I’ve always been more of a medium to long-term trader. This is partly due to my personality (I find it hard to let go of players) but mostly due to my lifestyle as I find that working full-time can make it hard to stay on top of short-term trades.

This week I bit the bullet and brought in some players with short-term sentiment as I was sick of feeling like I’d missed the rise, only to see a player continue to shoot up after I’d thought ‘he’s too much already’. These trades have kept my portfolio afloat in what has been an otherwise diabolical week.

The Premiums had a real stinker. When Neymar goes up, it seems like the rest come down. The drops could be all be foreseen – Sancho and Sterling were at pretty high prices compared to their dividend potential, Mbappe is now out through injury and Ole Gunnar Solskjær doesn’t seem to know how to get the best out of Pogba at the moment. Despite Neymar’s rise and MB haul, this left the Premium’s £68.50 down over the week.

Things weren’t much better for the Performance players. I really should’ve sold Maguire at his peak and a predictable drop followed. Mendes got himself sent off and dropped as well. Other big fallers were Havertz, Politano and Kimmich, who seems to be struggling to justify his price (although I suspect he’s close to a PB win which will change that, so I’m holding for now).

Stopping the rot were new additions Joan Jordan and Wylan Cyprien. Both have really positive sentiment at the moment and good fixtures coming up so buying in was a no-brainer for me. I also picked up Adam Ounas – a forward who has just moved to Nice and has 5 really easy fixtures in the next 30 days. Sitting below £1, I think he could catch an IPD-fueled rise.

These were paid for by the sales of Thorgan Hazard (at a slight loss) and Kramaric (at a slight profit), both currently out through injury. Altogether, the Performance fund ended the week down by £29.43.

Better news for the Potential fund, due to a big rises on Eric Garcia, Gallagher, Pinamonti, Odegaard and Breel Embolo who has proved, so far, to be a surprisingly good punt. Another riser for the week was new addition Osimhen – again, his sentiment was just too high to ignore and he’s clearly got more goals in him.

I also brought in Erling Braut Haaland. I looked at him ages ago and thought he was just too much for a non-PB league but, on reflection, I think he still has room to grow and he’ll likely get a big transfer next summer anyway. These additions were paid for through money already in the bank plus the sale of Ibrahima Niane (for a slight loss), who just wasn’t getting enough time on the pitch at Metz. I got out just before another trader lost patience and caused his price to drop by nearly 20% in less than an hour! Some might call that ‘top up time’ but for me, that was a bullet dodged.

Despite some of the Potentials having a relatively poor week, the rises above helped the fund to finish £81.32 up on the week before and nudged the all-time yield just above that of the Premium fund.

Overall, a flat week – in fact the worst for a while, but perhaps unsurprising at this stage of the season. I’m not sure that the funds need major surgery – yet! The full breakdown can be found on the separate fund pages as always.