Fantasy Premier League 202/22 | To sell or not to sell; what to do with Heung-Min Son

ByAmal Joyce, SportsCafe Editor

03/04/2022

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With the Premier League entering its decisive stretch of the season, it's certainly the best time to avoid any rash decisions, but discarding Son and adding that money onto your budget opens up some new avenues. Replacing Son while retaining your chances of betting on Spurs is the ideal solution.

Are you one of those people who are bewildered by the form of Tottenham Hotspurs after they made a great start to life under Antonio Conte? At first, it looked like a match made in heaven as the Italian was seen as the ideal candidate to replace Nuno Espirito Santo due to his unmatched passion on the touchline and his irreplaceable tactical nous. The Italian managed to steer his side onto maintaining a challenge for a top-four spot with good results in the league in the opening weeks of his tenure.

It has slowly taken a turn for the worse as the London club has only managed to secure two victories while suffering three losses in their last five games in the Premier League. If you are a Fantasy Premier League player then this is cause for concern as Spurs fortunes look to be taking a harrowing turn.

It's only common sense to have Son in your team considering the South Korean’s talents and his scary ability to blitz his way through on goal. But is it worth it to have Son in your team when the risk/reward return is so high? The 29-year-old winger is priced at £10.8 million and it's simply not worth it to have him in your team when you could save money for a bigger and shinier toy.

The Hack

As I mentioned this swap is perfect if you want to bet on a change of fortunes for Tottenham while also capitalizing on their goal-scoring prowess. Son is valued at £10.8 million, at the time of writing, but according to my best estimate, it is appropriate to swap out the South Korean for his Swedish counterpart. Dejan Kulusevski is available for a measly £6 million and the Spurs new signing has been in great form recently for the London club.

Since Kulusevski’s arrival, from Juventus, in January, Conte has changed up his system with the Italian opting to put the Argentine in the half-spaces towards the final third of the pitch with Son being asked to drop deeper to help carry the ball forward in transition.

Their heatmaps will elaborate my theory and Kulusevski can ride out his honeymoon period in style with the Argentine winger already scoring two goals and registering one assist in five appearances across all competitions. The best part is that if you swap the like for like Spurs change you get £4.8 million to spend and reinvest into other areas or execute a grand plan for maximum returns.

Acquiring in-form players

With that extra money in the bank, the most obvious way to maximize your output is to spend it on the most in-form players in the Premier League at the moment. Liverpool is the side with the most momentum behind them and it can be narrowed down to the fearful presence of Mohamed Salah. If you are one of those people who are still not on the hype train you should make sure to purchase Salah with those extra funds that you got for replacing Son.

Manchester City is leading the pack at the moment although it’s a thin margin at the moment. Although you can count on Kevin De Bruyne to deliver the goods as it looks like the Belgian playmaker has hit his top stride late onto the season. You can expect it to be smooth sailing from here if you wish to spend the remaining money to buy De Bruyne.

Maybe even try reinforcing your backline for a steady accumulation of points till the end of the season. Relying on David De Gea to earn you points doesn’t seem like a bad shot since United have tightened up their defense ever since Ralf Rangnick walked into Old Trafford. You can be half assured of a clean sheet and bonus points since the Spanish goalkeeper has been the standout player for the red club in Manchester.

Rely on your existing options and splurge later

It’s definitely a decent idea to just recruit Kulusevski and reap the rewards from his transfer if Spurs do well in their games and save up money to make a splurge later on. Ideally spending the leftover money for recruiting your preferred choice in midfield or attack on a double game week sounds like the smart move to make. Added points (metaphorically) if you get to be seen as that smart friend who outsmarted all his friends to make a dramatic late dash to the finish line.