What to do with Joao Cancelo?
Up next in our ‘What to do’ series, we look at Man City’s Joao Cancelo. Specifically, should FPL managers keep or sell him?
What to do?
Only two players have more FPL points this season than Joao Cancelo (£7.0m). Part of the league’s best defence and provider of nine attacking returns, there is a curious transfer trend for the Man City full-back. He lost over 350,000 owners before Gameweek 28, another 564,000 for Gameweek 29 and is currently the second most-sold heading into Gameweek 30.
Whilst the latter can be explained by Man City not being one of the round’s eight participants, one of the season’s outstanding players is being ditched by the FPL community. Amongst the top 10k elite, only 25.29% played Cancelo for his trip to Crystal Palace.
Player’s Form
Cancelo has played 90 minutes in all-but-three of Man City’s league games. Only goalkeeper Ederson (£6.1m) has featured more.
He has a clear lead for most goal attempts from defenders this season (first image) and this hasn’t slowed down over the last six Gameweeks (second image), despite playing significantly fewer minutes than those nearby.
Team’s Fixtures
So why are managers selling Cancelo? Certainly the lack of Double Gameweeks has been a huge factor, with many selling him for those of a Chelsea defender or Matt Doherty.
At least the blank of Gameweek 30 finally gives the champions a game in hand, likely to be played in Gameweeks 36 or 37. It contributes towards a strong fixture run that ends the season. Although the injury to Ruben Dias (£6.2m) adds short-term security to cheaper defenders like Aymeric Laporte (£5.8m) and John Stones (£5.2m), he’s expected to return in time to face Liverpool. Therefore Cancelo reigns supreme as City’s primary defensive asset from Gameweek 31.
FPL Alternatives
Using Scout’s ‘Rate My Team’ tool, several defenders are predicted to score more than Cancelo over the next four Gameweeks.
However, once Blank Gameweek 30 is removed, normal service is expected to resume. Those managers using a Free Hit this week should certainly hold Cancelo, whilst those navigating these tricky weeks need to plan a way back to him. The title race is tight, competitive and Man City will not be slacking off.
Thoughts from the FPL community
FPL Corrado confronted a popular dilemma of the week but it would have been unheard of just a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Big Man Bakar believes those going without Cancelo should have a clear route back to him.
