If the entire database of Fantasy Premier League managers became its own sovereign nation – preferably with access to fast WiFi and the broadcast rights of the English top flight – it would have a larger population than Greece, Portugal or Sweden.
More than 11 million people spent their fictitious £100m on a hand-picked squad last season, weighing up form, injuries and Pep Guardiola’s indecipherable rotation policy each week.
Interest in the game invariably peaks as the new season begins, with the possibilities of triumph as likely for any manager – a 12-year-old Blackburn Rovers fan won an early iteration of the competition in 1995.
As the 2023/24 campaign creeps into view, here are some of the must-have players for each position as a foundation for your squad – or at least its first draft.
Following Unai Emery’s first weekend in charge of Aston Villa, only three Premier League clubs conceded fewer goals. At £5m, Emi Martinez is below the premium of Alisson, Ederson or even Nick Pope (all £5.5m) and is liable to offer an added bonus of a penalty save on any given weekend.
While Fulham’s Bernd Leno (£4.5m) is a cheaper option and bounds into the new season off the back of a sensational shot-stopping campaign, it would be highly risky to predict that the German – or the rest of his colleagues – can necessarily reproduce the form of last term.
Last season, Eddie Howe gushed: “I don’t see a weakness in his game. He’s got everything.” Sven Botman was integral to the glut of clean sheets which Newcastle recorded in the first half of the campaign. As a fixture of the fourth-placed side already, Botman is a steal at £4.5m.
While Trent Alexander-Arnold is arguably worth £8m – especially if he continues to create chances at the frightening rate that he recorded in the final two months of last season – there are some particularly compelling options at the other end of the price spectrum.
Burnley’s Jordan Beyer (£4m) is a dirt-cheap defender that can plug a hole in your squad while offering a guarantee of at least two points most weeks. Sheffield United’s George Baldock and Luton Town’s Amarai’i Bell are other alternatives in the same price range.
Mohamed Salah has been the darling of FPL since his Anfield arrival in 2017 but the prolific winger may have been priced out of many people’s first drafts. At an eye-watering £12.5m – an eighth of your entire budget – Salah is £4m more than Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka (£8.5m).
Martin Odegaard is the same price as his teammate but was riding the wave of a finishing hot streak last season while Saka’s output appears to be more sustainable.
Marcus Rashford (£9m) and Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) also represent good value below Salah’s premium.
Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma will only set you back £6.5m. With a full season of Roberto De Zerbi to look forward to down on the south coast, Mitoma could well bolster his respectable return of 138 points from last season.
An unprecedented 8.5 million users had signed Erling Haaland up by October. It would prove to be an utterly necessary acquisition as Manchester City’s striking Viking rattled in a record-breaking 36 Premier League goals.
Haaland will cost a division-high £14m but his guarantee in the opposition penalty box is too valuable to pass up.
Brighton’s Evan Ferguson is less than half the price of Haaland or Harry Kane (£12.5m). Still just 18 years of age, Ferguson averaged a goal contribution every 119 minutes last season. He won’t promise the returns of Haaland but Ferguson could be worth a spot in your squad next to the Nordic goal gobbler.
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