Fantasy Premier League managers caught out by Sangare name confusion

More than 1,000 Fantasy Premier League managers selected the wrong Sangare after Mamadou Sangare made an outstanding first official start for Brentford.

The 24-year-old midfielder, who joined the Bees from RC Lens this summer for about £39m in a club-record transfer, played a major role in Brentford’s 3-0 win over Tottenham.

Sangare provided two assists and impressed with his work in midfield, adding two tackles, two interceptions and two clearances during the match.

His performance earned him 14 points in Fantasy Premier League, the official fantasy football game of the Premier League, including all three bonus points awarded after the final whistle.

That display immediately attracted the attention of virtual managers. By the build-up to the second round of fixtures, almost 198,000 users had chosen to transfer the Brentford midfielder into their teams.

However, 1,498 of them appear to have selected the wrong player.

According to specialist Fantasy Premier League account FPL S7S, those managers bought Ibrahim Sangare, the Ivory Coast midfielder who plays for Nottingham Forest, apparently believing they had signed Mamadou.

The mistake was understandable. Both players share the same surname, play in midfield and are African internationals in the Premier League.

It could nevertheless prove costly for the managers involved.

While Mamadou Sangare collected 14 points, Ibrahim Sangare scored only two in Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 defeat by Leeds, despite playing the full 90 minutes.

Several users acknowledged the error on social media, with some joking about having fallen into the trap.

The surname Sangare is particularly common across West Africa. It is associated with the wider Manding group and can be found from Mali and Senegal to Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, among communities including the Bambara, Malinke and Dyula.

For the former Lens player, the confusion is an unintended sign of the impact he made on his Brentford debut.

His first Premier League appearance generated enough interest to trigger a surge in selections of his profile in the official fantasy game. The challenge now is to maintain that level of influence.

Priced at £5.5m in Fantasy Premier League, the Bamako-born midfielder could become one of the game’s best-value players this season if he continues to contribute in attack.

Fantasy managers, however, will need to make sure they choose the correct Sangare.