#EUROfantasy Tipster: Andrew's team
Thursday, June 9, 2016
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England, or more precisely Tottenham, form the spine of Andrew's team which also includes two players from both Belgium and Portugal and several rising stars.
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Select your EURO fantasy football squad
When picking my team, I like to choose a few budget options straight off the bat, to see how much money I have left for my big-name signings.
Thanks to some thorough work from our EURO reporters, I'm confident I've picked up a few unheralded gems in my squad – I like the look of Sweden midfielder Emil Forsberg (€5.5m) and I'm also persuaded to invest a further €7.5m in Croatia's Ivan Perišić. In defence, Jason Denayer of Belgium (€4.5m) and Portugal's Raphael Guerreiro (€4.0m) could represent decent value for money as well.
England arrive with a young squad – and, as a result, offer some excellent opportunities. Kyle Walker (€5.0m) is likely to be the first-choice right-back and is excellent offensively, while two of his Tottenham team-mates also get my vote. Midfielder Dele Alli seems a snip at €6.5m, while Harry Kane has scored 46 Premier League goals in the past two seasons and has five in 12 England appearances. At €8.5m, he's in too.
With almost half my squad selected and nearly €60m still in the bank, I can afford to splash out – and there's no bigger investment than Cristiano Ronaldo. He's the most expensive player in the game at €12.0m but he should guarantee goals – and I'm hoping the same is true of my other big buy, Belgium midfielder Kevin De Bruyne (€10.0m). Five goals and three assists in qualifying give me hope for another strong return at the finals.
My third striker is Austria's Marc Janko, who I plumped for ahead of Arkadiusz Milik – both are priced at €7.5m and it's a decision I might revisit. Midfield, meanwhile, is rounded off by France's Dimitri Payet – an assist machine for the last couple of league campaigns.
My defence is completed by two €5.5m players. It's almost compulsory to have an Italian, and Leonardo Bonucci gets the nod from me, with one of my UEFA Champions League Fantasy stalwarts, Juanfran, stepping up as well.
That leaves €10.0m for two goalkeepers. Portugal have a decent draw, so I'm going to go for Rui Patrício as my first choice; Croatia's group is less favourable, but I quietly fancy them so Danijel Subašić is my other option between the posts.
The deadline to submit your team is 21.00CET on Friday – kick-off for France-Romania and UEFA EURO 2016. Good luck and get picking!