Ansu Fati’s loan signing to Brighton is a statement signing of how far the Seagulls have made their journey since their days of going without a home to play football in.
The departure of Graham Potter to Chelsea, along with many of the Brighton coaching staff had led to fears that the club’s short hay day in the biggest league in the world might be in trouble.
Since then, the Seagulls scouting team, the envy of so many of the bigger clubs, operating in this same league, accompanied by the tactics of De Zerbi has ensured Brighton a campaign in Europe.
They have become a place to nurture young talents, play good, attractive football, and establish players who would eventually join bigger clubs for large money signings.
Caicedo or Ben White are all examples, with the way Brighton operates, it is always made sure, there is another youngster ready to thrive in the team.
Evan Ferguson is already tipped as a potential successor in the forward position in some of the biggest teams in England.
These factors surely must have played a part in Fati and Barcelona’s decision to join them on a season-long loan deal. What does this mean from the perspective of Fantasy Premier League?
Fati will be looking to sort of get back up to speed as far as his career is concerned at Brighton. It is hard to imagine Ansu Fati joining Brighton if there was not any guarantee of minutes in place.
He was once seen as amongst the best young players in Europe and there will be desperation to revive some of what was expected of him at the time.
Mitoma’s playing time minutes come under direct threat with the incoming of Fati. He is yet to be priced in Fantasy Premier League but suffice it to say he will be likely priced at around six million or six and a half million.
Fati does join Brighton at a time when they start their tough run of fixtures and with many managers already on Estupinan and Mitoma.
They both have ownership in the game above the forty percent mark. For many managers starting the season with Mitoma in their squads, it made less sense to hop off the Brighton winger.
At his price, Mitoma is still a good option, and Brighton is very capable of scoring goals against tougher opponents.
While their defense has been susceptible their attacking prowess outside of the match against West Ham, has always given hope to the everyday Fantasy manager.
It would be interesting to see how Fati’s inclusion affects De Zerbi’s tactics in the season.
The Europa League will mean a larger squad is always necessary, and without so, teams have struggled to keep parity between the domestic league and the Europa League.
Even West Ham, the winners of the Europa League had a terrible league campaign last season. All of Mitoma and March and Fati and Ferguson and Pedro and even Welbeck, maybe also Gross, will be competing for those attacking places in the team.
Brighton is indeed the new Manchester City in FPL, there will be no surprises when Europe starts, the starting team in the league coming under some serious De Zerbi roulette.
Fati makes the team better, but it is hard to justify, at the moment to buy any of Brighton players in FPL. Even Estupinan can be a sale with the fixtures.
Mitoma might not be an immediate sale, but there is a serious possibility of his minutes decreasing. There is the likelihood, that Fati and Mitoma might be sharing game time.
For Mitoma owners this doesn’t make a happy reading, or Joao Pedro owners for that matter, or the few maverick managers with Solly March in their team.
There might be an outside temptation to buy Fati from the start, given his stature and reputation, but lack of surety of minutes coupled with the uncertainty of how he fares in the English league, makes him a complete non-option in FPL as well. In summary, that Brighton attack is a minefield, don’t put your feet there.
