Dejan Kulusevski fits the bill for those seeking a bargain Dream Team midfielder
SUCH is the nature of the current season, Dream Team bosses hoping to unite the best defenders at this stage will have to fork out an arm and a leg.
Combining Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m), Joao Cancelo (£7.1m) and Virgil van Dijk (£7.0m) will require concessions elsewhere and so some gaffers may be on the hunt for a bargain midfielder to balance the books.
Enter Dejan Kulusevski (£2.6m).
The Sweden international has settled at Tottenham quickly since his January loan switch from Juventus and, more specifically, he’s gelled well with the other two thirds of Antonio Conte’s front three, Harry Kane (£7.1m) and Son Heung-min (£5.2m).
After a slightly fortuitous assist at Brighton on Wednesday night, Kulusevski has now created four goals and scored two of his own in 592 minutes of Premier League football.
That works out at a goal involvement every 98.7 minutes, which is more than respectable.
This bright start to life in north London has equated to 30 Dream Team points in his last seven outings.
While that may not match up to the hottest streaks of Riyad Mahrez (£7.4m), James Maddison (£4.2m) and the other popular assets among the top ten, nobody can say the 22-year-old hasn’t been value for money so far.
For comparison, at £2.6m Kulusevski is in the same price bracket as N’Golo Kante (£2.6m), Stuart Armstrong (£2.6m) and Maxwel Cornet (£2.6m).
With all due respect to that trio, Spurs’ new arrival is infinitely more viable from right now.
Some Dream Team managers will be concerned by the inconsistent form of Conte’s side – although you could argue their actually incredibly consistent with their one-on, one-off approach.
Flitting between wins and losses hasn’t hampered Kane’s returns – the England skipper has motored along in recent weeks having banked 59 points in the last four Game Weeks.
As one of the most prolific goalscorers in Premier League history, Spurs’ No10 is a law unto himself in many ways but if Kulusevski can continue to contribute goal involvements when things are clicking then he should be decent facilitator for the season’s conclusion.