We can all pick those elite names early in the draft to get off to a solid start. However, the key to “winning” your draft is identifying those late round “sleepers” who can back up the stars and propel you to your league title!
As part of our FREE draft kit, we’ve identified a sleeper from each Premier League team to target in your draft! In part three, we start with Liverpool looking to bounce back with their fit again squad and finish with their opening day opponents newly-promoted Norwich City
Liverpool – Naby Keita (Midfielder)
You feel like if Naby Keita is to have any kind of Liverpool career going forward, it HAS to be now. With Gini Wijnaldum officially departed and no replacement seemingly lined up, Keita should finally have the chance to show why The Reds spent the big bucks on him.
As always, fitness is what holds the talented midfielder back but he has been heavily involved in pre-season and (it appears) Jurgen Klopp’s immediate plans. The fact that Keita hasn’t been sold already is testament to the belief his manager has in him.
From a fantasy perspective, Keita should be a far better option than Wijnaldum was, picking up more counting stats through successful dribbles and key passes and will most likely be undrafted in most Fantrax leagues this summer. Well worth a punt! Elsewhere, former first rounder and Fantasy darling Roberto Firmino now has an ADP of 43.52…
Manchester City – Ferran Torres (Forward)
A decent end of season followed by a very good Euros campaign for Spain could see Ferran Torres given a lot more game time with Manchester City this season. We all fall foul to Pep Roulette every season but Torres should be a fairly inexpensive way of joining the game we all love to hate. Seven goals and two assists signalled a good first campaign in a City shirt which he will look to build on this time around.
When examining mock draft data, Torres should be gettable around the eighth round of most drafts this summer, by which time you should have three solid midfielders and two starting forwards in your roster. I’d be more than happy to take the gamble on Torres at that stage!
It’s always difficult to pick out sleepers from a star studded team like Man City but should Bernardo Silva stay or secure a move to another Premier League side, his ADP of 95.13 could look a little stupid.
Manchester United – Anthony Martial (FOrward)
With all the fanfare surrounding the arrival of Jadon Sancho and the relative success of Edinson Cavani, the injured Anthony Martial has quickly become a forgotten man at Old Trafford. Having finally made that number nine spot his own after a decent end to 2019/20, the last campaign was one to forget for the Frenchman who bagged only four times and contributed three assists in 22 appearances.
A combination of his poor form and injury has seen Martial’s ADP drop to a staggering 134, putting him firmly in the “late round flyer” category having been in 3rd/4th round consideration this time last year. His future is uncertain and competition fierce but if you can get a player this talented in round 11/12 it has to be worth a go! Watch out for Mason Greenwood too, especially at the beginning of the season…
Newcastle United – Ryan Fraser (Midfielder)
Surely there’s a lot more to come from Ryan Fraser in a Newcastle shirt. His first season on Tyneside was a stop start one to say the least but he showed flashes of the player that made him a Fantrax legend at Bournemouth, most notably a 24 point haul without a goal involvement against Crystal Palace in February.
The famous Fraser – Wilson duo has already combined in pre-season and with limited funds in the transfer market once more it looks likely Fraser will be relied upon along with Allan Saint-Maximin to supply the bullets for their deadly striker. You should be able to secure the key pass king (he made the most KPs throughout the whole Newcastle squad in 2020/21 despite only starting nine games) in the latter stages of your draft judging by his ADP of 162.54.
Norwich City – Kieran Dowell (Midfielder)
With Emi Buendia gone, the creative burden looks like it will shared between new arrival Milot Rashica and creative midfielder Kieran Dowell. An injury hit campaign curtailed Dowell’s stats but six attacking returns in less than 1,000 minutes of actions should bode well for him if he can remain fit and in the starting eleven.
He should fill up the stat sheet pretty well too in favorable fixtures, particularly via key passes. However, those favorable fixtures aren’t exactly just around the corner for Norwich and their gruelling start probably means that Dowell is one of those to pick up off the waiver wire in September rather than to draft him and keep him on your 16 man roster.
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