Shaw tops FPL ownership ahead of 2021/22 season

The popular game sees entrants score points based on the real-life performances of the top flight’s players over the course of the season, with just over 4.8 million users signed up for the 2021/22 edition at the time of writing. 

Ahead of the first deadline of the new term (90 minutes before Brentford face Arsenal in the league’s opening fixture), two United assets are proving particularly popular choices across the game’s squads, prior to our season kick-off against Leeds United the following day. 

The man in the highest demand is Luke Shaw, with 54.6 percent of teams including our left-back ahead of the new season. 

Fantasy managers in that majority will be hoping the defender, who costs £5.5m to own in the game, can build on both his impressive form last season and his recent exploits with England at the European Championship, in order to reward them with points in the coming campaign. 

Our no.23 goes into the new term off the back of his most successful FPL season, with a goal, five assists and a contribution towards 10 clean sheets helping him amass a personal high of 124 total points in 2020/21. 

They are numbers many will be hoping he can build on in the upcoming campaign and the left-back’s case for doing that is strengthened by the fact that he will likely have a share of United’s set-piece duties this season.  

Shaw got the assist for Harry Maguire’s goal, from a corner, in our victory over Everton last weekend, and also had the opportunity to take several free-kicks during his winning return to action for United.

Another Red that impressed in that outing against the Toffees was Bruno Fernandes and the Portuguese joins Shaw in the game’s top three highest-owned players. Fernandes (£12m) is only in less teams than Shaw and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah ahead of the opening weekend, with 49.3 percent of managers bringing our midfielder in. 

It is no secret why either, with our no.18 topping the game’s points-scoring charts last season with 244. The midfielder has also registered the highest points tally of any player in the game since his move to United in January 2020 (361). 

And the pressure to keep performing for his fantasy managers will likely not faze him. Speaking last season upon being told that he was United’s highest-owned asset in the game, at that time, Bruno seemed to relish the spotlight.  

“They want to put some pressure on me,” he joked with club media. 

“It’s good, they trust me, they hope for my goals and assists. I hope I can help them to win the fantasy league.”

Managers on the game are able to select a maximum of three players from each club and if any are looking to triple-up on United, who could they potentially look to add to the likes of Shaw and Fernandes?

Well, Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£5.5m) was our highest-scoring defender on the game last year with 144 points and has racked up the minutes in pre-season in preparation for the new campaign, starting every one of our four games this summer. Most notably in those matches, the defender got the assist for Anthony Elanga’s opener against Brentford in late July, meaning he could pair defensive returns with attacking output. 

Mason Greenwood (£7.5m) has also been in the starting XI for each of our pre-season outings and comes into the campaign off the back of a goal against Everton in our final friendly. The 19-year-old is listed as a midfielder in the game and has played both on the right wing and as the lone striker for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side across pre-season. 

Speaking of players listed as midfielders in the game, another potential option among our ranks is Jadon Sancho (£9.5m), following the completion of his move to the Reds earlier this summer. The winger boasted impressive numbers with Dortmund in the Bundesliga and could be in line to get his United career under way against Leeds at the weekend. Sancho trained with his new team-mates for the first time this week, although it is unknown whether Saturday’s game will come a little too early for him to start. 

MOST POPULAR UNITED FPL PICKS 

1 – Luke Shaw (54.6 per cent)

2 – Bruno Fernandes (49.3)

3 – Edinson Cavani (13.3)

4 – Harry Maguire (12.7)

5 – Jadon Sancho (11.4)

All stats are correct at the time of writing but likely to change. 

Enter Fantasy Premier League here and join just under five million people taking part in the game this season.