Big name hunting

Flash strikers: are they good value?

There was a time when signing a big-money, almost-guaranteed points getter was the successful tactic of auction night.

Certainly in previous seasons, Cristiano Ronaldo, for all his failings of personality, single-handedly won FC Gun Show and Fat Ladies the title in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

However, as more teams have joined the league over the years, auction tactics have changed. With so many managers going for the big players, their value has skyrocketed, but on last season’s evidence their actual contribution is diminishing.

Below is a table of the eight players that fetched over £30m at auction last summer. They all have one thing in common: none of their teams got into the top two.

The most expensive player at champions Young Boys was Vidic (£27m) who picked up 139 points (5.15 per million pounds).

At cup winners and league runners up Dynamo Temple the situation is even more astounding. Jamie Carragher was the manager’s biggest buy at auction for £16m and scored 78 points (4.88 per million pounds).

Of the ‘over-£30m’ club, only the prolific Carlos Tevez managed to be of more worth to his team to the pound than Vidic or Carragher to theirs.

The questions remains: was last season an anomaly or with an enlarged league membership should managers be spreading their budget over their starting line up?

Player	Club	Value (£m)	Points	Points per £1m
C Tevez	CSKA Bashers	36	199	5.53
R van Persie	Spartak Mogadishu	37	154	4.16
D Drogba	Vasco De Beauvoir	47	181	3.85
F Torres	FC Gun Show	33	127	3.85
W Rooney	Deportivo Kensington	39	141	3.62
F Lampard	PSV Mornington	42.5	140	3.29
C Fabregas	Athletico Temple	43	118	2.74
S Gerrard	Legia Forsyth	34	68	2

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