FPL conundrum: Which players are headed away for AFCON or the Asia Cup this month and who should you look to bring in?

After a frantic few weeks of wall-to-wall football over Christmas, FPL quietens down in January with the return of the FA Cup and a short winter break towards the end of the month. 

Despite this, there is still plenty of action on the horizon and we are now at a crucial stage of the campaign, where the finest of margins can determine your position in a title race or relegation scrap for the final quarter of 2023/24. 

This is made harder by the fact that several players will be jetting off to represent their country’s at the Africa Cup of Nations (running from Jan 13th-Feb 11th) or the Asia Cup (Jan 12th-Feb 10th), with the most high-profile absentees being Mo Salah and Son Heung-min – two of this season’s highest FPL point-scorers. 

This makes our job as managers extremely challenging, as adequate replacements need to be sought out to ensure our tallies don’t suffer too greatly. 

Below is a team-by-team breakdown of which players will be heading to either one of those two tournaments, courtesy of fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.

So, which players should you consider to draft in as replacements? Here’s a few you should definitely be considering… 

Douglas Luiz – Aston Villa, £5.5m

The Aston Villa man is enjoying his best ever season in the West Midlands and has been one of the main contributors to the club’s unexpected success so far. With six goals and three assists to his name in 19 outings, Luiz is a shrewd pick irrespective of the upcoming tournament situation, so if you haven’t got him already then you should certainly look at using some of the funds made available from temporarily replacing Son and Salah to draft him in. The Brazilian is on penalty duty for Villa and rarely misses from the spot, while he also takes a lot of free-kicks in dangerous areas which makes him the ultimate points-amasser. At £5.5m he is a bit of a bargain, too. 

Cole Palmer – Chelsea, £5.6m

It is not often that Pep Guardiola will feel regretful in letting a player go, but in Cole Palmer the Spaniard may just be rueing his decision to sell the 21-year-old to Chelsea last summer. Since joining the west London club, Palmer’s glistening form has been the only consistent factor in another underwhelming campaign for the Blues, with his 8 goals and 4 assists immediately repaying the £42.5m Chelsea paid out for him. At just £5.6m, Palmer is a regular on the team sheet and has plenty of momentum behind him heading into the new year, making him the perfect pick for your FPL XI – get hold of him before his price rises. 

Alejandro Garnacho – Manchester United, £4.8m

The young Argentine is a cheap choice which could pay dividends as an unstable United side look to improve their form in the next couple of games. Garnacho has five goal contributions in his twelve starts, not ground-breaking numbers, however three of those have come in the last two games. He’s picking up form and could be a smart pick for your team, especially after Hojlund bagged his first Premier League goal. With an increase in confidence for his attacking partner we could see Alejandro bag a couple more assists in the near future. Currently only owned by five percent of players, Garnacho could be a potentially influential differential.

Richarlison – Tottenham, £6.8m

It has taken a fair bit of time for Richarlison to fully settle at Tottenham but he is now starting to display his true talent for the north London side. The Brazil international has always been a confidence player and with five goals scored in his last five games, he is certainly not short of any at the minute. With Tottenham talisman Son Heung-min jetting off to the Asia Cup for up to a month in mid-January, Richarlison will be tasked with carrying the attacking baton in Spurs’ upcoming games against Manchester United, Brentford, Everton and Brighton. If he relishes the challenge and maintains his current form, FPL owners will be some of the main beneficiaries.