Last week was both the end of the summer transfer period and the first Fifa break for the season. Hopefully nobody made any trades too soon since these breaks can lead to player injuries and you don’t want to trade out someone underperforming for someone who is seriously injured. Or, you don’t want to make a trade only to discover another player in you lineup picked up an injury. It’s most important to have a full line up, so always consider that when making your trades.
You need to balance the decision of trading early for a better price. Players can lose value if they are dropped from a lot of fantasy teams and there is a higher chance of that happening the later you wait in the week. But the inverse is also true. If a player you want is picked up by a lot of fantasy managers their value could go up just enough to mess up your perfectly calculated trade.
You’ll need to decide if you’re going to risk value for picking someone who may get injured. During the season you’ll take some calculated risks in this regard, but generally, I like to wait out these break periods in case someone gets a serious injury. For instance, Frank Lampard is now listed as doubtful after the English friendlies, so is it worth it to trade him for someone else or sit on him and hope for a healthy return in a week? Depends on what Chelsea’s schedule is and whether or not I can get him back if I pull him out of the lineup this week.
Now, for the rest of the transfers. I have to say, there are some very exciting options now. Birmingham and Sunderland seem to have made some pretty big moves. Birmingham have brought in Alexander Hleb and Jean Beausejour, both of whom could prove worth a run in your team. They also picked up Charles N’Zogbia who can be a solid performer for this price point, but seems to have his mind elsewhere these days, so could be risky if he’s not focused on the game. Sunderland have picked up Asamoah Gyan, who had a breakout display during the World Cup, as well as young Danny Wellbeck who could play a part now that Kenwyne Jones is at Stoke.
The other two signings I’ve got on my watch list are Rafael van der Vaart now at Tottenham and Carlos Salcido at Fulham. Salcido really impressed me with his attacking play and having him in your lineup as a defender could payoff dividends throughout the season. While van der Vaart is just a proven performer at some very successful clubs, although Spurs seem to have a lot of excess players these days.
