UCL Fantasy Premium Players

Europe’s biggest club competition returns for another season. Over at Fantasy Football Community we are committed to bringing you some of the best content out there. Today we take a look at the UCL Fantasy premium players.

Premium players aren’t just the most expensive players in game. In fact, they can be some of the most consistent assets for earning points. They can also have a significant affect on captaincy and chip strategy, so knowing which are the best and worst will be key.

Erling Haaland

2022/23 Champions and 2023/24 semi-finalists Manchester City will no doubt go into the new season as one of the heavy favourites. The recent league phase draw was also kind to them. In fact, the toughest opposition they face during the league is PSG and Inter, two sides they have dispatched in recent history.

Taking the above into account many within the UCL Fantasy community may consider Erling Haaland (€11m) a shoo-in. The Norwegian has, at the time of writing, already amassed nine goals since the end of last season. Haaland leads one of the most formidable frontlines in Europe and takes the penalties, so he could well be tough to ignore.

Vinicius Junior v Mbappe or both?

One side hoping to stop Manchester City is the current Champions League holders Real Madrid. The Spaniards were slightly less fortunate with their schedule – with meetings against Dortmund, Liverpool, Milan and Atalanta. However, with their experience and attacking talent potential investors will remain keen.

The standout attacking options within the Real Madrid frontline are forwards Vinicius Junior (€11m) and Kylian Mbappe (€11m). The former goes into the new campaign off the back of six goals and four assists in his last season whilst the former produced eight goals for previous side PSG.

UCL Fantasy managers may have to make a big decision ahead of the tournament, pick one or own both. Most could side with picking one or the other and although Mbappe leads the Real Madrid frontline, Vinicius Junior remains on penalty duty. This of course could change but for now the decision remains a very difficult one.

Harry Kane

Bayern are one of several clubs who have been handed a fair schedule. As well as facing Barcelona and PSG, two European giants who have seemingly lost their way recently, they also clash with Benfica, Shakhtar, GNK Dinamo, and S. Bratislava.

What is interesting is that Bayern’s main man and penalty taker Harry Kane (€10.5m) comes in €0.5m cheaper than the premium options mentioned above. This is significant because although cheaper the England captain racked up a whopping 36 goals and eight assists in the Bundesliga and eight goals and four assists in the Champions League last season.

Mohamed Salah

Liverpool have returned to Champions League football after a season away. Unfortunately for the Reds their fixture list is on the tougher side as they face Real Madrid, Leipzig, Leverkusen, Milan, PSV, Bologna and Girona.

The Liverpool danger man is of course Mohamed Salah (€10m) who has been priced €1m less than Mbappe, Junior and Haaland. What is interesting is that Salah is the only premium midfielder in the game this season.

In terms of output Salah amassed an impressive eight goals and two assists in his last Champions League campaign. The penalty taker continued that same form into his 2023/24 Premier League season – banking a huge 18 goals and 10 assists.

Defenders

There are lots of premium defenders to choose from this season. One of those options is Trent Alexander-Arnold (€6m) who could be of interest even with tough fixtures. Considering his previous price-tag was €7m and the fact teammate Virgil Van Dijk (€6m) comes in at the same price his appeal could grow.

Manchester City will be expected to go deep into the competition as one of the favourites. With that in mind it comes as no surprise centre-back Ruben Dias comes in at €6m. Amongst that same price bracket is Real Madrid’s Antonio Rudiger, Bayern’s Alphonso Davies, and Inter’s Carlos Augusto.

We could well see a lot more interest in the €5.5m bracket. Players who fit that bill include Bayer Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo who produced 10 goals and 13 assists this season, Liverpool’s Andy Robertson, Arsenal’s Gabriel and Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol.

Goalkeepers

When considering the UCL Fantasy premium players it is important to highlight the goalkeepers. Avoiding them completely could have it’s benefits as they usually have cheaper teammates covering the clean sheets in defence and have much lower points potential overall.

In fact, the most experienced UCL Fantasy managers tend to opt for the budget goalkeepers during the early stages of the competition.

Regardless, the €6m bracket houses a huge seven goalkeepers. Amongst those players is Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois, PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, Manchester City’s Ederson and Atleti’s Jan Oblak.

For €5m cheaper in the same position UCL Fantasy managers have access to Milan’s Mike Maignan, Inter’s Yann Sommer and Arsenal’s David Raya.