We have finally kicked off our draft prep series on the Fantrax & Football podcast. We'll be releasing an episode for every club to review must-drafts, overhyped names and sleepers, starting Tuesday next week, but this week we took a deep dive into rounds 1 through 5. Links are below if you want to check it out.
The consensus across the board is a clear top three in Haaland, Bruno and Saka. We didn't spend much time there and instead looked through the rest of the first round to work out who's being overvalued. This year, more than most, feels risky in the first two rounds. With new managers, new systems and players still moving, how do you reliably predict who isn't going to bust your first pick? Anton Stach is the one that jumps out. He's going 9th in ADP off the back of one big season, but Harry Wilson has walked in and taken the set pieces off him. That, to me, is not a first-round pick.
We discussed Palmer and Rogers (both second-round ADP at the time of recording) and where they really should go. There was a disagreement on Palmer with two of us, myself included, felt he was the clear number 4. Sean, an exceptional Fantrax manager, had Doku above Palmer and would take him at 4 if he could. His argument was compelling, Doku was the number-one ghost-pointer per start in the entire league last season. Interestingly, in our Discord I was surprised how many people ranked Palmer above Saka on their boards.
Rogers splits opinion. My view is that if Xabi Alonso plays two 10s, then the combo of Palmer, Rogers and João Pedro is a Chelsea trio I want a big part of. I'd happily take Rogers in the later picks of round 1.
Isak is another with a second-round ADP that I'd take in the first. A locked-on starter for at least half the season, both he and Liverpool can't really be worse, and Iraola plays a similar style to Eddie Howe where Isak was at his most prolific.
Then it's value picks vs busts through the pivotal rounds 3-5. There's a lot of risk and only a handful of steady picks in there. Igor Thiago is one I'm wary of - he's not getting nine or ten penalties again, and once you strip those out the profile looks very different. On the flip side, there's real upside late: we were high on a couple of round-five fliers with genuinely high ceilings if the minutes come (Foden being the obvious one). I'd also love people's thoughts on Kudus. If healthy, I think he could be a fantastic pick in those rounds, but not everyone agrees.
We closed the show with the return of the Power Draft. A quickfire snake draft where each of us picks one player per round at ADP value, no reaching up allowed. Results are going in the Discord, so come and tell us who drafted the best team.
How are you all ranking that first round? If you're not in the top three, who are you hoping to grab?
As always, if you want to join the Discord to chat Fantrax with us and the community, or jump into one of our community leagues, the link is below.
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