Transfers to make before the AFCON top-up

From one-week punts before you’re blessed with 5 FTs ahead of AFCON, to cash cows that help you afford a team with Haaland, Bruno, Saka and maybe even Palmer, we’ve got you covered.

Here’s a transfer guide that covers all your needs and wants. Unless your want is that Manchester United find competency, because that’s never happening.

The most one-sided fixtures this week include Newcastle vs. Burnley, Man City vs. Sunderland, literally anyone vs. Liverpool, Wolves vs. Manchester United, and Brighton vs. West Ham.

The best goalkeepers for this week are Aaron Ramsdale (never did I think I’d say this again) and Gianluigi Donnarumma (partly because of his excellent clean sheet odds, but mainly due to xVibes coming from a great name).

Similarly, Newcastle and City defenders are the best defensive punts this week. Nico O’Reilly (£5.2m) and Lewis Hall (£5.2m) are the pick of the bunch, given their incredible offensive threat, with an npxG+xAG/90 of 0.41 and 0.12 (small sample size), respectively.

In midfield, I cannot believe I’m saying this, but three of the best options are all from Manchester United. But that’s the thing. We know they have good players. The fans know they have good players? But does Amorim?

Bruno Fernandes is the pick of the bunch for me, given just how many routes to points he has: open-play threat, set-pieces and penalties, DEFCONs. Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha are pretty great too.

The fact that Wolves are more miserable than the Midlands’ weather says a lot, so I’d be happy to punt against them.

If not, and for every form junkie out there, Phil Foden is a superb option this week with seemingly secure minutes.

As far as forwards go, just get Haaland. He scores goals, I like goals, goals get you points.

Nick Woltemade should be Newcastle’s starting CF this week too, and if Anthony Gordon gets benched, he should have 100% pen share as well.

For a more budget-friendly option, Danny Welbeck plays West Ham, and even I could score against them. They have the second-worst defence in the league based on xGA, and blow more leads than they do bubbles.

While that’s every Liverpool fan's excuse for Florian Wirtz, let's put aside the obvious picks like your Haalands and Brunos, and the ones clearly gaining attention like Phil Foden and Igor Thiago, and take a look at some alternative long-term transfers.

Cunha plays the 2025/26 Derby County this week. That’s reason enough to buy him. I’m sorry, but if you’ve accumulated 2 points after 13 games, just give up.

While Cunha’s underlying data is way down compared to his time at Wolves, I expect more of United’s attacks to go through him after Mbeumo leaves for AFCON, meaning I think we’ll see a sizeable uptick in his offensive underlyings.

Of course, the lack of set-pieces isn’t ideal, but he is a nailed-on part of a very good attack with pretty decent long-term fixtures, so I’d be more than happy to go there.

I have had to go into my laptop’s settings and hard-code this name into my keyboard. Sigh. While Liverpool’s defence is leakier than Old Trafford’s roof, their attack is still one of the best in the league, and Szoboszlai is a nailed-on part of that.

Regardless of where he plays, his attacking threat and DEFCON potential are decent, and Liverpool have good fixtures, so he’s a rather good mid-priced midfielder.

While conceding 4 to Fulham may not make it seem so, Man City have the second-best defence in the league based on xGA. Nico O’Reilly has an npxG+xAG/90 of 0.41, which is utterly insane. Oh, and City play SUN, cry, WHU, nfo, sun, CHE in their next 6.

Need I say more? Yes, because his minutes look great too.

The cash cows you never knew you needed to afford some of the more expensive punts. Moo.

Andersen’s just consistently good. He plays for a rather alright defence, averages well over 10 DEFCONs/90, does decently for bonus points, and has some assist threat. Fulham’s fixtures are about to turn for the better too, so this is a good hop-on spot.

With a name far grander than his footballing ability, KDH is a nailed-on, 90-minute guy who costs just £4.9m, while putting up a respectable npxG+xAG/90 of 0.34. He’s not a flashy buy by any means, but an easy way to put funds back into the rest of your team.

Brother of Fernandes, Enzo The Fée seems to have solidified his place in Sunderland’s starting XI yet again, and is a penalty-taking £4.9m midfielder.

His open-play data is woeful, but considering the positions he gets into, there’s always a chance of a random haul. Given that his fixtures are also quite a mixed bag, I prefer KDH, but Le Fée isn’t the worst alternative.