If you’re like me, you’ll love jumping onto the FPL subreddit in the morning and finding out from the Player Price Changes thread if your players have increased in value. There is something really satisfying about cashing in on some of that delicious price increase. A few here, a few there, it’s a drug you didn’t know you always needed! The problem, of course, is when that drug comes back to bite you and you’re left with cold sweats and a rubbish player who’s decreased by .1m just before you could ship them out. This ‘value’ drug is volatile, but it can be taken safely if you understand what you’re doing. So I’ll be your friendly neighbourhood drug aficionado, here to give you some tips on this whole addictive player value thing. I feel like the drug metaphor has crossed the line at this point but it’s all good. We’re all having a good time.
How to use FPL value effectively
Let’s do this! We’ll start from the beginning and slowly get into the juicy stuff:
- First and foremost; your player must go up by .2m for you to get any value increase worth anything. So there’s no use celebrating that first increase just yet. Every .2m your player goes up by, you get .1m when trading him out. Because KneeJerk FC is out in full force this year, expect to see players go up the same day they score points. It’s crazy.
- If your player has decreased in value and your thinking about getting rid of them, don’t! First let’s get our game plan together. If you had a cheap mid like Ralls (Cardiff 4.9m) and he’s not produced FPL points, that’s okay! He’s sitting in your team to warm your bench and come on when your premium and mid-priced midfielders have the worst fixtures. Value is important, but .4m doesn’t go that far, and unless you find the perfect transfers without a hit, I’d say it isn’t worth it.
- However! That may not be the case every time. Keep your eyes peeled for players who have unfortunately lost their way, but have that potential for points with some juicy fixtures coming up. Trading like for like in this situation may yield some points, which is always good, but it may also potentially bag you that .1m back!
- So you’ve had Neves from the start and he’s increased enough to give you some options. Do you trade him out or keep him in? Maybe everyone bringing him in has spotted something you’ve missed? Probably not. As I said, the Knee Jerkers are gobbling everyone up, especially 5m players with some points to their name. If you have a transfer you’ve been eyeing up, say from TAA to Robertson, but the young Scot’s increased already, you could swap your Neves for someone still to rise (Kante won’t sit on the bench and he’s playing a bit more attacking these days) and go for that 6.1m Robbo. That’s a good upgrade, and a good, clean way of getting use out of value.
- Sometimes you’ll have missed the train on a player. This week, for example, it was Pedro and Walcott. People were getting rid of Richarlison like crazy and if you weren’t fast you were seriously last as that train was extremely speedy. So what do? Well unfortunately the only thing you should do is learn from your mistake. This tip is simply: Make decisions quickly! Benefiting from that Walcott would have been great, but your options are very limited now. Benching might work out, but the only way you’re trading him out is downgrading or paying out the ass for a sideways swap. There is the option of upgrading another area completely, like a defender, and save some money to get him back later. This is better than missing out on the Value from Rich since he started his campaign. If you just got him in for GW3 I am so sorry. I have no help for you here.
Conclusion
So I’ve ran through some examples today. All very basic, to try and show you guys some beginner insight into the value of players and how to work with what you’ve got for the better of your team. If you can think of a scenario I haven’t covered. Try and take what you’ve learned here and mould it to your situation. There are a few more things we could have talked about but sadly we are out of word count. Now do your best, and make sure to always use your player value in a safe and friendly environment. Happy FPLing!