10 Best-Value Fantasy Serie A Players You Should Pick Up Before the Season

The summer transfer window is often referred to as soccer's "silly season."  For fans, the same can be said of their fantasy leagues.

Deadlines are only weeks away for most players to join leagues and set their rosters.  For players playing Serie A leagues, decision time is looming.  Which players will give players the most value for their roster spot?

Here, in no particular order, are the ten best players in the Serie A in terms of fantasy value.

Based on ESPN Premier Fantasy point system that can be read here.  Stats are from WhoScored.com

Mario Balotelli

After his performance in red and black, t's hard not to pick a guy like Mario Balotelli to lead your fantasy team's line.

After his transfer from Manchester City on the last day of the winter window, the Italy international scored 12 times in 13 games.  The numbers Balotelli might put up over a full season if he's in the same form could be mind-boggling—and until his injury at the Confederations Cup he had showed no signs of slowing down.

Balotelli could be in line for 25 to 30 goals if he is in top form—between 100 and 120 points.  Considering that, barring injury or suspension, you can expect Balotelli to play at least 30 games, that's a minimum of 90 more provided he plays 60 minutes in all of them.

That's a maximum of 210 points before assists are taken into account.

There is a possible con in taking Balotelli—the deductions that accrue from yellow and red cards.  Still, one point per yellow pales in comparison to what his goals and possible assists would give a fantasy team.

Samir Handanovic

Inter's table position last year was only as good as it was because of Samir Handanovic's heroics in goal.

Fantasy leagues give a point for every three saves, and if Inter's defense is as leaky as it was last year he'll be making a lot.

Leagues only deduct a point for every two goals allowed, so the risk of goals conceded on that many shots is minimal compared to the number of saves Handanovic might be required to make.  It makes him one of the best values for a goalkeeper in the league.

Arturo Vidal

Arturo Vidal is one of the best midfielders in the game, and his skill set is one of the most valuable in fantasy.

Vidal scored 10 goals in league play last year—and midfielders often get more points for scoring than strikers do.  Vidal was also tied for fifth in the league in assists with eight—each worth three points.

Vidal does get booked a lot—11 last season—and with the arrival of strikers Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez the goalscoring burden will be shifted away from him.  However, there are no indications that Vidal's place as the team's primary penalty taker is in jeopardy, which will lead to a few more scores.  He will also likely get credited with assists he didn't get last year thanks to Juve's profligate strike force.

Vidal is also a good player to have in leagues where clean sheets for midfielders are counted.  Vidal's tackling is one of the keys to one of the best defenses in Europe, and you can expect him to rack up points in that category—Juve had 19 as a team last year.

Josip Ilicic

Now that he is a Fiorentina player, Josip Ilicic instantly becomes a big fantasy option in the Serie A.  Like Vidal, he scored 10 goals from the midfield last year—worth 60 points in ESPN's system.  He only notched two assists, but with Mario Gomez and Giuseppe Rossi playing ahead of him this year, a player as creative as Ilicic is likely to get a few more from his advanced midfield position.

With players like Borja Valero and Alberto Aquilani to supply him to either make the final pass or finish on his own, Ilicic is a prime candidate to be a top fantasy midfielder.

Mattia Perin

When Sebastian Frey was transferred to Bursaspor it became clear that 20-year-old Mattia Perin was going to be the starting goalkeeper for Genoa this season.

Last month Perin's agent said that he would not return to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris to sit on the bench, but the grifone seem to have taken care of that problem.

Perin impressed last season for Pescara during the provincial side's cameo in Serie A a year ago.  Despite being let down continually by an inadequate defense and an attacking style that afforded him little protection, Perin never let his head drop.  He had accumulated more than 90 saves by the middle of January of last year, including a record 15 in a shock 2-1 victory against Fiorentina in Florence on January 6—the most in any game across Europe's five big leagues last season.

At one point per every three saves, Perin would have contributed 30 points to a fantasy team last year by the end of that upset at the Artemio Franchi.

His defense doesn't promise to be all that much better at Genoa this year.  The grifone have avoided relegation by the skins of their teeth the last two seasons.  This could be the year that they fall.  One thing is sure—Perin will be busy making saves.

Antonio Di Natale

It's amazing what Antonio Di Natale is still doing at age 35.

Di Natale is the league's top returning scorer, having finished six goals behind Edinson Cavani last season with 23. He willed Udinese to a Europa League spot after a terrible start, another in a long line of unexpected performances.

What's even more incredible is that he's done all of this while losing the likes of Simone Pepe, Gokhan Inler, Mauricio Isla, and Kwadwo Asamoah to Udinese's near-annual sell-offs.

There's no reason to think that he won't at least get close to his numbers in goals and games played (23, with 31 starts) this coming season, which could net a fantasy owner 185 points.

Giorgio Chiellini

Goals from defenders often get upgraded in scoring systems, and Giorgio Chiellini is a prime candidate to take advantage of that points bump.  Last season he scored a single goal—off a corner against Napoli—but in the previous six he had scored at least two.

He's not going to bomb forward as much as he used to in his early days with Livorno and Fiorentina, especially in Antonio Conte's three-man defense.  Still, he's always going to be in the box on set pieces, ready to launch a powerful header past the keeper.

Beyond his potential for goals, Chiellini is the linchpin of one of the best defenses in the game, and a defender gets points for every clean sheet his team posts.  Juve had a league-high 19 this year—worth 76 points under the ESPN system.  Injuries limited him to 24 games this past year, but it was the first time in four years that he had played in fewer than 30 and he is almost always a lock to play the full 90 minutes.

Mario Gomez

Injuries saw Mario Gomez lose his place as Bayern Munich's No. 1 striker last season, and he has since transferred to Fiorentina.  It was one of the best moves of a strong mercato for the entire league.

Despite only playing 21 league games, Gomez scored 11 goals, and in all competitions he scored 11 times in 11 starts.

Now that he's virtually guaranteed more playing time as the top striker, his numbers can only go up.  Fiorentina played some of the prettiest soccer in the world last season, but with Stevan Jovetic injured they lacked a consistent striker.

With Gomez as the go-to man, a great midfield supply line and Giuseppe Rossi to play off of up front, a season with 25+ goals isn't out of the cards. 

Gonzalo Higuain

Napoli did well in replacing the departed Edinson Cavani by purchasing Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain from Real Madrid.

Higuain scored 16 times last year, and his passing skills came into play to add him five assists to his stat sheet.

Higuain will have good service from Gohkan Inler and Marek Hamsik in Napoli's midfield, and young Lorenzo Insigne will slot in with him and play off him well.

Expect Higuain to score 20 to 25 times this season and add a few more points with some assists to the likes of Insigne and Hamsik.

Marek Hamsik

Speaking of Hamsik, there isn't anyone in the league with as diverse a way of scoring points as the Slovakian.

Last season Hamsik scored 11 times and led the league with 14 assists.  Adding in the bonus for midfielders scoring, those numbers alone count for 108 points.  Hamsik also played in all 38 games this year (another 38 points) and reached 60 minutes in all but one (another 74).  Add in clean sheet bonuses as a midfielder and you're looking at over 230 points for the midfielder.

The last of the Three Tenors still remaining in Napoli, Hamsik is now the team's talisman.  He has good players around him and two good forwards in Higuain and Insigne to send balls to. Hamsik will be one of the best fantasy values you can find in Serie A.