Courtesy of one of our content providers The Draft Society, here we bring to you a deep dive on three new transfers for this season’s Draft Fantasy EPL on Fantrax! Check out our hints and tips on these new transfers. Essential reading to avoid misfiring during your Fantasy EPL Drafts this summer.
3 EPL Fantasy Draft Sleepers to Keep an Eye on
Ross Barkley
Position: Central midfielder (M in Fantrax)
Team: Aston Villa
Signed From: Luton for £6m
Prospects: Barkley had a remarkable English career turnaround for Luton last season at the ripe age of 30. He had 9 returns,10.4 PP90, and 8.4 GPP90 in 30 starts for the eventually relegated side but earned rave reviews and even some infrequent England shouts from his work in the center of the park. In comes Emery’s Villa, often buyers of older talents (see Tielemans, Coutinho, Carlos, and Torres) to keep his talents in the top flight. For Luton Town, Barkley most often played as part of a midfield 2, next to a more defensive-minded option. He offered little out of possession, but much with the ball, in the form of dribbles, shots, and key passes. If he can keep his levels up,
Barkley’s value this season will most likely be predominantly a function of how many starts he gets under Emery. In the center of the park, even after losing stalwart Douglas Luiz, the Villans are fairly crowded. Returning from injury, there’s Kamara, Buendia, and Ramsey. There’s captain McGinn (35 starts last season) & Tielemans (17 starts). There’s newly signed CM, Onana from Everton and DM, Barrenechea, and even Dendoncker still kicking. Plus, loads of attacking options. Still, Luiz off to Juve leaves 35 starts up for grabs and Barkley is coming off a great season where he offered something different from central midfield that Villa’s other options have no proven history of: goal contributions.
If Emery can put up with Barkley’s defensive deficiencies and perhaps partner him with a complementing, fit-again Kamara or Onana or play him further forward, his starts could soar, and fantasy points along with them. Or he could be a rotational mid, like Tielemans last year, likely with better PPS, who’s used more so in easier matchups. Regardless, his upside is undeniable after doing it in a worse team last season. Depending on how bullish you are on his starts this season, we think 8th round and later could be good value for Barkley.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Daichi Kamada
Position: Attacking midfielder (M in Fantrax)
Team: Crystal Palace
Signed From: Lazio for free (£18m value on Transfermarkt)
Prospects: Kamada has been rumored to the Prem for years, but finally his former Frankfurt manager, Glasner brings him to Palace. The 27yo is an attacking midfielder who has both played as a narrow 10 (like in Glasner’s favored formation) and more recently as a box-to-box mid in a flat 2 or 3. While he’s a well-rounded midfielder, with above-average numbers in almost every statistical category, he does not do any one particular, fantasy-relevant thing, at an excellent level. As a result, even in his most well-regarded season under Glasner in 21-22, when he had 9 goals and 6 assists in 25 starts, he put up 10.1 PPS and 6.2 GPPS, with 2.2 of that 10 coming from set pieces (penalties and corners). This past season, without set pieces, he scored 7.8 PPS and 6.3 GPPS for Lazio (and had similar numbers in years prior at Frankfurt). Assuming Eze stays, he’ll likely keep his right-footed sets away from Kamada, and Mateta will stick on pens. Competition for starts may also prove a challenge for Kamada, with Palace rumored to be interested in signing the younger Ismailla Sarr as well, and Jordan Ayew still knocking around for now(who did start 30 times last season).
Olise and Eze may have given us an inflated view of Palace attackers, particularly from a stat-sheet-filling perspective, but Kamada looks to be a significant step-down, perhaps more comparable to the elder Ayew from a Fantrax perspective. Being bullish on Glasner’s Palace is a popular take these days, even with Olise gone, but Kamada will need to be amongst the goals often to prove valuable this season. He’s a reasonable punt in the 10th round (pick 105) and beyond, but I wouldn’t get caught reaching unless Eze leaves.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Ibrahim Osman
Position: Winger (F in Fantrax)
Team: Brighton
Signed From: Nordsjaelland for £20m
Prospects: Another young, promising attacker for Brighton from parts (largely) unknown. Osman is a 19-year-old Ghanaian left-sided attacker coming from the Danish Superliga where he had 13 returns in 23 90’s. He had the most shots, successful take-ons, touches in the box, and fouls won in the final third. As with all Brighton prospects, there remains a large spectrum of outcomes. He could go on loan and fluster for a couple of years (like Alzate), or he could go straight into the starting XI when injuries occur (like Adingra, Buonanotte, etc.) This year, in particular though, there feels like an unsustainable amount of attacking talent in Brighton’s preseason camp, so we’d like to see some move out on loan/sale before a late-round punt on Osman. Otherwise, he may be capped as an upside spot streamer this season.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Check out the Fantrax Fantasy EPL Draft Kit! And make sure you also check out the 24/25 Draft Kit from our official EPL content partners The Draft Society for Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Draft Strategy, Transfer Analysis, 24/25 Season Projections, and so much more!