As the final international break of the calendar year draws to a close, FPL managers are taking stock of their teams and bracing themselves for 11 Gameweeks in the next 44 days.
It’s going to be a busy time for FPL managers with injures and rotation inevitable during this period, so the FPL transfer market is going to be in full swing with managers looking to make the most of this pile up in Premier League fixtures.
New trend of transfers
There is a growing trend of early transfers in the FPL with ruthless managers making changes to their teams for the next gameweek before the previous one has finished, if the player is not performing then they’re gone, transferred out without any hesitation. This brings with it a huge risk with lots of mid week fixtures, and stars in Amsterdam at concerts (sorry Sergio).
Here is an example of an early transfer gone wrong
Phil Jones is a player that has attracted a lot of attention this season, and when you look at the stats it’s not hard to see why! Jones has played in all of Manchester United’s 11 Premier League games and been part of a defence that has kept an amazing eight clean sheets. Include the fact that he is priced at £5.5m, then its no wonder over 100,000 managers transferred him in for GW12. Happy days… well no not really. Jones had been struggling recently with a thigh injury and was played by Gareth Southgate in England’s friendly against Germany. After only a few minutes Jones looked to be struggling and was subbed, while FPL managers held their breath for a update on his fitness. Mourinho was not impressed, neither were 15.5% of FPL managers who were left with an injured player.
Jones is not the only example this season, there’s Aguero too, transferred in by just under 83k this week after scoring twice for Argentina, only to find out that he is a doubt for the Leicester game due to a dizzy spell.
When I normally make transfers
I’ve always preferred to make my transfers as late as possible, giving myself as much time to collect the information needed. I study form and fixtures, check the injury news and give myself a couple of options and think about what is the best for my team.
Price rises
So in an ideal world we all leave our transfers to the last few days, but due to the trend of managers making early transfers one thing to keep an eye is the price of your FPL players as they can go up and down. There is nothing more frustrating than being -0.1m off your ideal team because they rose in price during the week. So you have to make sure you keep an eye on it and there are apps and twitter accounts to help you do so.
My advice
Leave your transfers as late as possible and don’t risk selecting an injured player, however keep an eye on price rises and falls to make sure you don’t miss out.
Written by @Barrick88
