With the new Fantasy Premier League season six days away, The Scout assesses the potential of new signings.
A summer move to Southampton has the potential to reignite Nathan Redmond (£6.0m, MID) as a Fantasy Premier League asset.
Handed just 24 starts in an injury-hit season for Norwich City in 2015/16, the midfielder played a part in 30% of his side’s goals when on the pitch.
Although Redmond’s six goals and four assists were not enough to prevent the Canaries from slipping back to the Championship, they did earn him an immediate return to the top flight as Southampton came calling.
Redmond was expected to offer a like-for-like replacement on the flank for the departed Sadio Mane but Southampton’s new manager, Claude Puel, appears to have other plans.
The Frenchman has moved away from the 4-2-3-1 formation preferred by his predecessors, Ronald Koeman and Mauricio Pochettino.
Instead, he has mainly used a midfield diamond system, with Dusan Tadic (£7.5m) afforded the central playmaker role behind a front two.
This new approach has used Redmond’s pace and trickery up front.
Currently owned by just 3.8% of FPL managers, the 22-year-old looks an intriguing option if Puel continues to field him as a centre-forward.
Despite Norwich’s struggles, his output last season was up considerably from his previous year in the Premier League in 2013/14, which harvested just one goal and three assists.
Redmond fired an effort every 46 minutes in 2015/16, almost on a par with Tadic’s rate of every 40.8 minutes. He also registered a higher shot accuracy than the Serb, producing 31.5% of his attempts on target to Tadic’s 29.3%.
As a result of his new role, Redmond approaches the upcoming campaign as the Saints’ joint-top scorer in pre-season, with two goals.
Having settled quickly, Southampton’s summer recruit could soon be finding his way into our five-man midfields as Puel’s side host Watford, Sunderland and Swansea City in their first five rounds of fixtures.
