FI Weekly Mag Issue 004 - 27/05/19

Issue 4 27/05/19

Weekly Magazine Unofficial Weekly Magazine for Football Index Traders

Has the Premier League Overtaken the World?

Have the performances by English clubs this season proven that the EPL is now in a league of it’s own?

Trends come and go in life. What’s popular today will quickly become old news tomorrow, with something better, newer, and shinier to attract the masses and forget what they had.

Football is not immune to such trends. The 1990s were the glory years of Italian football, with the likes of Ronaldo, Roberto Baggio and Zinedine Zidane gracing the pitches week in, week out. More recently, we’ve seen stars flocking to La Liga, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi aiding Spanish dominance across the continent. Now, with all-English affairs in the finals of both

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the Champions League and Europa League - the first time in history that all four teams in the finals of Europe’s elite competitions have come from one nation - could it be that England has taken the mantle as the place for footballers to ply their trade?

The four finalists don’t even include the two Manchester clubs; City, who appear to be breaking records left, right and centre as arguably the most gifted team this country has ever seen, and United, whose standing in world football deems them impossible to be ruled out when discussing the best.

On the continent, meanwhile, there appears to be a period of transition across the elite.

Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Keylor Navas, Karim Benzema and Marcelo are all the wrong side of 30 for Real Madrid, with Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic the same for rivals Barcelona. Juventus, too rely on stalwarts Cristiano Ronaldo, Georgio Chiellini (both 34), Leonardo Bonucci and Sami Khedira (both 32), whilst Bayern Munich have just said goodbye to Franck

Bad Week

Robery and Arjen Robben (36 & 35). For Paris SaintGermain , it is not a question of age but instead over their repeated failure in Europe, asking whether they remain a sustainable option in the long term.

So has English football enjoyed success because of the failings elsewhere, or has their success caused these failings?

Of course, the biggest argument for England’s success is their phenomenal TV deals, with billions of pounds coming in to the league allowing even midtable English clubs to outmuscle the rest of

Barcelona: Their devastating defeat to Liverpool in the competition they were so desperate to win would’ve been eased by a Copa del Rey victory being added to their La Liga triumph. Valencia beat them 2-1.

Dybala Current Price

£2.71

Europe’s elite. Not only does this make these shores a more lucrative destination, but the increased competition of the league surely rises the level of play. Whether Messi could do it on a wet Tuesday night in Stoke has always been thrown as a criticism of both him and La Liga, such is the difficulty of playing any of the 20 Premier League teams.

And so, as the money and the success of the league take their grip, it means English fans are lucky to witness some of the best players week in, week out. As an English company - and thus with many English-based news feeds - Football Index certainly appears to have a bias over those in the EPL, so this summer could be an exciting time with new names being mentioned.

Teenage sensation Jadon Sancho has enjoyed a phenomenal year at Borussia Dortmund, and has been strongly linked with a move

Good Week

Atalanta: The Italian side came from behind to beat Sassuolo 3-1 in the final game of the Serie A season, securing 3rd place in the process of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.

Dividend Winners 20/05 - 26/05

Sancho Current Price

£5.30 b a c k to England to Manchester United as Ole Gunnar Solksjaer looks to rebuild a disjointed squad. Meanwhile, Antoine Griezmann (£2.41) and Matthijs de Ligt (£2.90) continue to be linked, with no deals yet in place to join Barcelona. Paulo Dybala has also been tipped to leave Juventus; a move that could propel his career back towards the elite level that was once expected of him.

Europe’s best clubs still have the attraction to sign the best in the world; there is no doubting that. Real and Barca in particular continue to be the clubs that any footballer would pick, given the choice to go anywhere. Yet the combination of upheaval necessary across the continent, the Premier League’s international appeal and success this season, and the vast amounts of money coming in, making England the number one destination for footballers. Domination this season may well just be the start of an English dynasty for the next 10 years.

20/05/19 Single Match Day Media Buzz Kylian Mbappe 640 Goalkeeper/Defender Danilo Larangeira 48 Midfielder ✴ ✴ ✴ Andrea Poli 161 Forward Riccardo Orsolini 117

24/05/19 Double Match Day Media Buzz Matthijs de Ligt 840 Goalkeeper/Defender Christophe Herelle 195 Midfielder ✴ ✴ ✴ Remy Cabella 198 Forward Ismaila Sarr 193

21/05/19 Treble Media Day Media Buzz

25/05/19 Treble Media Day Media Buzz Lionel Messi 730 Goalkeeper/Defender Nicolo Brighenti 157 Midfielder 153 Fabian Ruiz Forward ✴ ✴ ✴ 191 Federico Santander

First Paul Pogba Second Matthijs de Ligt Third Eden Hazard

590 560 540

22/05/19 Treble Media Day Media Buzz First Paul Pogba Second Raheem Sterling Third Eden Hazard

600 550 520

23/05/19 Treble Media Day Media Buzz First Romelu Lukaku Second Cristiano Ronaldo Third A. Ox. Chamberlain

390 370 360

26/05/19 Double Match Day Media Buzz Lionel Messi 840 Goalkeeper/Defender Aleksandar Kolarov 185 Midfielder ✴ ✴ ✴ Alejandro Gomez 222 Forward 221 Diego Perotti Upcoming: 27/05 Treble Media Day 28/05 TBC 29/05 TBC 30/05 TBC 31/05 TBC 01/06 TBC 02/06 TBC Footie: 93,954

+2,845

5 Questions With...

Football Index Focus You can follow Football Index Focus on Twitter @FIFocus.

Best Buy: Virgil Van Dijk. I purchased him in October 2018 for £3.17 in old money (before the x3 share split) and now he is worth almost that in new money! I actually sold my holding in him at £2.95 once he was named Player of the Year. I could have held on a bit longer as he climbed to over £3, but I wanted to bank profit whilst he was wanted and market sold in next to no time. Why can’t they all be that profitable?!

Worst Buy: Another centre back, this time Sergio Ramos. I got carried away at the start of the season and went quite heavy on him at nearly £6 in old money. I thought he was going to be a dividend machine like Joshua Kimmich; it’s safe to say that he has NOT been a good trade!

I ended up Instant Selling him for £1.20 (in new money, £3.60 pre-split). He’s now a lot lower than that so I’m glad I got out when I did!

Biggest Regret: I had Jadon Sancho at £5 last year and he has since tripled in price.

Unfortunately I sold him at £6 after a spike! I always regret trades where I’ve dabbled a bit and then they’ve exploded before I’ve committed to buying more shares or freed up the funds to go in. There’s far too many of those to name...

Best Tip: My tip is not really a specific player; more of a group of players who maybe had poor (or poorer) 18/19 season than expected but still have age on their side to come back strongly this season. I’m thinking Luis Alberto, Ciro Immobile and Leon Bailey as just three examples. Also, there can be value in players who were previously linked with Premier League moves but it has recently gone quiet; players like Piotr Zielinski, Cengiz Under and Nabil Fekir. One fresh transfer link and they’re likely to fly.

Best Piece of Advice: Dividends are a hotly debated topic across Twitter. For me, you cannot have Football Index without dividends: it would be a ponzi scheme with nothing underwriting the value of the assets. Dividends are essential and have to drive the market.

Capital appreciation is great but what drives that? The opportunities to maximise dividend potential. My advice to any new trader would be to study the dividend table and all possible opportunities to make profit and play the Index the way you want to.

Play-off heaven Congratulations must be given to Aston Villa, Charlton and Tranmere who this weekend sealed promotion via the play-offs.

And of course, commiserations to the defeated finalists who fell at the final hurdle, Derby, Sunderland and Newport.

With regards to the Index, it will be interesting to see how this affects stars at both Villa and Derby. Jack Grealish (£2.30) and John McGinn (£0.98) are two of Villa’s stand-out performers who will be enjoying Premier League football next season, whilst Derby loanees Harry Wilson (£1.31) and Mason Mount (£1.80) may hope to join them, albeit not at Pride Park.

Wonderkid Profile: Amine Gouiri We featured him last week in our preview of the Under-20 World Cup, yet with the tournament now in full swing, and Gouiri fit and firing already (more about his impresseive start below) it feels right to dedicate more words to this talented 19 year old Frenchman who could be set to be one of the breakout starts of the tournament.

Style of Play: A strong striker, Gouiri has a phenomenal record at youth level. He was top scorer at the 2017 Under-17 Euros with 7 goals, and followed this up with a further 5 at the World Cup later that year. He then went on to net another 4 goals at the 2018 Under-19 Euros.

This form had helped him to start gaining minutes on the pitch, being eased in to first team action at club side Lyon across 7 brief substitute appearances during the 2017-18 season.

Sadly for the striker, a cruciate ligament injury last summer took him out of action for all of last season, robbing him of the breakthrough and temporarily hindering his progress. Yet any fears that such a serious injury would prevent Gouiri from reaching his potential have been allayed in the very first game of the World Cup; Gouiri scored and then assisted in a 2-0 opening win for the French, who are favourites to lift the trophy.

What’s Been Said? They say that actions speak louder than words, right? It is therefore telling that Lyon tied the youngster down to a contract extension until 2022 back in January.

Less than a year after he signed he first professional contract. Slap bang in the middle of his rehabilitation for his serious Current Price injury. It’s easy to become the forgotten man after such a long injury, yet Lyon will be praying that such faith will be rewarded if Gouiri can break in to the first team off the back of a stellar World Cup. The bar has been set high in recent years in France, but Gouiri has all the talent capable of becoming one of the best of a generation.

£1.37

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