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…
Here’s the trades we recommend ahead of Gameweek 13…
Buy Low
Mason Mount – Chelsea – Midfielder
Chelsea are flying at the moment but one player that isn’t is their star man of last year Mason Mount. Owners will have been pleased to see him return for the early kick off against Leicester City in GW12 but will have been a lot less pleased two hours later when Mount returned just three points despite a dominant Chelsea display.
With Callum Hudson Odoi capitalising on his run in the side and Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner all returning from injury recently, Mount will see a lot of rotation over the busy Christmas fixture schedule.
If you roster any of the aforementioned players, it’s a good move to strike for Mount now while his price is relatively low to give you that Chelsea cover. Out of all the attacking options, you’d still expect him and Romelu Lukaku to be among the highest scorers by the end of the season.
Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City – Midfielder
He’s here again! Kevin De Bruyne (the player who will have been the first player off the board in a lot of leagues this summer) is in or buy low section once again, this time after contracting COVID while away with Belgium last week.
Having seen some of the player KDB is in Twitter polls in and also witnessed some of the offers I’ve received for the Belgian star myself, the general feeling is that his price is low at the moment. The theory that he is “done”, however are well wide of the mark for me. He scored 12 points without a goal or assist against Manchester United before he starred in the Belgium game against Wales, demonstrating that he is still a top asset.
It’s likely that you’ll still have to give a decent asset to secure his signature but nowhere near what it would’ve taken at the start of the season. Packaging an overperformer like Jarrod Bowen or Andros Townsend with someone dependable like James Ward Prowse should be enough to test the resolve of the KDB owner.
Sell High
Maxwel Cornet – Burnley – Forward
Burnley new boy Maxwel Cornet has surprised everyone since his arrival, striking five times in seven games. Not only does he boast of a great scoring record but his goals are already worthy of a career highlight reel. He doesn’t score tap-ins!
All this adds up to Cornet being the perfect trade high candidate. Why? Because surely this form isn’t sustainable. If I rostered Cornet I’d be much happier if he was scoring tap-ins every week due to the fact that he can do that sort of thing every week. Twenty five yard screamers aren’t something he’s going to pull out all the time (though he is proving that he can do it on the regular at the moment).
Cornet has also been reliant on goals to score points so far in Fantrax. He’s certainly proving to be an excellent signing so far but the likelihood of him carrying on his scoring ratio in a team that creates as little as Burnley traditionally does is surely small. He’s certainly a quality player but now is the time to sell in my opinion ahead of AFCON.
Christian Benteke – Crystal Palace – Forward
Patrick Vieira’s arrival as Crystal Palace has revitalised The Eagles, none more so than big Belgian Christian Benteke. The giant striker has always been a decent asset in Fantrax/Togga scoring but has never quite backed it up with the goals needed to become a top striker since leaving Aston Villa.
Four goals already in the Premier League is a great sign. Benteke will always score well when starting and two goals against Burnley at the weekend will certainly have done him no harm. Crystal Palace are, however, in the unusual position of having plenty of options in forward positions with Wilfried Zaha, Odsonne Edouard, Jordan Ayew, Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze all vying for a starting spot.
Using Christian Benteke in a one-for-one might not get you too far but he’d be the perfect player to package with an overachiever to aim for one of the big names.
Fantasy Football 92 