One of the biggest things we look out for on fantasy football is how much a player’s value changes over the course of a season.
We can all understand the satisfaction of taking a punt on a bargain player in pre-season and watch as his valuation soars following a string of fine performances.
And we’ve also watched in horror as a seemingly nailed-on points scorer gradually drops in price as he struggles to even make the bench.
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So, which players on Dream Team have seen a dramatic rise or fall in price? Let’s find out…
Winners
1 Mohamed Salah – £6.6m
When Liverpool snapped up Salah from Roma over the summer, we all knew about his history.
Once upon a time, he was a promising but fairly unknown winger who was signed by Chelsea, but spent long periods of his time at Stamford Bridge on the bench.
From there, he moved to Serie A, where a brief spell with Fiorentina followed a decent run out in Rome before the Reds paid a pretty penny for him back in June.
None of us really knew how well he’d do at Anfield, but 32 goals later in all competitions, including 24 in the Premier League and a massive haul of 299 points on Dream Team tells you all you need to know.
At the start of the year, he was priced at just £4.0m, but has since risen to a staggering £10.6m (and it’s still rising). By-far the best fantasy football signing you could make this season.
2 Raheem Sterling – £3.2m
We’ve always known this guy was pretty good.
But this season, under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola, Sterling has been one of Man City’s key figures as they storm towards the Premier League title.
Alongside the likes of Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane, as well as enjoying the service of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva behind him, Sterling has netted 15 times in the league this season.
That’s more than his previous two campaigns combined, while his WhoScored rating is through the roof right now.
He’s still not a resounding Dream Team favourite (with only 14% of you lot picking him at the moment) but he’s shot up in value, from £4.0m at the start of the season to £7.2m.
3 Harry Kane – £3.1m
Kane was already the most expensive player on Dream Team when we first unveiled our player prices at the start of the season.
The Spurs striker, going into the new season with two consecutive Premier League Golden Boot awards, was the priced at £8.0m, but that’s risen to an eye-watering £11.1m since.
I guess that’s what happens when you score 35 goals in all competitions and bring home 332 Dream Team points.
4 Sergio Aguero – £2.7m
It’s been another incredible season for Sergio Aguero, who’s been the jewel in the crown of Man City’s charge towards the title.
21 goals in the league and four in the Champions League helped him become City’s all-time leading scorer back in November.
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And he’s been well worth a place in your Dream Team too, despite rumours at the start of the season that he’d struggle to break into the starting XI with the emergence of Gabriel Jesus.
5 Kevin De Bruyne – £2.6m
The City theme is strong here, isn’t it?
KDB will probably win the Player of the Year award this season and rightly so.
He’s been the engine behind City’s table-topping success and is a regular Dream Team points scorer. Even with his price rise, he’s well worth the £8.6m we’re forcing you to fork out for him.
Losers
1 Manolo Gabbiadini – (£2.2m)
We couldn’t find anyone with a worse drop in price than this guy, which initially surprised us.
Until we realised we haven’t heard much from him since early last year, apart from that equalising goal against Burnley last month.
In fact, that was his first strike since mid-October, in an awful campaign that’s seen him in and out of Southampton’s starting line-up and a big part of their slump under Mauricio Pellegrino.
Considering he was quite the revelation last season, he seemed like a bargain at £3.5m back in the summer but now he’s just small change at £1.3m.
2 Andy Carroll – (£2.2m)
Sigh, it seems year after year we long to see this guy come good (again).
However, it’s been another season where we’ve simply glimpsed the underlying talent that Carroll posses.
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Two goals against West Brom back in January but a long injury lay-off since has pretty much summed up the big man’s career.
Once he’s back (if he’s back this season) you can pick him up for a bargain £1.3m, which is a long way off his start of the season value.
3 Michael Keane – (£2.1m)
Keano’s big-money move to Everton from Burnley in the summer was meant to be the centre-back’s big break.
But instead, he’s been one of the most disappointing players on Dream Team this season.
Just 38 points on the game so far and a woeful campaign in Blue, Keane will be lucky if he’s kept on at Goodison Park next season.
We take it he’s no longer in your Dream Team, right?
4 Georginio Wijnaldum – (£2.1m)
Perhaps another surprise, until you look back at the stats.
As an attacking midfielder who supposedly likes to dash forward, Wijnaldum only has one goal to his name this season – in a win over Huddersfield back in October – despite regularly featuring in Jurgen Klopp’s high-flying side.
We’re sure he’s doing alright in other areas, but he’s certainly not a fantasy football darling.
5 Jordan Pickford – (£2.0m)
There’s a host of players who’ve dropped in price by £2.0m, but Pickford – at the start of the season, at least – was by-far one of the most popular.
An excellent campaign for Sunderland – despite the relegation – and a big-money move to Everton in the summer was supposed to be the start of something big, but his price has fallen dramatically since.
Not that his stock in any lower, as he’s still considered the favourite for England’s No 1 spot at the World Cup this summer, while he’s hardly at fault for the Toffees woeful campaign.