Fantasy Premier League

Potentially Useful News...

Tue May 20 03:12PM

...and the usual wild speculation.

The potentially useful news is Liverpool having actually signed (as in it sounds like a done deal) a right back. Philipp Degen is the name to remember. The big question is whether he is just the next in the never-ending rotation with Finnan and Arbeloa or if he is viewed as "the answer" at the right back position for the Reds. On the plus side, he is viewed as more of an attacking threat than a "stay-at-home" defender. If he does play, there's some chance that he will pick up a fair number of phantom points in addition to defending.

Just to keep all of you fantasy managers up to date, we are now up to two legitimate contenders for your opening day line-up: Modric (Spurs, M) and Degen (Pool, D). We'll try to keep this list up to date over the course of the summer when actual signings come in.

And now on to the wild speculation...

Lamps to Inter? Seems entirely unsubstantiated. The chances of it happening go up a bit if the Special One ends up at Inter but still not great.

Kewell to Pompey? Kewell denies it and it doesn't really make much sense unless 'arry already knows that Kranjcar is out the door.

Aliou Diarra to Everton? He wasn't that great on the other side of Liverpool. Certainly not enough to justify spending the reported £8M. Wouldn't you go after Lasanna Diarra if you were going to spend that kind of money? What with him a) being proven in the Prem and b) being perfectly willing to leave on a moments notice for a better situation (which Everton would be).

AJ to WHU? Frequently injured? Check. Overpriced? Check. No need to do any overseas scouting? Check. Seems like a Curbishly signing to me. The only reason Everton wouldn't do this is that they're not sure who to get as a replacement. Still, I'd do it if I were them. Look how well they did this past season without AJ.

A bunch of French League Players - Nasri (Attacking Mid), Makoun (Holding Mid), and Dabo (right back) - to Arsenal? Well, they're French and the press does love associating Arsenal with French players (even though there aren't many currently there). The first two make some sense as replacements for Hleb (presumably gone) and Flamini (already gone). Not sure why we'd be in for a right back with Sagna and Eboue (I'm assuming he'll never play on the right wing again) already signed. Makoun is well regarded but it seems unlikely that Wenger will sign both he AND yesterday's rumor Acquilani (if either).

After all of 5 2007-08 appearances for Crystal Palace, Spurs are rumored to be in for £5M (I'm sure the actual payout will depend on the lad's accomplishments) on John Bostock. Seems a lot to pay for someone who hasn't ever done anything but Spurs seem to have an endless well of cash so why not.

Duff somewhere? Seems that Spurs, Rovers, and Pompey are rumored to be after Duffman. Why? I'm not sure. Seems like WHU would be all over this one. I wouldn't pay him to be on my pub team until he proved that he could go an entire month without hurting himself - proving that he can still play at this point would be an added bonus.

Comments1 - 6 of 6

Don't forget Bosingwa +10
From jspitzberg on Tue May 20 04:16PM
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yes, Jeremy. Neal forgot Bosingwa, who is "just" the actual number 1 Portuguese right back (the two others who will be in Euro2008 are Chelsea's Paulo Ferreira (who will probably play @left-back - if he plays!) & Valencia's Miguel, who is very good but as you know Valencia had a terrible 2007/08 "La Liga". I'm half portuguese and I use to see almost all F.C.Porto's games, so I can tell you how Bosingwa is. 1st- He is NOT a very technical/flair player. But on the other hand he is one the fastest player I ever seem. Actually I NEVER saw anyone beating him (running faster/speed) not even in the UEFA champions League or other international games!... so I'm just waiting to see Bosingwa running after players like Walcott, as most of the fastest players you can find nowadays are in the EPL.
From daniel_menezes on Tue May 20 06:47PM
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by the way, the price Chelsea payed 4 Bosingwa [25 years old] is 20.5 millions euros as you can see in the oficial F.C.Porto site: http://www.fcporto.pt/Info/Futebol/Noticias/infofu
t_futcomunicadosadbosingwa_110508_35399.asp
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---------------------- I said that because in England teams don't like to say how much they pay, especially when it is a big value as it was with F.C.Porto's ANDERSON [19years old] to ManUtd (31,5 million €uros) or NANI (21 years old) from Sporting (25,5 million €uros). Nothing is "undisclose" because in Portugal teams must tell the revenue / government, etc about their transactions. So, sometimes I think that the English papers should read the others as we all around the world use to read yours. All the best 4 you both in the next season!
From daniel_menezes on Tue May 20 10:06PM
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P.S. in the beginning of his professional career Jose' Bosingwa was a defensive midfield (or more a sort of Essien, because he's NEVER TIRED, not even in injury time!), but F.C.Porto (plays 4-3-3 & have as much international central midfielders as ManUtd, Chelsea or Liverpool , so, (except in the 2005 season - he also was a 1st team member - when F.C.Porto played in a 3-4-3 atacking system) in the last couple of years he only played right-back, wich I think is better because when he playes @mid he runs like crazy and doesn't have much of a positional sense (he could learn some tactic & to be more calm, less crazy - sometimes he shoots from a big distance & most of the times it didn't work - I can just remember 1 goal, about one month ago). So, he's more energy (& he's skinny 1,83m, but at the same time strong/tough) than brain, but if Avran use the best of him, he will certainly be very useful to this Chelsea, and would be even more to Man Utd, who was the 1st EPL club to talk with Pinto Da Costa (F.C.Porto's president) who said that when he was negotiating with ManUtd, Chelsea gave almost the double (amount of money), so he had to sell immediatly. Bad for ManUtd, as they will have to find out someone to fullfill that right-back side (Neville is old& always injured and such a great team (maybe the best in the world today!) should find someone better than the adapted Brown to be the 1st choice, don't you agree?
From daniel_menezes on Tue May 20 10:13PM
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wow. @#$% dood. that was ALOT of info. but good info. I feel I can write Bosignwa's biography. ---Anyways, Web brown is defo NOT the anwser, but I think Man U can keep status quo (not the band) for a year, THEN decide to shore up the defence.
From owen1981 on Wed May 21 12:15AM
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Nasri to Arsenal?
From dd0ngman on Wed May 21 03:26PM
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