The Premier League signings are steadily rolling in, so our Summer Transfer Analysis will delve into the prospects of all the major transfers. We use a five-star rating model to rank the new signings; use these hints and tips to help get your Draft Premier League season off to a flyer!
Read below for the potential impact these players could have on your Draft League. It’s imperative that you know who the new signings are ahead of the upcoming drafts, and what kind of impact they could have on the Premier League!
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The Premier League New Summer Transfer Signings covered here occurred between August 26th and September 6th.
Summer Transfer Analysis 20/21
We outline each Premier League new signing individually, providing our views on how they will perform this season and a star rating is given based on their upcoming prospects!
We’ve ranked the prospects based on a star rating, from 1 to 5:
⭐️ = Steer clear
⭐️⭐️ = Wait and see
⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Could be worth a punt
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Great prospect
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = The Premier League signing you’ve been waiting for!
Callum Wilson
Position: Forward (Forward in Fantrax)
Team: Newcastle United
Signed From: AFC Bournemouth for £20.0m
Prospects: He may not have had the best of seasons last year at Bournemouth, but Callum Wilson is still a name that holds fantasy value. The England international knows where the back of the net is (41 Premier League goals in 126 games for a side that lived in the bottom half) – and this is something that Newcastle could really use now that Dwight Gayle is out for up to 4 months. A lot may depend on ASM carrying on from where he left off last season, otherwise, he’ll be relying on Shelvey and Almiron to provide for him. Not bad, but not exactly inspiring either. Side note: it was only two seasons ago that he scored 14 and assisted 9…just saying.
Verdict: A 7th round pick seems a fair price for Wilson. He should start most games, which gives him the edge over the likes of Lacazette (ADP of 81.0), Jota (83.9), and Haller (90.4), though his ceiling may be lower.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fabio Silva
Position: Forward (Forward in Fantrax)
Team: Wolverhampton Wanderers
Signed From: FC Porto for £36.0m
Prospects: When you buy an 18-year old, it’s often one for the future. Even when the transfer fee is a club record £36m. Having said that, the board will expect him to feature this season, so his arrival is going to have big implications on the fantasy value of various Wolves players. It had already begun to get crowded going forward for Wolves, what with Jota’s decline and Neto and Podence’s ascension, and now it will only get worse. The huge fee also suggests Wolves may not bother trying to find a replacement for Doherty; which in turn, suggests that Traore will return to wing-back – dropping his value down too.
Verdict: So many unknowns here. The most optimistic of Wolves fans may suggest he’s this season’s Mason Greenwood, but remember, Greenwood had only started 4 games up until the restart last season. 15th round draft pick, purely for the potential trade bait.
Rating: ⭐️1/2
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Marcal
Position: Left Back/Centre-Back (Defender in Fantrax)
Team: Wolverhampton Wanderers
Signed From: Olympique Lyon for £1.8m
Prospects: The immediate reaction to the Marcal signing is that he comes in as a replacement for the injured Jonny, but this might not be the case. Ruben Vinagre appears to be highly rated at Wolves, so he may simply be back-up to him, or indeed, he may provide competition at centre-back – the position he’s actually played more frequently for Lyon this season. In any case, this is unlikely to be a reliable route into the much sought-after Wolves defence.
Verdict: In limited game-time at Lyon last season (just 829 minutes), Marcal had a very impressive equivalent PP90 of 11.0. But his starting spot is a huge concern. Perhaps worth a final-round draft pick, but if not, he could just be a 2 pm FA pickup when Nuno gives him a runout.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Timothy Castagne
Position: Left Back/Right Back (Defender in Fantrax)
Team: Leicester City
Signed From: Atalanta for £21.6m
Prospects: While primarily known as a right-back, most reports are suggesting Leicester’s new man to be a replacement for Chilwell on the other side of the defence. It’s a position he’s played before though, and according to SofaScore, he would be a bit of an upgrade on Chilwell from an attacking perspective. He wasn’t exactly a standout performer for Atalanta last season (6.72 WhoScored rating), though, in fairness, the Italian side had a cavalier attitude towards defending – something that won’t be the case at Leicester. His equivalent PP90 of 8.5, therefore, may actually improve in the Premier League. Or, at least, should not decrease.
Verdict: A relatively low ADP (114.55) for a starting fullback in a top-half-of-the-table side. Leicester’s recruitment in recent years has been one of the best in the league; drafting him as high as the 7th round may pay off.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rodrigo Moreno
Position: Forward (Forward in Fantrax)
Team: Leeds United
Signed From: Valencia for £27.0m
Prospects: A lot of hype with the new Leeds man, and it’s reflected in his ADP of 71.98 (the next highest Leeds player is Pablo Hernandez at 92.03). If you’ve played 28 times for Spain – and scored 8 goals for them – then that hype may well be warranted. That man Drafterthoughts calculated his PP90 at Valencia last season to be a nice 9.2, but remember that this was for a team that finished 9th. Whilst Leeds/Bielsa seems to be media-darlings right now, you would be hard-pushed to think that Leeds won’t be considerably lower than that, and therefore Rodrigo’s contributions would also be lower. Not to mention that the league is a new one that he’ll have to adapt to.
Verdict: For sure there’s a lot of upside here, but the ADP is probably a round or two too high at the moment. 7th – 8th round selection.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ben Chilwell
Position: Left-Back (Defender in Fantrax)
Team: Chelsea
Signed From: Leicester City for £45.2m
Prospects: Does Chilwell’s move from Chelsea increase or decrease his fantasy value? It probably stays the same. You would think his attacking output would improve (but be careful not to think he will replicate Marcos Alonso’s numbers – he won’t – the Spaniard is an enigma), but his clean sheets are likely to drop.
Verdict: Defenders still get taken off the board a little too early (remember, it’s not that they don’t score points – it’s that the ability to waiver in equally profitable alternatives is greater in defence). A 5th round pick is probably right here. Side note: Chilwell, VVD, and Azpilicueta had very similar PP90’s last season (~10.5) but they have very different ADP’s (42.77, 21.10, and 55.54, respectively). This should give you an idea of where the good value lies.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
Eberechi Eze
Position: Attacking Midfielder (Midfielder in Fantrax)
Team: Crystal Palace
Signed From: Queens Park Rangers for £16.0m
Prospects: A very young and exciting prospect arriving from the Championship – and to a team that needs exactly that. Although he played more at left wing last season, he is also very adept in behind the forward, which is probably what he will be doing if Zaha stays at Palace. Some great numbers in the Championship, and ones that shouldn’t be overly hindered by the jump up in level given that his calculated equivalent PP90 was not reliant on GACS and that QPR was hardly a force in the division last season.
Verdict: Most new signings have an inflated ADP (the shiny new toy effect). Not Eze. His is currently 93.35 but should be much higher. 5th or 6th round pick.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
Thiago Silva
Position: Centre-Back (Defender in Fantrax)
Team: Chelsea
Signed From: Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer
Prospects: A huge name arriving to the Premier League in the form of Thiago Silva. 88 caps for Brazil, captain of his country, captain of a PSG side that he’s played for over 300 times, over 100 games for Milan, countless trophies along the way. But he’s still a central defender for Chelsea. Last season, the FP/G’s of Lampard’s centre-backs were 6.2 (Tomori), 5.9 (Zouma), 5.4 (Rudiger), and 4.1 (Christensen). His equivalent FP/G last season at PSG was 6.4, but it should go without saying that this is going to come down in the blue of Chelsea.
Verdict: The Fantrax writers top 200 rankings had Thiago Silva at 132, but there was a split in the views, with the Chaps and Genie ranking him near the 100 mark, and myself and Totti ranking him near the 160 mark. I’m standing by my view – there’s little to warrant drafting Thiago Silva at all.
Rating: ⭐️ 1/2
Matt Doherty
Position: Right Back/Wing-Back (Defender in Fantrax)
Team: Tottenham Hotspur
Signed From: Wolverhampton Wanderers for £15.1m
Prospects: Like with the Chilwell signing, when Doherty moved from the midlands to London, everyone asked what that did to his fantasy value. I think it falls slightly. From an attacking perspective, there’s probably little difference (at least, on the respective right-hand sides where Doherty plays), but Wolves have had a much superior defence to Tottenham over the last two seasons. There’s also the concern that Jose employs him a little deeper than he was at Wolves, which will obviously hurt his chances of replicating the 21 key passes and 4 goals from last season.
Verdict: 4th round – just above Chilwell (and by association, VVD and Azpilicueta).
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Gabriel Magalhaes
Position: Centre-Back (Defender in Fantrax)
Team: Arsenal
Signed From: LOSC Lille for £23.4m
Prospects: Many expect an improved Arsenal defence this year with the addition of the 6 foot 3, 22-year-old Gabriel, but that may be more down to who he is replacing than his own level of ability. As a centre-back, his fantasy value is limited but his numbers suggest he’s a force in the air with the 3.5 aerials won per game ranking 16th in Ligue 1 last season (7th amongst defenders). Drafterthoughts calculated his PP90 at 8.1.
Verdict: Could be worth a late-round punt; perhaps the 12th round. Word of warning: whilst it appeared on the eye that Arteta had improved Arsenal’s defence, the fantasy numbers don’t reflect that. Post-restart, the FP/G’s of their main starters were 6.5 (Tierney), 6.4 (Mustafi), 5.3 (Bellerin), 3.6 (Kolasinac), and 2.1 (David Luiz).
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Donny van de Beek
Position: Centre-Midfield (Midfielder in Fantrax)
Team: Manchester United
Signed From: Ajax for £35.1m
Prospects: There’s the shiny new toy effect and there’s also the Manchester United effect. Both cause an inflated fantasy price. Donny van de Beek with an ADP of 65.98 – above the likes of Nathan Redmond, Harvey Barnes, John McGinn, and Tomas Soucek – ticks both boxes. The 23-year old Dutch midfielder is not going to play as high up as he did for Ajax, so the 8 goals and 5 assists he had last season are probably going to come down. Coming from the Eredivisie can be very hit or miss and whilst this looks a good signing for United in real life, in the more important world of fantasy it seems to be massively overvalued right now.
Verdict: Purely based on fantasy value, van de Beek should go in the 9th round. But if you know someone drafting after you wants him, and he’s there in the 6th or 7th, it could be worth a pickup just to then trade him.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Matty Cash
Position: Right-Back…potentially Right-Winger (Defender in Fantrax)
Team: Aston Villa
Signed From: Nottingham Forest for £14.2m
Prospects: Despite what many fantasy experts will tell you, the good fullback at Villa last season was Frederic Guilbert, not Matt Targett. Which makes the signing of Matty Cash a little strange, until you realise that Cash has only been a right-back for one season and that prior to that he was a right-winger. Right-wing is a position of need for Dean Smith, and so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Forest man return there. Which then makes Cash – classified as a defender – potentially very valuable. Now, this theory may not play out, but regardless, Cash had some solid numbers in the Championship last season – a 7.20 rating (18th best in the league), 3 goals, 5 assists, and 2.6 tackles per game (9th best).
Verdict: A very late round punt, but if he does end up playing out of position, he could be a steal.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Kai Havertz
Position: Attacking Midfielder (Midfielder in Fantrax)
Team: Chelsea
Signed From: Bayer Leverkusen for £72.0m
Prospects: What a difference a year makes. This time last season, Lampard basically had a free shot in his first season as manager. A transfer ban, the loss of Hazard, and loads of young players to blood essentially gave him a free pass. Now, having spent £200m on Havertz, Werner, Chilwell, and Ziyech (not to mention Thiago Silva’s wages), the pressure is on. Last season Havertz’s equivalent PP90 at Leverkusen was 13.4 – the same as Emiliano Buendia. And the good news is that the move from the Bundesliga to the Premier League tends to be less volatile than any other league in Europe. Plus, the attacking midfielder is coming from Leverkusen – not the dominant team in the league like in the case of van de Beek and Thiago Silva – so again, a potential drop-off is less worrying.
Verdict: It’s not quite at Werner level; partly because Werner’s numbers at RB Leipzig really were ridiculous, and partly because Havertz has more of a rotation risk, but it’s up there. End of the 2nd round (ahead of teammate Ziyech).
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Allan
Position: Centre Midfielder (Midfielder in Fantrax)
Team: Everton
Signed From: Napoli for £22.5m
Prospects: Everton’s midfield looks like it’s getting the help that it seriously needed, but like with van de Beek, the question is how much the real life value transfers to the fantasy value. Whilst he looks set to be the deep man in the Everton midfield, he does have the advantage of probably playing 90-minutes week-in, week-out. An equivalent 8.9 PP90 at Napoli is nice if it can be matched over here. For comparison sake, both Zaha and Fleck has an 8.9 PP90, and they have current ADP’s of 42.8 and 113.9. Allan’s? 216.8.
Verdict: Everton were abysmal post-restart, but they have the players there to do something this season. More importantly, they have a legitimate world-class manager. I like Allan, even as high as the 10th round. He could have similar productivity to Leicester’s Ndidi.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
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