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Pep Guardiola Sparks Oscar Bobb FPL Hype

By: Author Uttiyo Sarkar

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Pep Guardiola Sparks Oscar Bobb FPL Hype

Manchester City players are hot commodities in the 2024/25 Fantasy Premier League. There is good reason for that, considering that the Cityzens have won the last three successive league titles. The players’ impressive performances in recent years have seen their values soar high, with Erling Haaland breaking the record for being the most expensive player in FPL history (at 15m).

Even though there are a lot of quality options to choose from Manchester City, most of the assets are very expensive. That means if you pick three regular starters from Pep Guardiola’s side, it might end up taking nearly 30-35% of your entire budget.

That is why people are trying to be smart with the kind of Manchester City players they pick, with Haaland being an obvious choice despite his pricing. With Phil Foden and Kevin de Bruyne both priced at 9.5, it’s tough to accommodate a midfielder like this if you are to pick someone like Mo Salah and/or Cole Palmer in the midfield.

But some fans appear to have found a potential solution to their headaches, albeit a seemingly temporary one. After watching him impress in the Cityzens’ pre-season campaign, a lot of chatter has started about the promising potential of picking Oscar Bobb in FPL for at least the first few months of the campaign.

Guardiola has been highly impressed with what he’s seen from Bobb in pre-season, saying: “Sometimes he’s a bit shy but when he plays without fear he has incredible potential.” The Norwegian midfielder has been hailed as one of the ‘winners’ of Manchester City’s pre-season campaign and has been tipped to play a bigger role in the senior team in the upcoming campaign.

But why many fans are interested in bringing the 5.0m rated Bobb into their team is because he has a genuine chance of starting the first few matches of the campaign. Guardiola recently hinted that the players that played in the Euro 2024 final (Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, Rodri, John Stones) are not going to feature in the Community Shield game against Manchester United and will join training later than the others.

That has given some FPL ‘experts’ and managers to kick-start this ‘propoganda’ of picking the 5m Bobb in their team, due to the growing confidence of him featuring heavily for the Cityzens in the first few months of the campaign. To his credit, Bobb has been one of Manchestewr City’s best players in pre-season, scoring one goal and showcasing impressive creative ability by bagging three assists.

The 19-year-old winger is a versatile figure who can play in both wide areas and also as a no.10, making him a prime asset for City. It also makes him a solid FPL asset, especially for someone only priced at 5m. Because of his heroics in pre-season, Bobb is currently primed to start at least the first few games of the 2024/25 Premier League season and get his time to shine in the attacking areas.

Manchester City have a considerably lucrative start to the campaign. Apart from away games against Chelsea and Newcastle United, as well as a home game against Arsenal, their first 10 matches are pretty comfortable ones. Guardiola has enough incentive to unleash a bubbling young talent like Bobb in the first phase of the season after seeing his heroics in pre-season and his ability to get amongst the goals.

Bobb’s unpredictable playing style helps him cause a lot of trouble in the final third. He has already excelled for Manchester City’s under-23 side at the Premier League 2, scoring 13 goals and providing 26 assists in 53 appearances. He has that knack of being able to glide past defenders at ease and is surprisingly mature with his decision making in the key areas.

Bobb knows exactly when to  pick out a teammate in a key goal-scoring chance or when it’s ideal for him to take a shot on goal. He’s shown that with his heroics in pre-season, outwitting defenders and exciting fans. Being an attacking winger, Bobb also poses a bigger goal-threat than most of the other players priced at the 5m range at the beginning of the 2024/25 season.

Most of the midfielders at 5m are central midfielders who rarely get amongst the goals. West Ham United man Tomas Soucek is a lucrative one at this price, but is dependent on scoring goals from set-pieces. Newcastle United man Sean Longstaff isn’t even a regular starter, while the newly-promoted teams’ players at this range are unreliable. Manchester United man Amad Diallo is a nice get at this, but the Red Devils’ unpredictability would perhaps make Bobb a better pick.

There is, of course, some elements of risk in picking a player like Bobb for your FPL team. He is not a regular starter at Manchester City yet. Once Phil Foden is back to full fitness and the likes of new signing Savinho as well as Jeremy Doku are up to match sharpness, Guardiola is likely to prefer them in the wide areas. There is also the rejuvenated Jack Grealish, who looks ready to challenge for a first-team role after scoring a great goal against Barcelona recently.

Bobb only started two Premier League games last season, but is almost guaranteed to get more this time. But his lack of experience in the top division means there is a meager sense of uncertainty of whether he’ll be able to perform at his highest level once experienced defenders start marking or hassling him in games.

There is also some fear that Guardiola’s notorious rotational nature might stop Bobb from unleashing his ultimate potential. Despite the potential warning signs, picking a Manchester City winger for 5m is definitely a gamble worth taking.

Even if he doesn’t start games regularly after the first month or so, Bobb has enough goal contribution influence to score or assist from the bench and contribute a decent return for his 5m FPL price. And if he somehow becomes a regular in Pep Guardiola’s side with a blistering start to the season, then his price makes him the biggest steal of the season.

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