23 Jul, 2025
Brad Mayor FPL brings you his favourite budget gems in FPL ahead of the 25/26 season! Brad takes us through his 3 favourite budget Defenders, Midfielders and Forwards.
FPL have upped the pricing of players like Salah and Isak after impressive campaigns last season. Therefore, it won’t be possible to fit all of the premium players that we want in our teams this year. One way of maximising the amount of premium players in our teams is to pick the right budget options. The standout from last season was Morgan Rogers and it was Cole Palmer the season before.
Let’s take a look at some of the best budget gems this year:
At the time of writing this, Wan-Bissaka is the third highest owned defender in the game behind Frimpong and Aït-Nouri. He is highly owned for good reason as he recorded the most assists last season of all the defenders that are priced £4.5m this season. Since Potter was hired as manager, he has been playing as a wing-back and although West Ham have now signed Kyle Walker-Peters, you’d still expect AWB to keep his wing-back spot. We all know how good of a one v one defender Wan-Bissaka is, which will be great for defensive contribution points. However, contrary to popular belief, last season he was also very capable in the attacking third too. Wan-Bissaka offers a great budget defender option at £4.5m given West Ham have a friendly start fixture-wise.
Udogie has now been at Spurs for 2 seasons so we know what he offers going forward. Last season his numbers didn’t reflect his attacking potential as he only managed 1 attacking return in 25 games. A change in manager at Spurs will no doubt see a change in how the team plays but if Frank’s setup at Brentford is anything to go by then we’ll see an attack-first mindset from Tottenham this year too. At £4.5m, Udogie is another potential bargain as Spurs also have some nice fixtures to start the season.
There are a couple of potential bargains at the £4.0m price mark this year but Burnley’s Estève is likely to be the safest bet. He played in every single one of Burnley’s 46 matches last season and given he’s a CB for a promoted side, he should get a good look at defensive contribution points in most games this year.
At the time of writing this, Dwight McNeil is in just 1% of teams which may put some people off of him. However, McNeil could benefit from one of the big rule changes that are now in place for this season. Last season, if a player put in a cross and it was deflected before a goal was scored then no assist was awarded. This season, if a cross is deflected then it can still be given as an assist. Not many midfielders put in more crosses than Everton’s McNeil so it’s likely that his assist tally could rise this year, making him a potential budget option at £6.0m.
Defensive midfielders like Caicedo haven’t been FPL options in previous seasons due as they’d rarely be involved in goals. However, this season marks the introduction of defensive contribution points and Chelsea’s Caicedo is in the list of the players that would have benefitted most from this change last season. Of all players, Caicedo ranked 2nd behind only Tarkowski for defensive contribution points from last season as he reached the threshold on 21 occasions. This now makes him a viable option at £5.5m this season.
The new Man City midfielder has the potential to be the best budget midfielder in the game this season. He scored 10 goals and managed 4 assists for Milan in Serie A last season. With any Man City player, we’ll have to wary of their minutes and also monitor where in the midfield he is going to play but if he looks to be a regular starter then he could be a bargain at £5.5m.
Cunha has now made the move to Man United and that opens up the penalty taking duty at Wolves. Wolves didn’t actually win a penalty last season so this may be a somewhat useless discussion but Strand Larsen could provide great value at £6.5m if he is now on penalties.
Füllkrug has come in slightly cheaper than expected due to an injury-ridden season last year. If West Ham don’t sign another striker then it’s very likely that Füllkrug is first choice along with Bowen to start the season. As mentioned earlier, West Ham’s fixtures to start the season are better than most so £6.0m could prove a bargain for the German forward.
A slightly more risky pick but a potential bargain nonetheless is Everton’s Beto. When called upon, Beto performed very well last season so it’s slightly surprising that he’s £5.5m. Everton have bought a new striker in Thierno Barry so Beto is definitely not nailed to start the season but he may be worth monitoring in pre-season.
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With years working in the FPL space and digital media. George now brings his knowledge and tips to the ingenuity audience through a fun and personable writing style.
