The list of forwards with more Dream Team points than Ivan Toney (£4.0m) this season is a roll call of honour.
Liverpool trio Mohamed Salah (£8.3m), Diogo Jota (£5.2m) and Sadio Mane (£4.5m) are joined by Harry Kane (£6.8m) and Cristiano Ronaldo (£7.3m) in the top five – Brentford’s No17 is sixth in the list.
The Bees’ striker bagged a hat-trick against Norwich on Saturday in his first start after returning from injury.
As far as hat-tricks go, it was an ugly one: one tap-in and two penalties.
But even the ugliest hat-trick is a thing of beauty in a striker’s eye and, more importantly, the Dream Team points add up all the same.
Toney banked 28 points at the Canaries’ expense to take his overall tally to 128.
In doing so he leapfrogged Michail Antonio (£3.5m) and Son Heung-min (£5.0m) in the rankings – two forwards who are considerably more popular at this stage.
Toney features in 4.6% of teams although his ownership has been affected by his recent injury and the terrible form of Thomas Frank’s side.
Victory at Carrow Road was Brentford’s first win in eight Premier League games.
Toney has scored 11 goals in all competitions this season with nine of them coming in the league.
The 25-year-old averages 4.7 points-per-game in 2021/22 – only four assets in his position (Salah, Kane, Jota, Ronaldo) boast a better rate.
Realistically, Dream Team gaffers should pack their XI with players active in Europe to maximise their returns but that’s easier said than done right now.
Man City only have one player categorised as a striker in Dream Team, Gabriel Jesus (£4.2m), and even he’s not a guaranteed starter.
The pecking orders at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge are increasingly unclear while Spurs’ popular forwards only have Premier League fixtures left to fulfil this term.
Bearing all this in mind, there are certainly scenarios in which Toney should be considered a viable option for certain Dream Team managers.