Discussing Manchester United Squad from an FPL Perspective with Special Focus on Bruno, Onana, Wan Bissaka, and a certain Hojlund along with Mason Mount.
Bruno Fernandes will start the new season as captain of the Red Devils. Manchester United has favorable first five fixtures. There is also the inclusion now of Mason Mount (£7.0m) in midfield. The former Chelsea man might threaten to significantly curtail the Portugal international’s attacking forays in Ten Hag’s side.
At the same time, Rasmus Hojlund is soon to be announced. Will his inclusion mean there is now a striker at the Theatre of Dreams to finish those chances Bruno creates? How will Onana (£5.0m) and his ball-playing abilities effectively affect United’s style of play?
Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) had the most touches in the box (157) last season since his arrival at Manchester United. However, contradicting the previous stat his goal involvement has declined each season to the next. In his first season in the Premier League, Bruno had a goal involvement of 57%.
The following in the 20/21 season, when Bruno was being compared with the likes of Mo Salah (£12.5m) and others, Bruno’s goal involvement dropped to 47%. This is followed by 35% in the next and finally 30% in the last season.
The lack of a striker with the ability to finish chances has certainly hurt Manchester United and Fernandes operating as the chief creator from midfield.
In the pre-season matches so far, Bruno seems to have been provided by Ten Hag the license to join and link up with the attack while Mount is operating in more of a holding role.
The Portuguese is the new captain of the team after De Gea’s departure and it would be surprising to see Bruno not on penalties.
At £8.5m along with United’s on-the-paper easy schedule there is a need perhaps to add another of their player along with Marcus Rashford (£9.0m) to gain FPL advantage, and Bruno is simply too good of an option at that price bracket not to pounce on.
Much of Bruno’s value as an FPL asset will probably rest on the shoulders of the new arrival Hojlund.
The Danish international is expected to be valued in the mid-priced category in FPL competing with other assets like the likes of Nkunku (£7.5m) or Darwin Nunez (£7.5m) or Jackson (£7.0m).
Hojlund had only 44 shots last season with a 21% conversion rate. For context, the total number of shots is less than how many Dwight McNeil had while only Kane (23%) and Haaland (29%) had a better conversion rate.
Hojlund will be expected to have far more of the ball and shots both playing for one of the best sides in the league.
While Manchester United fans will be hoping, Hojlund will be able to solve the void of a lack of proper number 9 at the club, Ten Hag was recently quoted talking about Sancho as a potential option playing centrally up front.
Many United fan forums expect the front three to be Sancho (£7.0m), Rashford, and Antony (£7.0m) with Rashford in the middle for at least the first three to four games till the Danish have time to settle into the squad.
Mason Mount is also an option from an FPL perspective if pre-season matches are anything to go by as he has settled into the squad extremely well. Mount will likely play a key role in Ten Hag’s plans for the new season.
The lack of Liverpool in most of the drafts so far has surreptitiously meant a triple-up of Manchester United assets with most of the managers going for a double in the attack and a defender or Onana.
Shaw and Wan-Bissaka
Luke Shaw (£5.5m) is continuing his rich vein of form from the previous season. He is bombing forward, linking up play, and creating chances in the opposition box. Shaw will be expected to do well points-wise in FPL. He is already finding his way into many of the drafts.
On the other side right-back, Wan-Bissaka (£4.5m) is expected to start the season. It is a usual tale for him continuing in pre-season.
The former Palace man is getting in all the right areas but barely doing anything meaningful with the ball time and again.
As past seasons have indicated, Wan-Bissaka can be often a poor performance or two away from being dropped. His lack of attacking threat accompanied by the lack of security of starts has invariably meant there are better options elsewhere.
Onana
The arrival of Onana has greatly piqued the interest of both the fans of the Red Devils and FPL managers alike. At £5m he is already in 18.7% of the FPL squads since his arrival.
Onana is good with the feet, a quality that was lacking in former keeper David De Gea. In pre-season, United are already playing more from the back and building their attacks from defense.
The Nigerian international will be expected to be the first building block of the attack. Ten Hag will feel he now has a keeper to build his tactics around similar to the goalkeepers at other elite teams.
For FPL managers the dilemma is to whether go for Onana or pay the £0.5m more and bring in Luke Shaw. While Onana promises to be likely beneficial for United, from an FPL perspective it is unlikely he will trump De Gea by a lot many points.
Luke Shaw has a higher ceiling at £5.5m and there are keepers at 4.5m who might be able to match Onana points-wise.