Picking a budget striker in Fantasy Premier League for the 2024/25 Premier League campaign is a major headache.
Despite Erling Haaland’s record-setting £15.2m valuation (15% of the entire team budget), he remains picked by over 73% of the 10 million players in FPL.
But spending that much on one striker means a user needs to sacrifice on the other two strikers. That is why budget players are so in demand.
Well, one potential ‘steal’ of a striker option for the next few months could easily be Wolves forward Jorgen Strand Larsen.
To find out how clinical the Norwegian forward can be, just check out his slick goal in Wolves’ 2-1 loss to Manchester City.
He might’ve come out on the losing side (due to a controversial John Stones goal), but the 22-year-old forward looked sharp and has started the season pretty well for Gary O’Neil’s side.
At £5.5m, Larsen is the kind of an ideal option for users to play as a third striker or perhaps even alongside Haaland in a two-striker formation.
Despite his low price, Larsen has already acquired 35 points in the FPL after nine games.
He’s actually gathered a better points results for the 1.7% teams that have chosen him than strikers like Alexander Isak and Dominic Solanke.
He’s scored three goals so far in nine matches, but two of them have come against Chelsea and Manchester City.
The best thing is that Wolves’ Premier League schedule over the next month or so gives the perfect opportunity to the young striker to work towards a goal-scoring run.
Wolves have a pretty favorable set of fixtures heading into Christmas.
They don’t face a single top-6 team and their next two home games are against Crystal Palace and Southampton.
This is the best time for Gary O’Neil’s side to bounce back from their poor start to the campaign which has seen them unable to win one of their first nine games and only play two draws.
The sense of a potential improvement in form was seen in their late blitz against Brighton, when Wolves scored two goals in the last five minutes to snatch a point.
Larsen didn’t score then, but looked threatening at times and has himself instilled as a regular starter for his side.
The Norwegian forward is a pure box striker who loves the ball played to him in the area for him to pounce upon.
All his goals so far have come from inside the opposition box and over 10 shot attempts so far have also come from inside the area.
He’s also created five big goal-scoring chances in the nine matches so far, proving his quality as an impressive link-up option by providing one assist so far.
Of course there is an ongoing debate on whether Matheus Cunha might be a better Wolves pick than Larsen.
Cunha has six more points (41) than the Norwegian forward so far after having scored against Brighton. He is also more active in terms of creating or influencing Wolves’ attacking patterns.
But the problem is that Cunha is also a whole £1m more expensive than Larsen. Finding that amount might be problematic for any manager looking for a budget striker.
Moreover, Larsen actually plays as the no.9 for Wolves and in a more advanced role than Cunha in O’Neil’s 3-4-2-1 formation.
Is it risky to sign a player from a team who are struggling like Wolves? Yes, but their form can only go upwards after the poor start.
Larsen shouldn’t be expected to deliver 10+ point returns every game, but can actually be a smart economical option who could give your team an added points boost because of his enticing fixture list ahead.
