Fantasy Football Scout: Is any Man City defender ‘nailed’ without Cancelo?
Our latest Fantasy Football Scout preview features a post from editor Skonto Rigga on whether any Man City defender is nailed-on now that Joao Cancelo is gone.
After three-and-a-half seasons, five goals, 17 assists, 44 clean sheets and 457 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points, we’ve said auf wiedersehen to Cancelo.
A nailed starter until Gameweek 16 and then deemed dispensable by Gameweek 22, his fall from Man City regular and FPL royalty status was a sharp one.
He’s been packed off on loan to Bayern Munich for the rest of 2022/23 but looks unlikely to be wearing the sky blue of City again, with an ‘option to buy’ clause also tagged onto this deal.
Now we turn our attention to how Pep Guardiola will shape up his City defence without him.
And the key Fantasy Football question: is anyone ‘nailed’ as a result of Cancelo’s exit?
THE OPTIONS IN EACH POSITION
| Right-back | Right centre-back | Left centre-back | Left-back |
| Lewis, Walker, Stones, Akanji | Stones, Akanji, Dias, Walker | Akanji, Laporte, Ake | Ake, Laporte, Gomez |
Above is a very rough indication of who can play where in the City backline. Cancelo’s departure and Rico Lewis’s (£3.9m) rise to prominence probably make some tactical choices slightly less likely. For example, John Stones (£5.4m) or Manuel Akanji (£5.0m) starting at right-back, given there are no real trusted candidates to ‘invert’ on the left.
However, proving that anything is possible in Pep’s world, Stones did indeed invert from right-back in the second half of Gameweek 21. It meant four recognised centre-backs stationed in the defence.
Of course, the positions listed are nominal ones. A full-back is often not really a full-back in Guardiola’s teams. Even the centre-backs can shift about – as we’re about to discuss in the section below.
CHECK OUT THE FULL ARTICLE, WHICH LOOKS AT GUARDIOLA’S DIFFERENT DEFENSIVE SET-UPS OF THIS SEASON
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Meanwhile, we have a round up of Transfer Deadline Day to end this January transfer window.
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