Best Budget Forwards Between £4.5m-£6m in FPL 25/26

The cheap striker (£4.5m-£6.0m) market in FPL is a wasteland at times, and while it is generally always more difficult to find good value in cheap Forwards than with cheap Defenders, most season’s there are one or two cheap Forward gems that provide serious value. Think Pukki, think Delap last season or if you want a historic cheap Forward season, think Harry Kane’s 14/15 FPL season where he was a relative unknown who started the season at £5.0m and ended the season with 25 G/A.

 

Best Budget Forwards in FPL Last Season

Last season we had some pretty great cheap Forwards below the £6.0m mark. The likes of Welbeck, Strand-Larsen, Joao Pedro, Raul and others provided good value for money, but FPL might have caught on to their low valuations of Forwards with real value.

In 25/26 the options are slimmer, with Forwards from true mid-table clubs now more expensive this season, and the sub £6.0m Forward range consisting mostly of players from clubs that FPL managers will likely consider relegation candidates. However, if we can find some potential solid value in the £4.5m Midfielder range, we can definitely find some hidden value in these cheap Forwards!

 

Best Cheap Forwards in FPL

1. Beto
2. Fullkrug
3. Thiago
4. Muniz
5. Flemming
6. Nmecha
7. Guiu

 

Best Budget Forwards in FPL 25/26:

1. Beto (£5.5m) – Everton:

Despite the signing of Thierno Barry, Beto looks to remain David Moyes preferred starting striker. He started Everton’s last 2 pre season games (let’s ignore the fact they lost both games to Bournemouth and West Ham…) as the number 9, with some variation of Ndiaye, Alcaraz and McNeil partnering him in the forward line.

Beto started 15 games last season, and looks set to start more than that this season if he can keep Barry out of the team. The striker from Guinea-Bissau scored 8 goals last season, from 7.9 non penalty xG, with a post shot xG of 9.2xG, which shows his finishing ability and accuracy is pretty good for a striker without much of a reputation for being a goal scorer. He is adding value to the chances created for him which is all you can really ask from your striker when it comes to finishing. It will be difficult to find a better cheap Forward option than Beto in the 25/26 FPL season, given the changes to pricing and the limited options.

2. Niclas Füllkrug (£6.0m) – West Ham:

Fullkrug will be Potter’s starting striker come GW1. He has been during the pre season and the German international has been in fine form and linking up brilliantly with his partner in crime up top for the Hammers Jarod Bowen. Fullkrug scored 3 goals in 3 pre season games for Graham Potters’ side, and could have had more than that if not for some good saves from Lille’s GK. While he did not feature much last year, he looks to have settled solidly in his manager’s plans for the 25/26 season and seems to be someone Bowen enjoys playing off.

3. Igor Thiago (£6.0m) – Brentford:

With Bryan Mbeumo out of the door to Man United and Wissa holding himself out of training attempting to force a move to Newcastle, Igor Thiago would be the man in line to take on the goal scoring duties at Brentford. He would undoubtedly lead the line for Brentford and start the majority of games. This may even still be true if Wissa ends up staying at the club.

The Brazilian striker joined Brentford last summer for £29 million after scoring 16 goals for Club Brugge the previous season. He is a fox in the box, big, strong target man type of striker, with the added bonus of potentially being Brentford’s penalty taker if Wissa does leave. He would be good value for £6.0m. Brentford potentially being a serious relegation candidate and some injury issues is the only thing keeping Thiago from being higher on this list.

4. Rodrigo Muniz (£5.5m) – Fulham:

Muniz is a talented player who might be on the verge of turning Raul Jimenez into his back-up. The young Brazilian only got to start 8 games last season but always impressed when he did, which includes scoring 8 goals which is mightily impressive for a player mostly featuring off the bench. What is even more impressive is who he scored his goals against. Muniz scored against Liverpool both home and away, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle and Spurs. Talk about big game player.

Now, it is difficult to know if Muniz will make that starting striker spot his from GW1. Raul Jimenez is still a very good player, who just lead his nation Mexico to Concacaf Gold Cup glory with a win over the US in the Final, with Jimenez scoring goals in both the Semi-Final and Final. So he is by no means washed. Muniz will have to prove he is the better striker, which will be difficult.

He did start both recent friendly games against Nottingham Forest and Al-Ittihad, but Raul only reported to Fulham’s pre season 3 days ago as he was being given time off after international duties for Mexico. Their upcoming pre season games, which Raul will take part in, will be key to seeing who might be in line to start GW1. If Muniz is able to become Marco Silva’s main man up-front at any point in the season, he would be tremendous value at £5.5m.

5.  Zian Flemming (£5.5m) – Burnley:

Flemming started 35 games for the newly promoted Clarets last season, scoring 12 goals and adding 4 assists in those games. He will be Burnley’s starting striker GW1 but while Burnley were defensive juggernauts last season, I don’t expect them to be scoring goals freely this season in the Premier League. Flemming is not on penalties which also hurts his case, but if all you are looking for is someone who will get consistent minutes and might score 6-8 goals, Flemming could be your man.

6. Lukas Nmecha (£5.0m) – Leeds:

Nmecha joined Leeds this summer on a free transfer. He has been starting in pre-season and got a lot of playing time, which is a good sign. Leeds were by far the best goal scoring team of the 3 promoted teams in last season’s Championship, so having one of their starting forwards for £5.0m could be good value. Nmecha scored 3 goals in only 456 minutes for Wolfsburg last season, and his low minutes and free transfer do highlight that this isn’t an immensely highly though of player, but that hasn’t stopped others from making a name in FPL and Nmecha might join that list of players.

7. Marc Guiu – Sunderland:

Guiu just joined Sunderland on loan from Chelsea and is currently only £4.5m in FPL. Mayenda did establish himself as Sunderland’s starting number 9 last season, and so would be the better option from GW1, but Guiu is clearly being brought in for a reason and could potentially make himself a factor. Any regular minutes in a forward line for £4.5m is potential good value. This one is a wait and see.

 

Best Budget Forwards FPL 25/26 Honourable Mentions

Budget Forwards Honourable Mentions

1. Piroe

2. Mayenda

3. Barnes

4. Zirkzee

5. Osula

 

Now that you have Budget Forwards down to a T…

Check out our list of the best FPL team names, which includes team specific names, names that call back to FPL and Premier League history, and names based on overseas stars and clubs. There are some pretty hilarious ones and some ones you might want to avoid in the family league… And don’t miss out on our Best FPL players and who to avoid series for every team ahead of GW1, starting with the best Liverpool players to own, which outside of Salah and Van Dijk, is a lot of new names and faces.