Given his quality as one of the best central defenders in the Premier League, if not the world, it may come as a surprise that so few players are considering Southampton’s Virgil Van Dijk as an early round pick.
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One reason why, is that he continues to be surrounded by transfer speculation. Strongly linked with Liverpool, BBC Sport report that he has been training alone after demanding a move.
Uncertainty is never attractive in Draft Fantasy Football, with players unaware of which club he will be playing for come September.
If it’s Liverpool, he will have potential to score well and is likely to be first choice. However, the Reds do have a questionable defensive record and won’t have had the chance to adjust to his new surroundings throughout pre-season with any move likely to be drawn out.
If it is Southampton, he will continue to be a high scorer from clean sheets with the Saints boasting an excellent defensive record last season.
On top of that, it will almost certainly mean that he will miss the opening weeks of the campaign. Having missed the club’s pre-season tour to France, it would be a shock if he is included in the starting line-up in only two weeks.
Even if he moves to Liverpool, it seems unlikely that he will be fully fit having been training alone.
In addition, whilst for other players it may be worth the risk, Van Dijk is simply not a particularly high scorer. His record with clean sheets was good in 2016/17 and he is one of those to benefit from the Kante Rule, but he does not score or provide assists.
Competing with the likes of Marcos Alonso or James Milner as a high scoring early pick, that will work against Van Dijk.
It is clear to see why players are avoiding gambling on the Dutchman. It may be worth the risk to choose Van Dijk early on if he was one of the highest scorers, but the truth is that the reward would not justify the potential cost of carrying a player for the first few weeks of the season.
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