Fantasy Football is back - pick your team!
Thursday 1 October 2020 12:28, UK
They were two dream signings that were seemingly never going to happen... but where do they fit into Sky Sports Fantasy Football?
First Gareth Bale was staying. Manchester United were interested. He was then linked with a Tottenham reunion before rumours about a move to China surfaced.
Nonetheless, Daniel Levy has pulled one out of the bag and Jose Mourinho is set to land Gareth Bale at the second time of asking, after he failed in his first bid to land the Wales forward when he was the Real Madrid manager.
Bale and team-mate Sergio Reguilon travelled to England on Friday to finalise their moves, but what does this mean for Fantasy Football?
The Wales international comes into the game as a forward for £10.8m. Whether he plays before the Overhaul (Gameweek 4) is unknown, but Tottenham's fixtures from this point are awfully generous.
Tottenham's last match before the Overhaul is against Mourinho's former club Manchester United - they then face a run of games which include West Ham, Burnley, Brighton and West Brom.
If Bale is to play with Harry Kane as part of a front three, then goals, and more importantly Fantasy Football points, should be in abundance - not only in this period, but up until the end of the campaign.
It is worth noting Bale scored 105 goals for Real Madrid during his time with the Spanish team, although last season he played in less than 40 per cent of their competitive matches.
This brings about the issue of match fitness. The verdict therefore is one to monitor, depending on whether Mourinho can count on Bale following the fourth set of fixtures.
Firstly, £20m plus add-ons is a superb bit of business from Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp. Thiago wanted Liverpool, and Liverpool got their man in the end, for next to nothing in the current market. This is a world-class player who has won 17 trophies in seven years with Bayern Munich.
He will certainly bolster Liverpool in midfield, and there is scope for the Spain international to be even more of a bargain in Sky Sports Fantasy Football. He is available for a staggering £8.5m, making him the most expensive Liverpool midfielder, £0.1m ahead of captain Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
Behind the unstoppable trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, Fantasy Football players are accustomed to the predominantly low-scoring Liverpool midfielders, but where exactly could Thiago excel in comparison to his new teammates?
In the past four league campaigns, Thiago has averaged over 70 passes per game in three of those seasons, the other one averaging 67.7. This would provide Fantasy Football managers who recruit his services a constant source of points, for which he would accrue three for every time he reaches 70 or more passes.
There would be plenty of opportunities for him to strike in this Liverpool side, who averaged 628.21 passes per game last season. Thiago's average pass success rate was 90.5 per cent in the Bundelisga in 2019/20, so the Spaniard will not squander the ball too much.
The verdict on Thiago would be to sign the midfielder as soon as he has integrated into Klopp's XI. With the added bonuses of assists and goals, you could be onto a winner, who will be playing for the Premier League champions, for just £8.5m.
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