Best £4.5m Defenders for FPL 2025/26

Not sure which cheap defenders to buy ahead of the new season? Well you’re in the right place. In this article we take a look through the best £4.5m defenders for FPL 2025/26, taking into account minutes, clean sheet potential, attacking threat and ball contribution potential.

Ezri Konsa

Aston Villa had another great campaign last time out – finishing sixth and progressing deep into the Champions League. During that time in the PL Unai Emery’s men managed just nine clean sheets, but this was arguably an under performance considering they ranked among the best eight clubs for most underlying defensive data.

With the above in mind, we could see more clean sheets from Aston Villa in the upcoming season, espcially without Champions League football putting added pressure on their players. One player we should look to is Ezri Konsa.

Using the Fantasy Football Scout Fixture Ticker we can see that Aston Villa have a fantastic starting schedule – facing sides they could have clean sheet potential against.

As well as clean sheet potential, Konsa also has gametime at his side – having played 34 of the 38 Premier League matches last season. His drawbacks mainly include lack of attacking threat and defensive contribution potential, based on last season – ranking outside the top 20 defenders for each metric.

Mickey Van de Ven & Destiny Udogie

2024/25 was a campaign that Tottenham will probably want to forget outside of their Europa League win. Former coach Ange Postecoglu led the London club to a 17th pace finish in the Premier League. Most of this was due to their defence. Tottenham ranked among the worst five teams for total goals conceded, shots in the box conceded and total big chances conceded.

With the above in mind, why would we want to buy into their defence? Well with newly appointed manager Thomas Frank at the helm, we could see Tottenham tighten up. Whilst his former side weren’t much better defensively, Frank has more quality at his disposal.

Excluding their Gameweek 2 clash against Manchester City, Tottenham have some great fixtures from a defensive perspective.

Centre-back Mickey Van de Ven and full-back Destiny Udogie are two players who could benefit. Both suffered injuries last season. So, it’s difficult to compare their defensive contribution and attacking potential. But, a telling sign that they have potential is that a Brentford defender ranked among the top five for both metrics last time out under Frank.

As well as our Best £4.5m Defenders for FPL 2025/26, be sure to check out everything you need for the new season with our Essential Guide!

Maxim De Cuyper & Lewis Dunk

Whilst short of European football due to performances, Brighton finished in eighth in 2024/25. This is arguably a reasonable position for any team outside of the ‘big six’.

The Seagulls maintained mixed defensive statistics in their 2024/25 campaign. In fact they sat among the worst eight for total goals conceded, but ranking among the best four teams for total shots in the box conceded.

There’s potential for a Brighton defender to thrive this season, even with a mixed bag schedule.

Matches against Fulham and Everton in the opening two rounds hold some hope. But, then things get a little tougher immediately after.

Both full-back Maxim De Cuyper and centre-back Lewis Dunk offer something other than clean sheet potential. Whilst new signing De Cuyper is somewhat of an unknown in the Premier League, the Belgian produced a huge 39 attacking returns in his previous three league campaigns with Club Brugge . This is a clear display of his offensive potential.

Meanwhile, Brighton veteran Lewis Dunk has always been a goal threat from set-play. We can see this in the fact he ranked second best among his teammates for total big chances per 90 minutes. He could also offer up defensive contribution potential.

Aaron Wan Bissaka

14th place wasn’t a position that West Ham wanted to finish in last season. But, after a torrid start under former manager Julen Lopetegui, many of their fans would have settled for that.

It wasn’t the perfect start for new manager Graham Potter after taking control of the Hammers in January, but overall things did improve. Overall though, their defensive data was poor – as they sat with the worst six sides in the league for most underlying metrics.

Two wins in their final three matches of the 2024/25 season is one positive we can take heading into a good starting schedule. They take the confidence from their end-of-season form into an opening clash with newly promoted Sunderland.

Nobody would be surprised to see clean sheets from West Ham in their first six matches, but that is just one potential benefit of owning full-back Aaron Wan Bissaka.

West Ham play with a back-three which means Wan Bissaka has the freedom to bomb forward into attacking positions. From wing-back, the former Manchester United man hit an impressive eight attacking returns – three of them came in his final four matches of 2024/25.