Last week, we brought you the most popular lineup of players who were sold or loaned out from their respective clubs. As several fan favourites were excluded, we decided to find out what Premier League players would make up a 2nd “Transfer-list” starting 11. To uncover this, we looked at the Beat Your Manager! Fantasy Football data for all players that have been transferred from the clubs they played for during the 2013/4 English Premier League.
Beat Your Manager! Fantasy Football is a game which is similar to “Football Manager”, but applied to live football, where you manage your favourite Club and pick lineups, bench, formations and substitutions, all in real-time. When fans play the game, the Beat Your Manager team can measure the popularity of different players, by looking at how frequently they are selected for the lineup.
Goalkeepers: The curse of the England No.1
Costel Pantilimon’s troubles are unlikely to be relieved anytime soon. He leaves Manchester City, where he spent most of last season playing a distinct second fiddle to England keeper Joe Hart and now moves to Sunderland, where there is another clear first choice goalkeeper Vito Mannone. This free-transfer is unlikely to trouble the Citizens, as they rated him a poorly 17 per cent, easily the most unpopular player in our starting 11.
Defenders: Making up four of our top five most popular 2nd-choice transfers
Mathieu Debuchy’s £12 million move from Newcastle United to Arsenal comes with a 73 per cent endorsement from Toon fans, making him the most popular defender - and most popular player - in our list. The remaining three defenders from our back four are very closely rated by their respective club fans, although have endured different outcomes over the summer. Danny Gabbidon was released, despite receiving a comfortable 67 per cent rating by Crystal Palace fans. This may have been due to his poor second-half-of season performance, where his ratings dropped from 87 per cent to a measly 6 per cent with Palace fans. By contrast, Southampton’s Luke Shaw got a similar overall rating by Saints fans (66 per cent) and was rewarded by a big-money move to Manchester United – this may have been due to his near-perfect rating by fans during the second half of the season. The other defender-transfer talking point of the summer involved the end of Ashley Cole’s Chelsea career. He leaves for Scudetto hopefuls Roma with 65 per cent approval from the Blues.
Midfielders: Hull City making all the right runs?
Norwich City’s Robert Snodgrass tops our midfielders list and makes his move to Hull City with a 65 per cent popularity with Canaries fans ringing in his ears. Snapping at his heels is Jose Campana, who completes a move to Sampdoria after a respectable first-half season performance rating of 65 per cent from Crystal Palace fans, before being loaned out to German outfit Nuremberg. Jake Livermore spent last season on loan at Hull City from Spurs and his 54 per cent rating from City fans was enough to secure him a permanent transfer this year. Our final midfielder is Kieran Richardson, who completes a move to Aston Villa, despite registering a below-average rating of 45 per cent with Fulham fans last season.
Forwards: Yesterday’s heroes are today’s jokers
Swansea City’s Michu was the bargain-buy sensation of the 2012/3 season, but his 2013/4 performance were not so emphatic, leading to a 67 per cent rating with Swans fans over the season. However, this rating was enough to make him our 3rd most popular player (and most popular forward) in our list. Despite being quite popular during the first half of the season, performances dropped dramatically over the second half, which may have prompted this summer’s move to title-chasers Napoli. Chelsea’s Samuel Eto'o had to put up with jokes about his age from manager Jose Mourinho last season. Those jokes may have influenced Blues fans, who gave Eto'o an unimpressive 48 per cent popularity score last season, which may have contributed to his release from duty by the club.
2nd most popular 11 Transfer targets from the 2013/4 EPL season:
2nd most popular 11 Transfer targets from the 2013/4 EPL season:
