Trading well is key to building that high upside, title winning squad but anyone who has played in a draft league will know exactly how difficult it can be to get a deal over the line!
The art to trading is knowing who to target and when to strike as well as which players to use in the trades. This weekly segments looks into the strategy of selling high on those overachievers and buying low on those studs that haven’t performed as expected…
Buy Low
Sadio Mane – Liverpool – Forward
Sadio Mane was a shock omission from the Liverpool lineup that tore Manchester United apart on Sunday afternoon. His replacement Diogo Jota grabbed his opportunity with both hands, scoring Liverpool’s second before assisting one of Mo Salah’s three strikes.
Mane will, no doubt, be back in the reckoning at Liverpool sooner rather than later as he’s not having the worst season himself but Sunday’s shock benching may be enough to cause a bit of panic among those who drafted him first in the summer. Couple that with AFCON coming up in the new year and you may be able to get the Senegalese star at a discount price right now.
Romelu Lukaku – CHelsea – Forward
Chelsea talisman Romelu Lukaku’s season is on hold at the moment due to an injury sustained in a Champions League tie against Malmo, a match in which many have questioned whether he was needed in the lineup against a team that Chelsea were expected to (and did) beat comfortably.
Many Lukaku owners will be understandably frustrated by the injury and it’s also unclear yet when he will return to action. The big Belgian is also very goal dependent which is another frustration that owners will face but when he scores as many as he does that shouldn’t matter too much.
If you’re stacked in the midfield department and can wait for a week or two for a guaranteed starting forward, now would be a good time to pounce for Lukaku.
Other Options
James Maddison (Leicester City – Midfielder), James Ward Prowse (Soutampton – Midfielder), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City – Midfielder), Andrew Robertson (Liverpool – Defender)
Sell High
Youri Tielemans – Leicester City – Midfielder
The form of Youri Tielemans is attracting admiring glances from many of Europe’s top clubs and rightly so. Leicester haven’t had the strongest start to this season but Tielemans is in the form of his life and has dragged them to positive results (his stunning strike in the 2-1 win at Brentford last week a prime example) single handedly.
His Fantrax scores are massively impressive and are what most will have been expecting from early second rounder James Maddison. Previously more goal/assist dependent, his 21.5 point showing with a goal in GW9 seem to indicate that he is going to the next level as a Fantrax asset. He could be used to trade for a top forward and packaged for an elite midfielder on his current form!
Emile Smith Rowe – Arsenal – Midfielder
Emile Smith Rowe’s man of the match performance against Aston Villa brought about lots of plaudits and 30 points on Fantrax but I am far from convinced about him as a consistent asset. The young star was at the centre of everything good about Arsenal last Friday but before the 22 pointer against Tottenham he showed very little to get excited about.
ESR is getting better and better but trading him off the back of such a hot performance should see you able to land a much more consistent performer. There will be more 30 pointers to come from Smith Rowe but you’ll have to battle through the 5/6 pointers in order to keep enjoying them!
Other Options
Nathan Redmond (Southampton – Midfielder), Andros Townsend (Everton – Midfielder), Phil Foden (Manchester City – Midfielder), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal – Forward), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea – Defender)
Fantasy Football 92 