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The Fantasy team you can buy now that’d have you in the world’s top 250

It’s January, which means you’ve got your second wildcard to use in Fantasy Premier League – and you can pick a team including Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United stars for under £100m that would have you challenging for honours.

Bharat Dhody is currently leading the global Fantasy league with 1,501 points, but his squad is currently valued at £105.5m, ruling out the idea of completely doing away with your own team to copy his.

If you were to pick the goalkeeper, four defenders, four midfielders and two strikers with the most points, meanwhile, it’d leave you only £8.7m for your four subs, making that another impossible dream for anyone seeking an easy answer to their annual Fantasy woes.

To help you out, we’ve picked a squad of 15 you can buy now for exactly £98.8m which would have you challenging for the No.1 position in the world had you been using it all season.

Let us know what you think of our selections, or who you’d include, over at @planetfutebol.

Nick Pope – 93 points – £4.8m

The Burnley goalkeeper has received a lot of praise this season, and rightly so, after proving himself a more than competent stand-in for Tom Heaton.

With nine clean sheets in 19 appearances, he is the best value-for-money player in the entire game even at his current price of £4.8m, which works out as 19.4 points per million.

Lukasz Fabianski – 89 points – £4.6m

Given his team’s league position, the former Arsenal stopper surprisingly ranks as the fifth best fantasy goalkeeper and has picked up his 89 points at a cost of 19.3 per million, making him the joint second best value-for-money player in the game along with David De Gea.

That’s because he has made an impressive 86 saves in his 22 appearances this season, earning six clean sheets too, so he gets the nod as a cheap second choice.

Marcos Alonso – 123 points – £7.2m

Alonso’s wing-back role allows us to cheat a bit and use a good attacking threat as a defender here, but we aren’t complaining.

The Spaniard has netted six times so far this season but has also earned plenty of points for playing his part in 10 clean sheets for Chelsea. He’s the fourth best value-for-money outfield player in the game.

Nicolas Otamendi – 112 points – £6.4m

Another defender with an eye for goal, Otamendi was a relative shoo-in thanks to his friendly price, which makes him the joint best value-for-money outfielder with Mohamed Salah having racked up 17.5 points per million so far this season.

One of only three defenders with over 100 points (apologies to Cesar Azpilicueta, who misses out), Otamendi has kept nine clean sheets and grabbed four goals as Manchester City continue to romp towards the title.

Phil Jones – 86 points – £5.7m

Put simply, he’s the highest-scoring defender under £6.0m, and that’s nothing to be sniffed at. No goals for Steve Kean’s “future England captain”, but he has helped United to 11 clean sheets.

And it’s nice to see he’s not changed, too.

Stephen Ward – 76 points – £4.8m

We’re getting into money saving territory here but with a distinct lack of defenders bringing forward a lot of points, Ward gets the nod as the seventh best value-for-money outfielder in the game.

Another full-back who likes to get forward, a goal and assist add to his seven clean sheets to make him a worthwhile entry.

Ahmed Hegazi – 66 points – £4.5m

With Alonso, Otamendi and Jones likely to start most weeks, you can rotate your final defender depending on the difficulty of their fixture, which is one of the most crucial tips we passed on in the summer.

Hegazi gets the nod ahead of Shane Duffy and Christopher Schindler at £0.1m cheaper, but any of those three would be fine options.

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READ: A heartfelt tribute to the £4.0m defenders of Fantasy League

• • • •

Mohamed Salah – 168 points – £10.1m

Salah has been the best player in the game so far, sitting a huge 22 points ahead of anyone else.

The Egyptian’s 17 goals and five assists means we’d be stupid to leave him out really, and though he is not cheap, his points-per-million proves it’s money well spent.

Raheem Sterling – 146 points – £8.9m

If you haven’t worked it out yet, maths fans, Sterling is the man second in the overall leaderboard, and a comparably cheap price means he gets the nod over team-mate Kevin De Bruyne.

Sterling has the third most points per million (17.3) of all outfield players, and with 14 goals and four assists from 20 appearances, we’re hoping there’s more to come from Sterling before he leads England to World Cup glory in the summer…

Pascal Gross – 101 points – £5.9m

Coming at a cost of over £2m less than any other midfielder with over 100 points, you simply have to include Brighton’s Gross.

He’s scored four and assisted five in the Premier League so far this season, putting him four points ahead of Alexis Sanchez – who will cost you double the price. Gross is the fifth best value-for-money outfielder in the game.

Richarlison – 99 points – £6.4m

A healthy points return from the Watford man means he gets the nod, once more with a cheap price to boot. His return of 15.5 points per million makes him the seventh best value-for-money outfielder.

Five goals and four assists in his 22 appearances means he gets in on the back of what has gone before – but Watford’s dismal form is something to be wary of.

Abdoulaye Doucoure – 86 points – £5.3m

Only three midfielders have more Premier League goals than Doucoure, meaning he makes a decent last pick in midfield, but Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting or Marc Albrighton may be more sensible options at £0.1m and £0.2m more to avoid having two Watford players.

One to keep an eye on if you can afford him is Jesse Lingard, who has amassed 70 points in the last eight gameweeks, and costs just £6.2m.

Roberto Firmino – 109 points – £9.1m

Quietly going about his business in the shadows of all the talk around Salah and Philippe Coutinho, Firmino has nine goals and four assists to his name this season.

He sits third in the list of strikers behind Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero, who don’t offer the same value for money as the Brazilian, who is 10 points ahead of Romelu Lukaku and has scored 12 points per million compared to Kane’s 10.3 and Aguero’s 9.5

Jamie Vardy – 97 points – £8.6m

Also with nine goals to his name, Vardy is another relatively cheap option in the most expensive area.

A switch in formation means he is starting to link up nicely with Riyad Mahrez (who was in our team right until the eleventh hour) once again, with the Algerian playing just behind him in a No.10 role.

Wayne Rooney – 93 points – £7.5m

The man who benefited from Mahrez’s omission was Rooney, who makes the cut on the back of 10 goals and two assists so far this season.

Having originally plumped for a cheaper option in Huddersfield’s Laurent Depoitre, a reshuffle meant more points could be made without Mahrez, but for £8.6m the Leicester man is worth considering as the fifth best value-for-money midfielder in the game.

Total points: 1,395

Even if you had not rotated once all season, which we definitely would not advise, choosing the 11 players with the most points in a 3-4-3 formation and picking Salah as captain every week, you would have 1,395 points, which would have you sitting 227th in the world right now, only 13 points off the top 100.

So what are you waiting for?! Get that wildcard used sharpish!


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