The Tim Steidten – Fantasy Football Challenge

With Fantasy football teams already being prepared in anticipation of the new season and West Ham’s woeful transfer window, for a bit of fun here’s how I would spend the money if I were in Tim Steidten’s position.

Targets I have mentioned outside of Fofana are all arguably achievable.

I suspect they would want to join West Ham, and are within our budget!

What is frightening is that a lot of these players would have been flagged purely on the data so may even have been shortlisted as potential targets, which was the case with Youssouf Fofana.

Post sale Flynn Downes, who ironically had strong numbers based on quant data, outside of the emergence of Freddie Potts, it may be prudent to fill the void. And whilst drafting this article, the name Youssouf Fofana from Monaco, aged 25, a French international, a box to box midfielder, came to mind. Some suggest he is a better player than Onana who recently joined Villa for £50m yet his price tag is significantly less. Having written this bizarrely I have heard we have submitted a £25m bid – though he wishes to play for AC Milan who are also interested yet can’t afford the transfer fee. Manchester Utd also hold an interest, so would likely get a deal over the line. Nice to know the club did consider him though!

Up front it’s time to move on from Jhon Duran, and focus on Artem Dovbyk aged 27 he joined Girona for €7m and scored 36 goals in 24. His previous record at other clubs are similarly impressive. 10 in 31 for Ukraine is also a reasonable tally on the international stage. West Ham would need to move quick on this one as Atletico Madrid have been in talks yet these have stalled, and a bid of €35m should be enough to get this one over the line. At the time of writing Roma are in talks with the player.

An additional option, given the historical difficulty we have had in identifying a striker could be to offer Memphis Depay a short term contract. He is available on a free having been released from Atletico Madrid. The 30 year old, has been linked to AEK Athens, and plays as a striker, and also left wing so would offer West Ham versatility. He had a lacklustre season with Manchester United in 2015/16 yet recaptured his form at Lyon, then moved to Barcelona, and lastly Madrid. The Dutch international scored for his country during the Euros.

The right back position  has become a big issue, and if we fail to agree personal terms with Aaron Wan-Bissaka then look no further than the Championship and Netherlands U-21 Milan van Ewijk aged 23, currently at Coventry City. The versatile player can also play on the right wing. Ranked in the top 15% for assists and progressive carries, and the top 30th percentile for tackling and interception, he has a lot to offer.

For left-wing Sunderland have potentially priced Jack Clarke out of a move, yet Jonathan Rowe at Norwich City looks a great prospect. Aged 20, he netted 13 times whilst laying on four assists last season, and made his England U-21 debut in October 23, scoring in a 9-1 win against Serbia.

At centre back, I like the look of Nehuen Perez, an Argentinian international who plays for Udinese. Napoli had a bid for £13.5m turned down, and his club are reported to value the player between £15-£18m. It is rumoured that he is interested in playing in England.

Another option at centre-back is Jordan Beyer at Burnley. This would be a bit of a gamble, aged 24, the former German U-21 international can also slot in at right back. He did suffer from injuries last season which would be addressed at any medical yet is available for a mere £12m.

We all dream of holding the purse strings, and I don’t envy our recruitment teams job one bit, if we had managed to get all the deals done, we would have had Todibo or Bruno, Fofana, Dhuran, Mazraoui, and either Gassova or Soule, and everyone would be singing their praises!

Still some time to go before the Transfer window shuts!