I didn't plan to write a full post on the transfer window dealings as, well, they tend to be pretty boring. Aside from a few select writers, most of them simply cut and past snippets from Wikipedia and combine them with some vague knowledge of players from Football Manager before declaring the player a "hit" or "miss" or some other awful measure of success failure (Ferguson/Moyes, Anyone/Heskey etc).
Juan Mata! But he's great. Wow, this is going to be a great list of talented options. Let's quickly nip those thoughts in the bud - this is as good as it gets. But in fairness, it's about as good as it gets in any season with a legitimately excellent player joining an underachieving team who still boast a number of top assets (including at least a couple who should be able to convert Mata's nifty passes at a healthy clip). Things didn't get off to a great start at Stoke for the team and Mata didn't set the world alight despite notching an assist from a nice through ball to the fit again van Persie. Two shots (both from outside the box) and three created chances are hardly a disaster but when your outlay is close to 10m, we need to see more. With Mata taking the field alongside van Persie and Rooney, he's nominally a wide player in this system, but one who will want to drift in and that makes this transition somewhat hard to forecast. For a cheaper price and in a more stable environment this seems like a match made in heaven but given my current increasing doubt in players like Silva and Ozil (who boast much better data than Mata right now) it's tough to see how he fits into your team other than as a stubborn desire to do something different.
Matic made his league debut tonight against City and put in a man of the match performance which given his price tag, could pique the interest of a few fantasy managers. He did occasionally foray into City's half - including one run which resulted in a great long range effort - though for the most part he sat even deeper than Luiz and his attacking potential is therefore likely to be highly limited. Of course, Chelsea will play in some games where more bodies are committed forward with regularity but the then there's the risk that Lampard, Willian or Ramires occupy the "holding" role in those games with Matic forced to the bench.
Where Matic lacks the opportunity to succeed in terms of his likely deployment, Salah's limitation is almost certainly going to be his playing time. Mourinho's comments on Salah's arrival seemed to indicate the Egyptian will offer an alternative option to get in behind defenses by utilising his speed, but there's no real reason to think he's going to challenge the excellent Hazard, Willian and Oscar for regular playing time.
With Lukaku sidelined for at least another month, you have to imagine that Traore will get a shot to make that front man position his own - even if Naismith did get on the score sheet this week. Everton have said that Lukaku's injury will be "weeks rather than months" so the clock is ticking for Traore to make his mark, and he's currently hindered by a hamstring problem that will see him miss at least one more week of action. Given the limited period to impact the team and the high price tag the risk here looks to significantly out weigh the reward.
It wouldn't be unbelievable to see the once highly rated McGeady slide into the first team here, though for that to happen with any regularity will likely require no one emerging as a replacement for Lukaku as if Mirallas moves back into the wide positions that will leave Pienaar, Osman, McGeady, Oviedo, Barkley and Naismith competing for the other wide berth (with one also taking up a spot in the middle, of course). He's never been much of a goalscorer and if we're suggesting his best way to stay in this side is to not have a target man up top, his assist potential presumably takes a hit too. Only on five occasions this season has an Everton wide man put together a game with three or more created chances, and all those appearances belong to Kevin Mirallas. Can McGeady improve on that? Perhaps, but you can still probably find incumbent players in other comparable positions who offer a bit more certainty for the same price.
It's always interesting to see some new faces in the league (for me, Bifouma is a player I'd never even heard of before last week), rather than the same old tired carousel of Danny Graham clones, yet with Anelka due back soon and Anichebe and Berahino already in the fold, it's going to take a minor miracle for Bifouma to play a role any more is significant than "interesting" substitute.
Much of the press around Armero suggests he was signed as "cover for Joey O'Brien", yet it seems reasonable to suggest that a player with 50 international caps and who has featured (albeit sporadically) for Napoli and Udinese over the past couple of seasons will be aiming to do more than than backup the former Bolton man. At 4.5m though, he doesn't offer a particular discount to his teammates yet comes with the risk of uncertainty so unless he has a particular attacking threat I'm unaware of he's probably not worth more than anyone else in this back line.
This is an interesting name as Boriello has enjoyed some very good seasons in the past, though I've only seen him feature with any regularity during his solid season at Roma (2010-11). Though the comp is probably a bit lazy, his game isn't massively different from his incumbent challenger Andy Carroll as Boriello brings a physical presence (less so than Carroll, though) which Allardyce will likely value at the apex of his 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 system. The problem though is that in Carroll, Allardyce already has the answer to that question, it's just that the big Geordie has been unable to stay on the pitch. If Carroll doesn't win his appeal, Boriello could be given the chance to play as soon as this week, but even if that audition is a success, it's hard to see a scenario where Allardyce (a) gives up on Carroll or (b) deploys both forwards in the same side. If given the chance I think Boriello could succeed but I fear he just won't be given the opportunity to do so with any regularity.
Nocerino has occasionally been regarded in high esteem but his star has faded in recent seasons and this move likely represents one of his last chances to reignite his career. At his best though, he can offer a useful threat from midfield and would offer a better attacking threat than the likes of Noble, Collison or Diame. How that gels with Nolan is a real question though, as is the fact that Nocerino hasn't really shown flashes of his true ability for some time now. I don't watch much Italian football these days so I can't comment on why he's declined (some writers suggest he was only ever the beneficiary of having talented teammates) but the fact that he arrives in a new league to a new team with a new style in perhaps the worst form of his life doesn't scream "instant success". The price is right if he can settle quickly, and Allardyce does have a history with turning round some fading careers (less so these days) so I'm intrigued but there's too many questions to pull the trigger yet.
Johnson looks like depth with Tomkins and presumably Collins the first choice picks with Reid out indefinitely.
This could be a useful signing for the Canaries in real life as Gutierrez offers a good work ethic with some ability going forward and the flexibility to play multiple positions. However, he's never been much in the way of fantasy production and stepping down from a talented Newcastle side to a mediocre Norwich team is unlikely to reverse that trend.
Fulham have been improving at the attacking end of the pitch but their defense continues to struggle, conceding double digit SiB in nine of the last 14 games, despite only facing three elite teams during that period. Hangeland's return coupled with Heitinga's arrival might help to a degree but overall this remains a poor defensive lineup and there appear to be very few opportunities in the rest of the season in which you'd want to start your Fulham defenders. Only an unexpected u-turn in Fulham's fortunes can make this move interesting.
I really like the work Fulham managed to do during the transfer window and Kvist offers a potential upgrade over the somewhat uninspiring collection of central options they currently have. However, he will occupy a deep role for his new club and is unlikely to add too many goals to add to his zero from his time at Stuttgart so from a fantasy perspective there is little interest here. He does add a more stable base in the middle though, from which the next group of players could benefit.
This is one of the more interesting moves of the window and I feel that this is a player it's going to be tricky not to overreact on. Wherever Mitroglou has played, he's scored, including 17 in 19 this season for Olympiakos (three of which came in the Champions League). With Berbatov and Ruiz departed and Bent being but an empty shell of a former player, the path should be relatively clear for Mitroglou to stake a claim for an early starting spot. As noted above, it's extremely dangerous to scout players based on video highlights but one thing at least that they do show is that he's fairly comfortable in front of goal and at least offers a few different dimensions on how he can contribute (the same could be said for a number of failed forwards before him though). Fulham aren't going to be confused for City or Arsenal any time soon, and their forwards have managed to notch two or more SiB in a game just 12 times in 38 opportunities (45 minutes or more played) while 8 of their 12 three created chance performances have come from players no longer with the team. In short, Mitroglou ticks the opportunity and ability boxes, but his current situation isn't great. I might be willing to take the risk if the fixtures were better but alas the next four games look pretty miserable and the going isn't that easy after that. I guess a trip to Old Trafford and the visit of Liverpool will offer Mitroglou the chance the impress.
This looks like another useful move for Fulham and could potentially combine with Mitroglou to change this team's fortunes which does make projection a touch tricky. Holtby took up a very nice position against Southampton in the hole behind Bent and was given corner duties from the off. It didn't do Fulham too much good in the end as the stumbled their way to another miserable loss which featured just eight total shots (four SiB) but there is at least a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Again, with better fixtures I might roll the dice here but it's very hard to see Holtby eclipsing players like Sterling or Januzaj in terms of upside or players like Nolan or Wilshere as a reliable, safe pair of hands.
Dempsey's four shot effort against Swansea suggested we could be somewhere close to getting a vintage Dempsey for the second half of the season. However a deeper look shows that his three SiB came off his only touches inside the opponents box, giving him just seven such touches in 274 minutes of action (for reference, Patrice Evra had that many this week). He was then benched this week in favour of Holtby and thus his long term prospects look to align more with his Spurs days than his glory days from Fulham seasons past.
Holt could probably do a job for someone in the Premier League and could well be targeted by any of the promoted sides next season, yet at Villa he finds himself behind a stable of decent front line options and will likely find himself fighting for scraps barring an injury to Benteke.
This was a nice pickup by Villa as Bertrand will come in to replace Luna who has struggled a bit so far at Villa Park. Prima facie the move doesn't offer much value with Villa shipping six goals in the last four games but it should be noted that they came against good teams and Villa actually limited their opponents to 29% fewer shots than expected in those games, but couldn't quite keep their opponents at bay. The real appeal with this Villa side is that when they've played bad teams they have tended to do quite well with clean sheets against Sunderland (twice), Palace, Cardiff, West Ham and Norwich already in the bag. The next four weeks sees them face three of those teams again (WHU, @CAR, NOR) and they should be pretty much at full strength throughout. Whether Bertrand offers better value than Vlaar is debatable but given Villa's recent wing back tendencies plus Vlaar's lack of attacking excitement, I'd be willing to put Bertrand pretty close to the top of my budget defender list.
After a couple of prolific seasons at Twente, de Jong has found it harder going in the Bundesliga and will now try his hand in England. Newcastle have really struggled for goals of late with five blanks in the last six so the opportunity for de Jong would appear to be there but Remy, Gouffran and Cisse could all be back to join the Ameobi brothers by the time the Magpies face Villa in GW27, by which point de Jong could find himself buried down a depth chart for a team that isn't likely to waste much time developing a player who is only on loan. if we get a suggestion he has displaced Cisse and Gouffran as the second forward in this side then his 6.5m tag looks interesting but there's too much risk here to act just yet.
Bridcutt jumped straight into Gus Poyet's side for the derby win and seemed to equip himself quite well in his debut. However, a deep holding position in a team not blessed with an abundance of attacking talent doesn't sound like a winning fantasy formula and so while the price is right, you're really just buying into a player who looks likely to offer consistent minutes and not much else.
Alonso is one of the players I am more familiar with after his time at Bolton and based on those couple of years this is a good capture for Sunderland (though you have to be a bit worried about his lack of action at Fiorentina). Still, Wes Brown has been ever present in this team when healthy (which admittedly has been an issue over the years) and he would still be the best option here at just 4.3m. Unlike Villa who have been unlucky based on their defensive stats of late, Sunderland appear to have been very fortunate, surrendering a total of 42 shots (24 SiB) over the last two games and yet somehow coming out with two clean sheets. Indeed, over the last 10 weeks they've surrendered 33% more SiB than expected with only two of the games registering above average marks (-19% vs WHU and -14% vs EVE).
This looks like a nice snag on paper for Cardiff but based on their recent defensive stats he's not going to be able to offer much value for us as fantasy managers. Cardiff have given up double digit SiB totals in five of the last six games, surrendering an eye watering 75% more SiB than opponent adjusted average. I guess at 4.1m he offers some value in that he might play every week (though after a somewhat shaky debut that isn't a guarantee) but don't expect much from your minimal outlay.
Zaha took just 12 minutes to make an impact for Cardiff and with Solskjaer fawning over the United loanee, we could be in for more of the same in the coming weeks. The man he replaced - Whittingham - has enjoyed a reasonably good season himself so Zaha isn't an absolute lock to start every week, but you have to imagine that when the Norwegian is making his first team plans, the thought of having a genuine match winner deployed out wide must be a tempting proposition. To temper the excitement a bit, Zaha didn't register a shot last week and only created two chances while his 13 passes in 58 minutes don't really suggest he's suddenly the lynchpin of this side either. Such is life for wide men though and if you have faith that the likes of Bellamy, Campbell or another new arrival Jones can convert chances at a reasonable rate, there is a lot to like with this package on offer. For most of the season I've penciled in players like Januzaj, Gnabry and Sterling, who offer reasonable upside for a low price (offset by risky playing time), into one of my midfield slots and Zaha is probably in a similar position. He's on a much weaker team of course, but could also potentially play a bigger role and for just 5.4m that's value not to be taken lightly.
I always felt people got a bit too excited about Jelavic after his early scoring form for Everton as while he's a useful player, he's not someone who's likely to help you take that next step from mid table to European places, as Everton have strived for under Moyes and now Martinez. At Hull though he should do a solid job for Steve Bruce and the upgrade from Graham and Sagbo to Jelavic and Long could be telling come year end. Without wanting to put too much emphasis on one game, Jelavic managed five shots with three inside the box and two hitting the target this past week against a good Tottenham side who have held opponents to 17% less SiB than average. Alas, Hull didn't offer too much outside of Jelavic's efforts, but that's perfect for fantasy purposes as a wide distribution of shots never helped anyone. At 6.9m he isn't a steal and it's hard to say he's a lock to beat out players like Lambert or Rodriguez or those who could take advantage of extra playing time like Dzeko. He does, however, offer something different and brings a fairly high floor to accompany a reasonable ceiling. Hull get @SUN, SOU, @CAR, NEW and @WHU in the next five games, though of course go into the run with just one goal in the last five games (and attacking data which suggests they haven't been particularly unlucky). Despite the attacking additions there's a real dearth of creativity here but if you're looking for a player to be the focal point of a team and capitalise on weaker fixtures, Jelavic seems like a decent bet and his 1.0% ownership only sweetens the pot.
Perhaps the premium to get Jelavic over Long is a tad high, yet I'd still feel more comfortable with the former Everton man than the former Baggie. Long is a pretty good player and in terms of helping Hull might be just as important as Jelavic, yet for fantasy purposes, unless you have a unique skill set or proven ability to take chances, I look for volume of efforts on goal and Long just wasn't able to generate those with any consistency during his time at West Brom. That said, if you really want/need to go cheap with your third forward I'd put him ahead of anyone in his price range other than perhaps Weimann and so he's certainly an asset to note when playing with your squad during a wildcard and contemplating going big in midfield rather than up top.
I'm conscious that I've missed a few names here but I've tried to stick to names that I either feel could contribute or ones who others seem to be talking about and who I thus want to cool the flames on.
Thanks for the post chris as I didn't really pay much attention to DLD. No real big moves this jan to really get excited about outside of Mata but even that seems Meh and I'm a Man U fan.
I've always wondered why you never make early transfer on say Monday or Tuesday to catch price rises of players you already know you want to help build your team value? I know friday comes injury news but its actually rare for players you bring in get hurt during the week when there are no other games(CL etc).
I made quite a few long posts on FFS and your data seems to back up my view point but Yaya Toure is making a mockery of the stats this season. I'd really love to see a post like you did a few years back centered around 1st half of the season vs 2nd half expected performance. Hope you remain inspired to keep writing as we love you read your thoughts.
This content is too long but my attention was on Juan Mata and I find it more interesting than the others.