Best £4m Defenders for FPL

FPL is here and the game has launched for the 24/25 campaign. Managers now have access to most of its features including price-tags. So, in this article we take a look at the best £4m defenders for FPL, and several who could be worth keeping an eye on.

Budget players can be hugely important for FPL managers. The community rely on budget players throughout the season because their inclusion means being able to fit the more expensive players into their teams, so let’s take a look.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Jan Bednarek

Southampton earned their place in the Premier League for the 24/25 season but the journey didn’t come without doubts. The Saints fell a huge nine points short of both second place Ipswich and automatic promotion and had to progress the tough way.

Things could have been better defensively for Southampton last time out. In the 46 matches they played they shipped a huge 63 goal which was more than any of the top five placed sides. The Saints also collected 12 clean sheets – averaging a clean sheet around every four matches.

One positive going into the new season is their starting fixtures. Southampton face just one tough fixture in their first six matches, that game being against Newcastle in Gameweek 1. After that they clash with the likes of Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Ipswich.

For those eyeing up a £4m defender with a good starting run then Taylor Harwood-Bellis could well be your man. Harwood-Bellis played 40 of his sides Championship matches last season whilst scoring two goals and creating three assists in the process.

Some could even opt for the Premier League experienced Jan Bednarek (£4m) who recently played in the EURO’s for Poland. Prior to his campaign in the Championship Bednarek played an impressive six consecutive Premier League seasons. He too has some attacking threat after matching his fellow teammate and centre-back for total goals scored last season.

Jannik Vestergaard and Wout Faes

Leicester had a much more convincing 23/24 campaign in the Championship than Southampton. The Foxes won 31 of their 46 matches which helped them to 97 points and a top of the table finish.

In terms of defence Leicester maintained one of the best in the division. In fact during their title winning campaign Leicester conceded just 41 goals which was the best in the league. They also managed 15 clean sheets during the same run which is enough to take notice.

Although defensively better than Southampton the Foxes have worse fixtures on paper. They come up against three of the top six placed sides last season with meetings against Tottenham, Aston Villa and Arsenal.

However, we can also see they they clash with Fulham, Crystal Palace and Everton, so there could be some potential for clean sheets.

There isn’t much between Jannik Vestergaard and Wout Faes. Both defenders come in at £4m, both played 40+ matches for their side in the Championship last season and both produced two goals during the same period.

What could separate the two players is Premier League experience. If that is the case then Vestergaard is much superior with four campaigns under his belt compared to Faes’ one. We also have to take into account the fact that new manager Steeve Cooper has plenty of back-up in that position with the likes of Conor Coady and Harry Souttar.

Monitoring them both during pre-season will be absolutely key. The friendlies ahead could give either Vestergaard or Faes an edge as we approach Gameweek 1.

£4m Defenders to Monitor

A lot of change at Ipswich means a lot of question marks and doubt. The Tractor Boys took the Championship by storm last season – claiming second place and automatic promotion a season after being promoted from League One.

There seems to be a rhetoric around the Ipswich defence – suggesting that the way they play makes their defence hugely susceptible. However, to counter that, Ipswich racked up the same amount of clean sheets as leaders Leicester last season with 15.

Luke Woolfenden is one of their three £4m defenders we should keep an eye on this summer. The 25-year-old centre-back featured 41 times for his club last season whilst also scoring one goal and bagging an assist.

Cameron Burgess partnered Woolfenden at centre-back last season – featuring in two less games than his teammate but scoring two goals and registering one assist.

New signing Ben Johnson (£4m) from West Ham could also be worth monitoring. Johnson has the versatility to play in left-back, centre-back and right-back, but more likely to fill in at the latter. This is the position he played during his debut against Shakhtar Donetsk in which his side won 1-0.

Another player we should keep a close eye on is Valentin Barco (£4m). The 20-year-old Argentine can play in several different positions from left-wing to right-wing, but he is more likely to fulfil a left-back role, a role he started in during matches against Manchester City and Manchester United towards the end of last season.

Pervis Estupinan appears to be out injured and news suggests he could be out until late September. With that in mind and Barco’s recent matches we could well see him start the season for Brighton.