredo settles back in England quickly he could resume his adventures in England with a few goals.
#1 Benik Afobe - £6m
Benik Afobe is a product of the Arsenal youth academy and has spent most of his career on loan to different clubs before finally having a breakthrough season with the Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The 23 goals he scored in 48 appearances in the Championship convinced Bournemouth that he was worth the club record £10 million investment. It helped that Afobe found his feet quickly in the Premier League as he scored 4 useful goals in 12 appearances last year.
Afobe could well thrive under Eddie Howe at Bournemouth and show that he’s more than good enough to play at this level and looks like one of the best, cheap attacking picks in this year’s FPL.
