There has been a fair amount of transfer activity in the Premier League this summer, which can make life tough for fantasy manager’s that know little about some of these new signings. To help out, here at FFC we are taking a look at some of the Premier League’s new arrivals, with Shinji Kagawa our latest candidate.
Early Career
The Kobe-born playmaker’s rise to the top began at just five years old with Marino Football Club before moving to the local professional side Cerezo Osaka. He signed terms with Cerezo aged just 17 and broke through into the first team in 2007, playing 35 matches in Japan’s second tier. In 2009, he was top scorer in the division with 27 goals in 44 games. His performances attracted the attention of European clubs, with Dortmund eventually snapping him up for €350,000 in August 2010, halfway through Cerezo’s first season back in the J-League.
Dortmund Days
Kagawa made an immediate impact in his first season at Dortmund and was named in the Bundesliga Team of the Year despite missing half of the campaign through injury. He made himself a fans’ favourite at Dortmund by predicting he would score twice against local rivals Schalke, doing exactly that as they went on to win the match 3-1. United fans would surely love him to do something similar for derby games against City.
Kagawa missed half of the 2010/11 Bundesliga season because of an injury he picked up on international duty, but managed to score 8 goals in 18 appearances in the league. Dortmund won the league at the end of his first campaign and the impressive midfielder went from strength to strength after returning from injury in time for the 2011-12 season. He was instrumental in the club retaining the Bundesliga and securing a League and Cup double for the first time in their history. From January 2012, speculation was rife that he would leave the club and six months later he signed paperwork at Old Trafford, becoming the first Japanese player to play for United.
Vital Statistics
Any fantasy manager considering Kagawa will need to know how he performed in previous seasons. The table below shows his goals and assists from the past three seasons in all competitions. Bear in mind he was injured for a large part of 2010/11 at Dortmund, and still managed to score 12 goals.
As you can see from the table above, he’s been a regular fixture for both Cerezo Osaka and Borussia Dortmund over the last few seasons. In the last two seasons he played 70 games, averaging 0.41 goals per game and 0.21 assists per game, which on paper makes him good value for money at the £8.5m that the FPL currently has him listed at. Clearly a gifted attacking footballer, the big question for fantasy managers is whether Kagawa will get enough game time at United to make him worth buying? We’ll come back to that question shortly.
Informed Views
Kagawa scored and won man of the match in his second game for Manchester United during their pre-season tour of China. He received the following praise from his new boss, Sir Alex Ferguson:
Kagawa has settled in well. He’s going to be a really good player and he impressed tonight… his awareness of receiving the ball, his speed in turning and how he attacks defenders is an asset to us.”
Rio Ferdinand had this to say about his new team mate:
He’s quick, he’s sharp, he has great awareness, he plays off both feet. I’m excited about playing with him and getting the season started. He’s been one of the better players in Germany for the last few years. I think he’ll bring that form to Manchester United. I think he’ll be a great acquisition.”
Nuri Sahin, a former team-mate at Dortmund, now with Real Madrid, said:
The boy plays like an angel.”
Pre-season praise can always be taken with a pinch of salt, but what we take from what we hear about him is that he is the kind of player who can influence a game, becoming integral to a team’s long-term campaign efforts.
Playing Style
Described as a goal-scoring midfielder with vision, technique, and deft passing Kagawa sounds like the kind of player United have been looking for to create openings and swift counter-attacks. Depending on where he’s played, Kagawa might end up scoring a number of his points from assists, especially if he develops a good understanding with Rooney, but he certainly sounds as if he has no problems finding the net himself.
In United’s pre-season tour Kagawa has scored two match winning goals out of the six fixtures played – one against Shanghai Shenhua in a 1-0 victory, and one in their final game on August 11th against Hanover 96 in a 4-3 victory.
Early Season Fixtures
United’s start to the 2012/13 campaign is not as tough as it could have been with Everton (A), Fulham (H), Southampton (A) and Wigan (H) the opening 4 fixtures. If Kagawa is selected to play from the start of the season, and makes a good impact early on, these first few fixtures could offer him the potential to score some decent fantasy points.
Should We Play Kagawa?
Like all the other highly touted new arrivals to the Premiership, the question is, should we select Kagawa for our opening gameweek?
His ability to score and assist is not really in doubt, but like other players new to the Premiership, how will he adapt? Given that he moved from the lower leagues of the J-League in Japan to the top flight of German football and won player of the year, we don’t see that as a problem.
One question might be where will he play, given that players such as Young, Nani and Valencia all like to play as attacking midfielders that feed the ball into Rooney? Again, this shouldn’t be too much of a concern seeing as one of Kagawa’s key attributes is said to be his versatility, but it does pose the question of how much game time he’ll be given. When it comes to the United midfield, trying to second guess who will start for the Red Devils is almost impossible!
Kagawa signed a four-year deal for £17m, so you’d think he’d feature prominently in Sir Alex’s plans. That being said, Sir Alex has the luxury of selecting a midfield from Valencia, Nani, Young, Kagawa, Giggs, Carrick, Cleverly, Anderson and Scholes! We suspect Kagawa will get a fair bit of game time, although the strength in depth at United means he is not a guaranteed starter. Man United’s pre-season tour has seen them play 6 matches, and you may be interested to know that Kagawa has featured in all of them, albeit not always for 90 minutes. His game time in each of the pre-season matches has been 1 minute, 77 minutes, 90 minutes, 29 minutes, 44 minutes and 90 minutes respectively. Arguably this could be what we can expect to happen in the Premier League this season, but ultimately only time will tell. Trying to 2nd guess Sir Alex Ferguson is a game we gave up playing several seasons ago!
For the more conservative fantasy managers out there you might want to sit on the sidelines for the first few gameweeks and see how Kagawa gets on. However, for those who are a little bit more adventurous, bringing in Kagawa early could mean you secure one of this seasons FPL gems right from the start of the season. Whilst questions over his game time are valid, many pundits are suggesting that Kagawa could prove to be one of the best transfers of the Summer, and if he dove-tails into an attacking line-up at United he could well prove invaluable, especially if your FPL rivals have opted out of fielding him. From the looks of his stats and the accolades he’s won at the highest level, we think there’s more to him than just shirt sales in the Far East.
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This article was written by Sharpie
Hi Spurs, im no master but I too had Mata and recently changed him to Lampard who is .50 cheaper, because Mata hasnt featured in the past 4 friendlies, and Lampard has scored in 2 of them. probably due to the euros like but its suggests lamps is fitter to me. Your team looks strong Imo
guys rate my team,,
vorm
lescott reid(hammers) riise
hazard michu fellaini noble
pog aguero torres(c)
ruddy allen heitinga cuellar
got 4m in the bank,,any suggestions
which high priced midfielder shall i buy???
will david silva start and is he a good option???
midchu vs sinclair???
i think u should keep the 4m for gw2. D.silva is g8 player i think he will top 11 start but not sure.
Yes if it’s a straight swap get rid of Allen for bale
Although I would be tempted to replace feillani for pienaar also 
bench and mutley,,what do you say about my team guys???though i’ve got green in place of ruddy now
I would go for Yaya over Silva, as he is doubtful to start at the moment
michu for me
i have gone with Kagawa too he was excellent in the Bundesliga and that as close to the premier league that their is , so i think the boy going to be a star
first goalscorer & score predictions lads ??
Hazard & Chelsea 2-1
City 2-0 (Lescott, Yaya)
lescott 2-0 185/1
Man City 2 – 0 Chelsea first goal Aguero
GK is bond to be Cerny (hes got to turn up somewhere the amount of people that keep picking him)
haha
Chelsea 2-0 Hazard to score first
1-1 city on penalties ya ya to score first, what odds you giving
haha aj skybet will give you 60/1 for yaya first & 1-1 i think of having a cheeky few quid on hazard 2-1 65/1
Worth a punt
yeah going to wait on team news first how ur team coming along ? i am done & have a 10 gw plan tho never works out that way with injury’s & price rises/falls then wildcard between gw 10 -14 strategy is spilt game into 3 sections i.e wc at again at end of jan gw23/gw24 then pick a side for the run in
Bench, I bet that plan is ripped up by GW3
could very well be mutley
My team has changed at least once every day for the last fortnight, struggling to decide what tactics to go with, at the moment I am going heavy up top
At the moment and very likely to change a lot
Jassi
Gorkks. Hangeland. Mcartney.
Bale. Michu. YaYa. Noble.
Torres. Aguero. Rooney.
Green. De Guzman. Dawson. Hooiveld.
What ya think? Am already hovering over the transfer button lmao
What’s your team looking like or is top secret
aj i gone with cheap defence but have make sure they rotate well i.e new/sun wba/villa have a look at is aJ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhFqkaFEe92idHp4TDVyRVU5UE5rbGlPN3dSQW9GYUE#gid=35
Hi guys,
First season of FF and was wondering if you could have a look at my team-
Krul
Pearce Cahill Clichy
Dyer Walcoltt Y Toure Lampard (vc)
Pog P Cisse Torres (c)
Federici, McClean, Hangeland, Williams.
My idea was to change Lampard out at some point for Carzorla once he is def starting.
Thanks!
Hi and welcome,
Firstly I would get rid of krul, difficult fixtures to start, friedel more friendly fixtures or upgrade to ddg hart or cech!!!
Are Cahill and cliche guaranteed starters?
If rvp goes walcott won’t get as many assists as last year, lampard is rotation risk and dyer is not the best swans option
Big risk with strikers not having one of the big three
Don’t mean to sound negative but take it as constructive criticism – start again lol!!!
Do you think Lampard will start the 1st 2 games?
Yea, I have been constantly tinkering so it has changed a bit!! I will return to tinkering! Thanks
Hate doing this but im curious what the wise campaigners think of my team, please share your thoughts …
Federici
Lescott, Cole, Pearce (QPR dw)
Bale, Michu, Lamps (c), Silva
Naismith, Pog, Aguero
(DeGea, Noble, Tomkins, Hooiveld)
Gonna swap lamps for the missing week with which ever newbie looks impressive. 0 left in bank
Cheers my fellow managers
I would swap Silva for Toure, and then get Jelavic instead of Naismith personally.
You also have 3 reading players, might be a bit overkill…
Chhers mate,
Naismith banging them in pre season though cant bring myself to get rid, my gut wont let me I think hes gonna be a big
i’ve got vorm and green as my GK combination now,,what do you say guys?
RIP darts commentator Sid Waddell, who has died at the age of 72
Hi guys, would appreciate some help with my team!
Begovic – Ruddy
Hangeland – Koscielny – Williams – Simpson – Pearce
Allen – Kagawa – Hazard – Y Toure – Noble
Suarez – Podolski – Aguero
I would like to replace Noble with a stronger midfielder and have Allen as squad player but I have 0 in the bank and therefore would need to free up some funds elsewhere. Any suggestions? Any other areas that need improving? Thanks.
Hi there,
First timer here (from South Africa). Any comments on my team would be appreciated?
Vorm (Green)
Cole, Hangeland, Williams (Coloccini, Skrtel)
Ramsey, Noble, Yaya Toure, Silva (Pienaar)
Torres (c), Aguero, Pogrebnyak
I’m happy with my attackers and goalkeepers, but does anyone think Skrtel is worth having as a sub? And Coloccini is playing for Argentina this week so might be rested for the 1st game? And there’s talk of Yaya Toure possibly leaving City. If so, who could I replace him with? And no one seems to be interested in Gerrard? I’m willing to downgrade either Pienaar or Ramsey too. (0.5 in the bank).
Skrtel has a very tough start to the season, save money and pick a cheaper DF from a promoted side as your DF is good
Yaya is going nowehere dont worry
Team is good
Okay, thanks for the tip PritchardMJP!
I think liverpools defence will be tight as they will have lots of possession aka swans last year but they do have very tough start. I think if you are spending 6m on a defender he has to be in your team nearly every week
I would downgrade him and get rid of coloccini. Perhaps dawson koscielny mcartney 
I would also upgrade Ramsey to michu. Possibly if you can I would have 1m spare to swap pog for graham as apart from a dgw pog playing at reading is not attractive at all 
Thanks AJ, a lot to consider there, will take it all into account before GW1 deadline! Thoughts on Newcastle’s Ba as an alternative to Pog?
Avoid, alternative to pog could be graham from swans or of spurs don’t sign anyone else then Defoe could be a wry good buy as they don’t have any other strikers. Keep an eye on that one
Cool, thanks again mate.
One more thing… In GW3: Cole, Torres and Pogrebnyak will all be out of action. What should I do then, transfer in a new player just for the week, is that worth it?
Thanks.
Get rid of pog after gw1 or before that
cole can sit on bench as can Torres of he has performed up till then, if he is looking shite then get rid as perfect excuse too
any m/f 6.5 or less better than pienaar (i already have michu)
Everton have accepted a bid for Jack Rodwell from Manchester City http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2012/08/12/3302391/breaking-news-everton-accept-manchester-citys-bid-for-jack
LMAO, poor kid, he’ll just rot on the bench. Is that Man City’s only purchase, All man U fans are scared now!!!
This is fantastic news, he hardly adds anything to City’s squad, while Everton have 20 million to spend now! Surely they’re gonna finish above Liverpool again?
Lets see how much of it Moyes gets to spend!
Dhev – A fiver says we finish above Everton
Kop – That’s true, Moyes may just end upo getting a couple of freebies! Tell you what, I’ll take you on if i like Everton’s squad on 31st August, deal?
People have been raving about Rodwell for a few years, tbh I’ve never been overly impressed with him.
Silly boy another promising England career thrown away a la Adam Johnson!!! When will these agents advise their players based on their careers rather than their pockets!!!
When you say ‘Their’ pockets do you mean the players or the agents!!?
The agents, get the impression agents fill these kids heads with shit and what is supposedly good for them just so they can get their big fat commission
Chelsea – Cech Ivanovic Luiz Terry Cole Lampard Mikel Ramires Mata Hazard Torres
Are we to assume that Luiz is 1st choice?
City – Pantilimon – Zabaleta Kompany Savic – Milner De Jong YToure Clichy – Nasri – Aguero Tevez
Hmmm, no Lescott….
No Hart either Kop, i wouldn’t read much into that.
I did say about 3 at the back, but hell i wouldn’t have had Savic as one of them!!
But we know for definite that Hart will come back. I might consider Zab for the 1st few games!!
Joe Hart missing with injury.telegraph sport
That could be Hilarious for the Hart Cerny combo!!!!
haha yeah
about that, do you think it is safe to go with lescott
There’s no way savic can come before lescott!
who knows with Mancini!!!!
This is annoying.thought lescott was nailed in to start
i know how you feel
Hi Guys
what are your thoughts on Lescott not featuring?…ill admit has really thrown a spanner in my works??..I’d say its pretty unlikely he’ll feature next week now,he just hasn’t featured for Man City in their first XI.
I’m going pretty conservative this time around…… really need 100% starters