Pre-season #8

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The Quick Summary

This week's quick summary:

- Eriksen finally moves to Man United, Chelsea sign Sterling- The Blues also sign Kalidou Koulibaly- Man United pump Liverpool in Thailand, Jesus nets for Arsenal- Diogo Jota has injury setback, big doubt for Gameweek 1- Read on for a game-changing captaincy rotation and possibly the best £6m midfielder in the game.

But it's not just the weather that's heating up. As the start of the Premier League season approaches, FPL managers are clammy with the bedlam of pre-season friendlies, high-profile transfers, big name injuries and the challenge of how to squeeze three premium attackers into their big-at-the-back drafts.

We'll keep you cool, calm and collected. Let's get into it.

The Big Done Deals

(There's a lot to discuss at the moment, so we'll just focus on the highlights. Here's a full list of done-deals if you're interested.)Chelsea have signed Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly since last Sunday. You're probably familiar with Sterling's explosive potential, but ex-Napoli centre-back Koulibaly could well be the more impactful signing of the pair if Tuchel's men hope to be title-contenders.Excitingly, Sterling's £48m move from City meant a rare "quadruple-up" was on the cards for eagle-eyed FPL managers, flouting the three-players-per-team rules.FPL HQ must be furious.

Christian Eriksen has signed for Man United on a free. This has been on the cards for some time, so we won't dwell on it.

Raphinha has left Leeds to go to Barcelona. A terrible career decision, if you ask us.

The Rumour Mill

Oleksandr Zinchenko is on the brink of joining Arsenal, according to multiple sources. According to City's Headteacher, Mr. Guardiola, he and Gabriel Jesus were joint at the hip in class and just couldn't be separated.Here's some bonus gossip on Marc Cucurella too, from our boy Fabrizio.

Erling Haaland is probably not injured.As far as we can tell, the rumour that Haaland might be struggling with an injury emerged after he wasn't pictured in training.

But then this happened.

The Daily Mail has reported that Newcastle are courting Ivan Toney, with £30m being floated about like it's pocket-change for them.Oh wait: it probably is.

Multiple sources have reported that Diogo Jota has suffered a setback in his hamstring recovery, making him a doubt for Gameweek 1.This gives Luis Diaz (now over 30% owned) and Darwin Nunez even more fantasy credibility.

Pre-season Update

It's pre-season friendly time, which means stumbling through a minefield of fantasy red-herrings up until Gameweek 1.Expect incredible performances from players who remain invisible throughout the 22/23 season, regular starts from soon-to-be bench-fodder and blanks from next year's top scorers.Still, here's the stuff you should know so far:- Gabriel Jesus has scored three goals in two games for his new club. The latest came in a 2-0 win against Everton (Bukayo Saka scored the other one).

- Liverpool were thrashed 4-0 by Man United, who have scored 8 goals across two pre-season friendlies so far.Apparently some Liverpool players arrived off of their holidays just hours before the match. Virgil van Dijk was allegedly still nursing a mojito-hangover after hitting the all-inclusive bar in his 3* Benidorm resort a little too hard.But the most entertaining part of the tie was this picture that emerged of the Man United fans at the game.

Elsewhere, Mo Salah scored in a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace on Friday, Mount and Werner scored in Chelsea's 2-1 win over Club America and Villa edged past Leeds 1-0.

Looking Ahead

Picking your FPL captain is stressful. Luckily, friend of the newsletter @FPL GOAT, who finished with a top 10k rank last season, dropped this guide the other week.

@BigManBakar raised an interesting point about £6m midfielder Gabriel Martinelli, who is quickly turning into a popular budget pick.

Is he the best £6m midfielder in the game? Some certainly think so.We're still unsure about picking him for Gameweek 1, given the doubt around his minutes and on-pitch positioning (some reports suggest he's spent a considerable amount of time at wing-back in pre-season).But he's definitely one to monitor.

Looking for a £4.5m defender? The on-fire @HollyShand has spotted a rotation that could free up some funds for pricier attackers, if that's your thing.

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