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Four Wildcards Who Could Rake In Points For Your Euro 2016 Fantasy Team

Gavan Casey
By Gavan Casey
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With the Premier League done and dusted and the football world gripped by Euros fever - on this side of the Atlantic at least - it's high time fantasy managers switched their focus to France.

The Balls.ie Fantasy Football Podcast trio of Mark Farrelly, Mikey Traynor and Gavan Casey have set up a league over on UEFA.com. All are welcome to join, and the password is 81482TFB. The lads are also looking for a suitable forfeit for whoever finishes bottom out of the three of them, so if you have any suggestions by all means get in touch.

In terms of your fantasy Euros team, after the irreparable farce that was the Ireland player costs (note: Shane Duffy has now, finally, been added to the available players), we've trawled through every squad to bring you one player from each position who will likely slip your mates' radars.

The following four players' values are probably reduced due to their not playing for so-called football powerhouses, but if this season has thought us anything, it's that the so-called weaker teams are in with a shout of doing extremely well in June.

Goalkeeper: Jann Sommer, Switzerland (5.0m)

Switzerland conceded just eight goals in their 10 qualifiers, with four of them arriving against group-topping England.

The Swiss open their campaign with a massive fixture against Albania, where Arsenal's new recruit Granit Xhaka and his brother Taulant will line out against each other in what promises to be one of the tournaments spiciest contests. After that, Switzerland face the relatively low-scoring Romania, where a win might well take them through to the quarter-finals.

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Sommer strikes as a solid bet for at least one clean sheet in his opening two fixtures, and will free up 1m for you to splash on more extravagant names elsewhere in your team.

Defender: Jason Denayer, Belgium (4.5m)

With Belgium already stretched at the back and one of their stand-ins being the perpetually crocked Thomas Vermaelen, there's every chance 20-year-old Manchester City centre back Denayer will deputise for the Red Devils at some stage in the tournament - and maybe even from the start.

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Denayer won Young Player Of The Year in Scotland after helping Celtic to a league and league cup double last season, and impressed in his 17 league appearances for Galatasaray after his loan move from City last August, making a couple of appearances on the right side of defence from where he provided two assists.

None of the sides in Belgium and Ireland's group are particularly high scorers, and the Belgians will at least fancy their chances of shutting out Italy and Sweden as their golden generation seek to get the monkey off their back.

Midfielder: Balázs Dzsudzsák, Hungary (6.5m)

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After notching 55 goals in 156 appearances at PSV, winger-slash-playmaker Dzsudzsák (pronounced Dsschjjjuusdlfnslgdsflfasfkljsujschak) had brief spells in Eastern Europe before arriving at Bursaspor in Turkey.

Widely described as one of George Hamilton's greatest career challenges, the 29-year-old has scored 18 goals for his nation in 77 appearances, but is the talisman in a Hungarian side which has only truly kicked into gear in the past two-and-a-half years.

Hungary open against dark-horses Austria, who will fancy their chances of a semi-final birth. Their second group fixture, however, sees them face Iceland, who despite having conceded just six goals in their 10 qualifiers, have since shipped 19 in their past 7 games.

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Forward: Marc Janko, Austria (7.5m)

Like Dzsudzsák, who he will face in his nation's opener, Marc Janko is his side's true talisman. The 32-year-old striker averages over a goal every other game for Austria, and a brief 16-goal spell in Sydney saw him return to Europe with FC Basel, where he has netted 20 times in 29 appearances.

Janko is in the form of his life, and in a group where Austria will be heavily fancied to battle it out with Portugal for top spot, Janko could have a field day against the porous defences of Iceland and Hungary.

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Let's be honest, though, is there even any point in recommending a striker when Shane Long is available for 6.5m? To answer my own question: No. No, there is not.

A reminder that you can join the Balls.ie Euro 2016 Fantasy League with the password 81482TFB. In the words of Roy Keane, "We'll see ya out there."

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