Jaws dropped at Dream Team HQ this week when we stumbled upon Philippe Coutinho’s (£1.7m) points tally.
One of the most-popular players in the game prior to Game Week 1, the Brazilian has ZERO points to show for his efforts in 2022/23.
The Aston Villa midfielder has made 18 appearances in as many Game Week this season and his only positive return was a 7+ rating against Leeds back in October.
However, the three points he gained from that performance have been erased by three yellow cards, leaving him on a goose egg at the time of writing.
Coutinho hit the ground running for upon singing for the Villains a year ago.
He scored against Man United on debut and built on that momentum to register four goals and three assists in his first eight outings for his new club.
During this time, the ex-Liverpool playmaker was the subject of much praise from mainstream pundits and his sparkling form, coupled with his historical success from his days as an Anfield resident, led to him becoming one of the most transferred-in players in Dream Team.
His returns dropped off a cliff as the season reached its climax but Coutinho did score against Man City on the final day, briefly making his former club heavy favourites to pip Pep Guardiola’s side to the title before the Citizens mounted a dramatic comeback.
The high-profile nature of that goal evidently lingered in the minds of Dream Team bosses as the 30-year-old was widely selected ahead of the new campaign.
Even now his ownership of 4.6% makes him more popular than James Ward-Prowse (£4m), Said Benrahma (£3.5m), Solly March (£2.3m) and Casemiro (£3.3m), who are all among the top 15 midfielders in terms of points.
Truth be told, his current ownership must surely only be a vestige of that initial popularity – it’s probably fair to assume most of those gaffers with Coutinho in their XI at this stage have lost interest in the game.
It really wasn’t that long ago the Villa playmaker was a massive Dream Team favourite who featured in plenty of teams at the top end of the overall leaderboard.
How quickly things change…