Aston Villa Buy Fantasy Premier League Star Charles N'Zogbia

Wigan and Aston Villa have agreed a £9.5M deal that will send winger Charles N’Zogbia to Villa Park. This is massive news for Premier League fans and fantasy football managers alike.

N’Zogbia saved Wigan from relegation last season with his inspired play in the second half of the season and priced at 7.5M in the Fantasy Premier League game, will surely bring a source of assists, goals, and bonus points with him to Villa Park.

This move immediately impacts the livelihoods and potential fantasy effectiveness of a few key players on both teams involved in the transfer – Wigan and Aston Villa. Let’s take a look at the probable consequences:

Wigan:

Gomez (5M), Moses (5M) and Watson (5.5M): These three Wigan midfielders should be the major fantasy beneficiaries of N’Zogbia’s departure. How can you replace 9 goals, 7 assists, and 33 fantasy bonus points? It will be tough, but these three could step up to fill that void – somewhat. None of them jump off the page as ‘must buy’ players though Watson, as a deep lying playmaker, should see plenty of touches from set pieces with N’Zogbia gone. Moses is a big wildcard. If he plays consistently, he could be a decent 5th midfielder at the 5.0M bargain basement price. But will he see 90 minutes week in and week out?

Hugo Rodallega (6.5M): He scored 9 goals last season, and even with N’Zogbia out of the picture (his main assist provider) he should improve on that tally this season so long as he is healthy. Penalty kick duties and set pieces may come into play now that N’Zogbia is gone and the Colombian is a viable scoring threat – who should finish between 10 and 12 league goals and perform well in the budget striker bracket. Keep an eye on his early season form and fixtures.

Aston Villa:

Albrighton (6.5M) and Ireland (6.0M): While they’ll certainly be happy to be playing alongside another top quality player, the potential fantasy prospects for Albrighton and Ireland could suffer with N’Zogbia in the fold. Albrighton, in particular, would certainly have been a featured supplier for Darren Bent up front from attacking wide positions. Ireland would have hoped to get his career back on track from set pieces. Both could still benefit from the space afforded to them if N’Zogbia draws defenders to his side, but the set pieces may disappear. Fantasy managers should proceed with caution now that N’Zogbia is there.

Darren Bent (10M): He never gets enough credit but he scores goals wherever he plays. 17 last season in the league. 24 the year before. Darren Bent is expensive this season at 10M (he’s never been priced close to 10M in his fantasy career to start a season) but he should score between 15 and 20 goals once again and be a reliable source of points. N’Zogbia can only help his cause, and the maturation of Albrighton and potential return to form of Ireland will also help the Aston Villa striker put up another 150+ fantasy point season. At 9M he’d be a certain buy, at 11M certainly too expensive, so perhaps 10M is a fair starting price for the proven star.

So there you have it. The big transfer of the week from a Fantasy Premier League perspective and one that certainly sees the value of some players increase whilst others see their roles potentially change – and not for the better.