We’re stepping into the creative areas of the pitch, for players that live to assist and some who can’t take their eyes off the goal.
The World Cup is about to begin and as the D Day to close your squad for GW1 is nearing, we’ll take a dive into the player pool, one position at a time, to give you the best options in all price ranges. Goalkeepers and Defenders are in the bag. Ladies and gentleman: the Midfielders.
THE HEAVY-HITTERS
We open the cookie jar, taking out the two European midfielders who love to shoot the ball the most: Christian Eriksen (9.0M) and Ivan Perišić (8.5M). The Tottenham play-maker took Denmark on his back with 11 goals in 41 shots (22 on target) and a 56% goal involvement. The Internazionale winger (2 qualifying goals only) leads the shots inside the box category (23). However, despite shooting it whenever he could, as his 35 attempts demonstrate, his aim couldn’t have been worse: only 5 hit the target. Ivan, nothing like a Nigerian defense to get back on track, right?
Another who shone during qualifying was James Rodríguez (9.5M). He scored 6 goals and added 4 assists, becoming the midfielder with the greatest goal involvement for his national team with a staggering 62%, which is basically the same as saying that when Colombia scores 2 goals, you know that James, at least, either scored or had an assist. The creative Colombian is a consistent bet, not only because, theoretically, he’s the best player of the “Cafeteros” and still is the official taker of everything: set-pieces, corners and penalties.
To finish off the “heavy-hitters” we have a Spanish wizard. No, not that, the other one, David Silva (8.5M). He’s coming from a great season at Manchester City, with 9 goals and 11 assists in 29 appearances. For “La Roja” his stat-line is even better: in 9 qualifying games, he scored 5 times and assisted in 4 goals, averaging 3 chances created per game.
THE AFFORDABLES
Still with only 14 caps, that resulted in 2 goals and 2 assists for the “Celeste”, Giorgian de Arrascaeta (7.5M) is already the most creative element behind the strikers, whether through his passing, dribbling skills or even half-distance shots, so he’s expected to provide service for one of the most lethal duos in the history of football.
Another young prospect, this one from the old continent, will have the mission to manage Poland’s offensive game. In the qualifying rounds, Piotr Zieliński (6.5M) didn’t score, but took part in four goals. Let’s not jump ahead of ourselves and believe he hasn’t got goal in him since he has 5 goals in 32 caps for Poland. Already nicknamed the “new Kevin de Bruyne” by Maurizio Sarri, he may be one of the youngsters bursting into the football scene during World Cup 2018.
Gylfi Sigurdsson (7.5M) and Christian Cueva (6.5M) are interconnected in a very intimate way, regarding numbers. Both had 4 goals and 3 assists, and both were featured in their continent’s Top-3 midfielders in goal involvement, Siggy with 44% (behind Dušan Tadić and Cristian Eriksen) and Cueva with 35% (behind J-Rod and Willian). Both are options to take into consideration for Day 3 of Gameweek 1.
THE LOW-COST OPTIONS
Looking for bargains, we’ve dug up Younès Belhanda (5.0M) and Aaron Mooy (4.5M), after they registered a promising stat-line in their last 3 friendlies. The Moroccan maestro, already on the pitch this Friday, with his 8 goal attemps and 5 chances (2 goals and 1 assist), could be a great punt for Captain, against Carlos Queiroz’s Iran. Australia’s middle of the park patrolman, Mooy, with 3 created chances (2 assists) is the owner of all indirect set-pieces. In addition, he recovers 9 balls per game on average. A must have!
Other low-cost options, to feature as your fifth midfielder are Alireza Jahanbakhsh (5.0M) and Ismaïla Sarr (4.5M). The Iranian is a winger with lots of goal in him and was the top-scorer of the Eredivisie, with 21 goals, while adding 12 assists. However, in the Asian qualifying phase, he netted only 2, because, after all, Iran is not AZ Alkmaar. On the other hand, the Senegalese winger can be deployed in any of the three forward positions of the “Lions” and, despite his young age, was already in the starting lineup in their last friendly against Croatia, after a season of 5 goals and 5 assists in 27 matches for Rennes.
RF EN 