Erling Haaland. The name alone conjures images of goal-scoring prowess, record-breaking seasons, and the ultimate Fantasy Premier League (FPL) asset along with the FPL king Mohammed Salah. Yet most top managers are avoiding the City asset, even the player base has only selected him in 23% of their teams.
The most immediate and obvious reason for Haaland’s low ownership is his colossal price tag with Salah only £0.5m more and as a midfielder earns extra points for a goal as well as clean sheet points.
Manchester City have also lost their main creator with the Belgian now playing in Naples, Phil Foden still has not been able to replicate his high in the 2023/24 season. Rayan Cherki is a bit of an unknown, the former Lyon man is certainly capable of magic but as we have seen with others before him, can he adapt to Pep Guardiola’s style of play?
Emergence of options such as Joao Pedro and Ollie Watkins have also given managers alternatives in the forward slots. Allowing managers to spread their funds to buy more premium midfield assets.
There is no doubt that should the Norwegian get service, the goals will come quick and fast. Managers could be scarmbling to figure out how to slot him into their teams.
Should you go for Erling Haaland a draft could look like this. Florian Wirtz could provide some cover for no Salah in the team. Otherwise this is a very template team that is currently being used by most managers. Since you are bringing Haaland, captaining him against Wolves is the best thing to do. The downside of this draft being that most managers have Salah, if he does haul you are going to lose a lot of rank. On the flip side, if Salah does blank and Haaland bags a few goals you would fly through the ranks.
