The Scout’s Matchday 3 squad features big names in goal and up front, with some top performers elsewhere.
The Scout has studied the numbers for Matchday 3 and opted for a couple of big names up front and in goal; a number of players have belied their price tags with big scores so far make the cut elsewhere.
Goalkeepers
With bargain signings thin on the ground ahead of the home-and-away fixtures on Matchdays 3 and 4, The Scout is relying on a couple of big-name acquisitions in goal. Wojciech Szczęsny (€5.5m) brought in six points on Matchday 2 and retains his place with another enticing-looking home fixture, against Lokomotiv Moskva, this week; should the Juventus keeper fail to keep a clean sheet, Wednesday’s option is Barcelona No1 Marc-André ter Stegen (€6.0m), whose side travel to Slavia Praha looking for a second clean sheet in Group F.
Defenders
Barcelona are also represented in the back line thanks to the presence of Clément Lenglet (€5.5m), who could prove a solid differential signing with only 6% of #UCLfantasy managers opting to include him at the time of writing. At the opposite end of that particular scale is Nicolás Tagliafico (€5.0m); he’s in 35% of squads for the very good reason he’s earned 26 points so far. Thomas Meunier (€5.5m) goes back to Belgium as his Paris Saint-Germain side visit Club Brugge, while Atlético Madrid’s Renan Lodi (€4.0m) is an ideal budget option; despite his price, he’s brought in 11 points so far, including nine on Matchday 2. The defensive contingent is completed by Ismaily (€4.5m), the first of a trio of Shakhtar players to make the cut with their home game against Dinamo Zagreb in mind.
Midfielders
The big-money signing in midfield is Liverpool’s Sadio Mané (€10.5m), whose side travel to Genk; the Senegalese international scored eight points last time out and could shoulder even more of the attacking load than usual should Mohamed Salah’s absence continue. At the other end of the price bracket is Valencia’s Dani Parejo (€5.0m), who has five goals already in this season’s Liga. There’s a representative from each side in the Ajax-Chelsea game in Group H, namely Quincy Promes (€7.0m), who has picked up nine and eight points respectively from the first two matches, and England international Callum Hudson-Odoi (€6.5m), hitting the ground running after injury with an assist in his last three Premier League games. Shakhtar’s free-scoring domestic form means a place for their captain Taison (€5.5m).
Forwards
As on Matchday 2, the bulk of The Scout’s funds have gone up front. Robert Lewandowski (€10.5m) cannot stop scoring for club and country in 2019/20, finding the net in Bayern’s first eight Bundesliga game and hitting a hat-trick for Poland last week. Cristiano Ronaldo (€11.5m) notched his 700th career goal on international duty and has scored once in each of Juventus’s five home games this season; Júnior Moraes (€7.0m) has 11 goals in 11 league appearances for Shakhtar in the current campaign and struck at Atalanta on Matchday 2.
