To Kane or not to Kane

08/07/2019 Planet FPL

The game is live and fantasy managers are now beginning to make the first of a few hundred drafts before the deadline which is only 30 odd days away.

While looking at new player prices, one that stood out to me was Harry Kane who saw a drop in price of £1.5m from 12.5 last season to £11m this season.

While Kane did break the August curse, last year was a poor season for him by his standards, managing just 17 goals for a total of 160 points. His season was once again hampered by injury, something which is concerning given the repetitiveness of the same injury.

Kane began the season looking out of sorts. His shot count was way down on where it was the previous season when he was ahead of every other player in the game by some distance. He was also playing a more withdrawn role for Spurs. Lucas Moura at the start of the season and Son later on were playing further forward and closer to goal than Kane. As the season progressed his numbers started to look better and then he picked up another ankle injury in the Champions League against Man City. I didn’t own him all season but with his £11m price tag in FPL he looks a very tempting option and here are 5 reasons why.

He’s nailed on

As things stand Kanes only competition in the striking department is from the forgotten man, Vincent Janssen. Unlike rotation risks at other clubs Kane tends to play every game he’s available for even when he probably should be given a rest. Both Lucas Moura and Heung Min Son can play the striker role and popped up in more advanced positions than the England striker last season. Id expect Kane to be the focal point of the spurs attack once more this coming season.

He had the summer off

Last summer Kane as well as many other FPL assets represented their countries at the World Cup in Russia. Many players went deep into the competition and had a very short summer break. Kane was one of those players who will play every game for club and country but often times he needs a rest to avoid burnout. He looked sluggish and tired last summer but should have a nice break this summer to come back fresh for this year’s campaign.

Kane is consistent

Because of his slow start to the season and his injury, Kane failed to score 20 premier league goals for the first time in 5 seasons. As a result he also failed to be in the top 5 FPL scorers for the first time in 5 seasons.

2015 5th
2016 2nd
2017 3rd
2018 3rd
2019 26th

He’s a bonus point magnet

Kane managed a very respectable 24 bonus points last season. In fact only 8 players scored more (Hazard 35, Aubameyang 32, Jimenez 31, Vardy 31, Robertson 29, Agüero 26, Sterling 25, TAA 25).

Bonus points In his previous 4 seasons are as follows:
2015 32
2016 33
2017 33
2018 31

Once again this highlights his consistency.

He’s on penalties

With the introduction of VAR this season it’s hard to know whether there will be much of an impact on the volume of penalties  awarded however having a penalty taker in your team is no harm, especially when Kane has scored 18 Premier League Penalties in the last 5 seasons.

*Eriksen goal that was awarded to Kane