We’re in the depths of another international break where the Premier League makes way for the less entertaining, more injury-based anxiety inducing international football.
What better way to fill the considerable void than to identify those top Fantrax names to target in a trade?
Here, we analyse four big players to target in a deal and talk about how to go about securing their services!
Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City | Midfielder | 15.08ppm | 90.5 points
Why not start big? And when I say big, I mean the biggest! It’s time to go after Kevin De Bruyne…
At over 15 points per match, KDB is not exactly having the worst start to the season. However, he’s not quite reaching the brilliant heights of last season. In fact, he’s quite a long way off that pace and hasn’t been quite at his brilliant best.
While at the start of the season his price will have been sky high, I imagine any struggling managers that take De Bruyne at 1:1 will now be more likely to listen to offers. Using that 1st pick of the draft often means that the picks in rounds two and three for that manager aren’t players that you’d normally want to pick at that point and this has led to many KDB managers enduring less than enjoyable starts.
I’ve seen De Bruyne trades out in numerous community leagues, mostly recently at a price of Richarlison and Allan Saint-Maximin: a price I see as very low but clearly one that was seen to strengthen two areas of a squad.
Cashing in on a top performing midfielder like Grealish, Barkley or Ziyech and adding in a good Forward too could be enough to get the KDB owner to sell. Manchester City are about to enter into a friendly fixture period. If you can get De Bruyne on board you would be getting the one attacking asset guaranteed starts in every single one.
Oh, and he’s still the best player in the game.
Allan Saint-Maximin | Newcastle United | Midfielder | 9.57ppm | 67 Points
Here’s a huge shock: Allan Saint-Maximin gets a shout out in a Fantasy Football 92 article.
As a general rule, if you can sign ASM up in a trade you should do it. As much as anything, we play this game for fun and for the enjoyment of watching your players play and the maverick Frenchman is the most entertaining player in the Premier League. It’s a big bonus that he scores well too.
By his own high standards and pre season expectations, however, Saint Max isn’t living up to the lofty draft position.
ASM has shown flashes of the brilliance that you spent your 2nd/3rd round pick on at the start of this season. However, scores of 5 and 4.5 over the last two weeks may have left some Saint Max owners frustrated and now is he best time you’ll get to trade him in.
Bizarrely, it appears that Steve Bruce hasn’t quite figured out where best to play his star man, having recently deployed him as a second striker which may explain his poor recent scores.
In theory, the new position should be good for ASM owners as it should mean more goalscoring opportunities. However, it’s actually meant that he’s been less involved in those dribbling actions that see him score so well when out on the left flank. Time will tell whether he’s given time to adapt or whether Bruce switches him back over to the left.
Newcastle face Chelsea next in what should be a game full of open spaces for Saint-Maximin to capitalise on. After that, the Toon have a nice run of fixtures all the way up to the game against Manchester City on Boxing Day.
As someone who owns ASM in most leagues, it’s still take a decent price for me to give up one of my star players. However, it’s hard to deny his price has fallen this season and my head would be turned by someone like Ross Barkley, Dominic Calvert Lewin or James Ward Prowse.
Nicolas Pepe | Arsenal | Forward | 3.07ppm | 21.5 points
The last campaign ended so well for Nicolas Pepe and Arsenal. The Gunners seemed to be getting the best out of the record signing at last as the Ivorian starred in the FA cup final win and seemed to be firmly at the centre of Mikel Arteta’s plans.
A 4th/5th round pick was always going to be a risk to secure Pepe but one that could pay off massively if he pushed on from a decent season’s end and continued to improve in an Arsenal shirt.
Fast forward to November and Pepe has still only started one Premier a league game, despite the consistently poor form of Willian. Pepe has been tearing it up in the Europa League but still can’t get a game in the league, much to the frustration of many Arsenal fans.
Why is he one to trade in? Well, the win at Manchester United may have served to paper over some cracks that were in full view against Aston Villa in GW8 as Arsenal created next to nothing in an embarrassing 3-0 home loss.
Arteta has to change something with only Bukayo Saka producing anything close to good form in recent weeks. Surely Pepe will finally get that call up his Europa League performances have deserved. His price should be very low right now and may even have been dropped in some leagues!
Anthony Martial | Manchester United | -0.62ppm | -2.5 points
If you think owning Pepe has been bad this season, (yes, that’s me) then count yourself lucky that you haven’t owned Anthony Martial!
The only thing worse than a player who doesn’t start is a player who does start but returns a negative score. Step forward Manchester United’s French striker.
Thanks to a hot end to last season, Martial went in round two of most leagues this season. His campaign was stunted by a stupid red card against Tottenham this season hit any owners excited by the prospect of his return against Everton last week will have been left bitterly disappointed by a return of -1.5 points. Awful.
The best bit is, if you’re non-owner looking for a forward, Martial’s price will never be as low as it is now and things can only get better for him! Frustrated owners will most likely be ready to take what they can get for Martial but if you can capitalise and get him in at a very low price, United’s upcoming fixtures look perfect for a striker desperately trying to re-find his form.
Fantasy Football 92 