Fantasy football: Ronaldo is worth bringing in despite these five problems
- Sean Fisher
- 8 September 2021
Is he worth the price? Will he start? Is Lukaku a better option? Ronaldo’s return has left fantasy managers mulling over a new set of problems.
Cristiano Ronaldo completed his fairy-tale return to Old Trafford this month after his former side stepped in to stop him joining rivals, Manchester City.
It's certainly an exciting prospect for United fans, but for fantasy football managers, it's simply added to an already-growing list of problems and hypotheticals.
In an attempt to cure your Fantasy Premier League headache, Planet Sport outlines how you can overcome the five key problems when trying to accomodate Ronaldo.
Already owning three Manchester United players
Fantasy Premier League rules state that each manager is only allowed three players from each side, meaning that if you already have three Red Devils, there's bad news.
Admittedly, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side is stacked with exceptional talents. Bruno Fernandes and Mason Greenwood offer great value in midfield, while Luke Shaw and Raphael Varane look solid defensive options.
However, if you've already heavily invested in the Red Devils, it means you're backing them to succeed this season as a team. If that is the case, you certainly won't want to miss out on Ronaldo's potential points haul.
That said, our recommendation for a manager with three United players is to follow your instinct and sacrifice one to make space for the five-time Ballon D'or winner.
His remarkable goal tally speaks for itself, and much of United's attacking output will go through him, meaning he'll bring home a healthy haul of points.
His £12.5million price tag is certainly hefty, but if Bruno Fernandes or Jadon Sancho currently reside in your squad, their high values will help pay off a decent chunk of the Ronaldo fee.
Not having enough free transfers
The most common move this week has been to transfer out Fernandes in order to squeeze in CR7.
It's a sensible strategy considering Ronaldo's return means the end of Fernandes' set-piece-taking for the Red Devils, in turn hindering his attacking output for the remainder of the season.
At £12million, freeing up Bruno means you're just £0.5million away from Ronaldo's flashy price tag.
For anyone considering bringing in CR7, it's been a straightforward decision to make - the only issue being whether you have two free transfers available.
With Bruno listed as a midfielder and Ronaldo being added as a forward, it means that you can't directly transfer one for another, meaning two transfers are required to complete the switch.
With two free transfers it becomes slightly easier, but if not, the problem can be solved with either a points hit or even perhaps an early wildcard.
Is Lukaku a better option?
Before Ronaldo's return hogged the transfer headlines, Romelu Lukaku's arrival back at Stamford Bridge was the move everyone was talking about.
The Belgian rediscovered his form at Inter Milan, scoring 24 goals and registering 11 assists for the Serie A side last season, before making the switch back to London.
After their Champions League conquest of Manchester City, Chelsea are hoping the addition of Lukaku will help fire them to Premier League success. And the 28-year-old got off to a good start, netting just 15 minutes into his debut against Arsenal.
With Lukaku also looking like an extremely valuable asset, his £11.5million price tag means many managers will have to choose between him or Ronaldo as their star forward.
It's certainly a choice thousands of managers will be mulling over in the coming days. However, our suggestion is to find that extra £1million for the Manchester United legend - and we're not referring to Lukaku here.
The duo went head to head in Serie A in 2020/21 and it was Ronaldo who emerged triumphant with 29 goals despite his Juventus side only scraping fourth in the league.
Lukaku weighed in with 24 goals for Inter Milan en route to their title win.
If history repeats itself in the Premier League, that extra million will equate to 20% more goals and, more importantly, points.
Not sure Ronaldo will start
One of the hot topics in Fantasy Premier League at the moment is whether Ronaldo will start against Newcastle United this weekend.
It's certainly a tricky one. After featuring for Portugal in the international break, Ronaldo flew to England for his isolation period before joining up with the rest of the United squad for training.
He eventually linked up with the squad on Tuesday afternoon.
United's other major signings, Varane and Sancho, were named on the bench in their first games and were only introduced as starters the following week.
While that suggests Ronaldo will be named among the substitutes against Newcastle, we just can't see Solskjaer holding back his new star.
Frankly, even if Ronaldo does have to wait to make his reappearance, a goal against Steve Bruce's side seems written in the stars.
Which low budget players can save funds?
Fitting Ronaldo into your side at £12.5million means you'll have to trim the budget in other areas of your team.
It's a difficult task, but there are definitely some hidden gems out there to help you stump up some spare cash for the Portuguese maestro.
If it's in defence that you've decided to cut down, then Southampton's Tino Livramento (£4.1million) and Brighton's Shane Duffy (£4.1million) are two fantastic options for a manager working on a tight budget.
If you've opted to sacrifice a midfielder to bring in Ronaldo - sorry Bruno - then Crystal Palace's Conor Gallagher (£5.5million) is in great form, while Arsenal's new No. 10, Emile Smith Rowe (£5.4million) could also bring in some valuable points during the Gunners' favourable run of fixtures.
Ronaldo's addition means you have already replaced one of your team's strikers, but if further funding needs to be found then Southampton's Adam Armstrong (£6.0million) has hit the ground running, while Brentford's Ivan Toney (£6.4million) is sure to be a regular starter.
Cutting down on some of your more pricey assets will be an agonising process, but it will be time well spent when Ronaldo fires himself to the top of the scoring charts.
