There are always a few things that signify the start of a new Premier League season.
You’ve got Steve Bruce returning to the top-flight/second tier (delete depending on whether or not it’s an odd-numbered year), fans of *every single club* complaining about a ‘biased’ fixture list, and the Premier League’s official fantasy football site opening for business.
As of today, you’re able to pick your squad and come up with a puntastic team name for the new campaign on the official site.
There are no major changes in gameplay from last season, when features such as ‘all-out-attack’ and ‘triple captain’ were introduced, but certain players have seen their prices skyrocket after big seasons last time out.
Jamie Vardy
The Leicester City striker turned down a potential move to Arsenal, opting instead to sign a new deal with the Foxes.
After top-scoring for the club last season, Vardy is now valued at £10m – that’s 10% of your total budget.
You’ll have to be confident in him repeating last season’s heroics if you want to part with that much money.
Riyad Mahrez
Vardy’s team-mate will set you back £9.5m, but that’s a hefty fee when you’re not sure where he will be playing his football next season. If he moves to one of the Premier League’s big guns it could prove thrifty, but if he goes abroad you’ve wasted a hefty chunk of change.
The Algerian picked up 240 points last season after hitting double figures for goals and assists, and is now valued at the same amount as Mesut Özil, Dimitri Payet and Anthony Martial.
Incidentally, Martial is now listed as a midfielder – perhaps an indication of how Jose Mourinho is expected to use the Frenchman this season.
The new signings
There’s always some guesswork involved when a player moves to the Premier League for the first time, but some have a better track record than others.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is valued at £11.5m after joining Manchester United from Paris Saint-Germain, while his new team-mate Henrikh Mkhitaryan is £2m cheaper.
Elsewhere, Arsenal may have paid more than £30m for Granit Xhaka in real money, but Fantasy Football doesn’t always play into the hands of defensive midfielders. He’s valued at £5.5m, less than team-mate Alex Iwobi and the same as Premier League luminaries such as Junior Stanislas, Tom Cleverley and Stewart Downing.
So, with that taken care of, it’s time to start picking your team. We’ll have a SportsJOE reader league running throughout the season, details of which will follow in due course.
