Best bargain midfielders in FPL
To accommodate big-name players such as Haaland, Salah and Alexander-Arnold, there are some exciting bargain midfielders in FPL.
As always, the game is about budget management. We can’t just fill our £100m squads with premium assets, there needs to be a range of price points.
- READ MORE: Best Potential FPL Bargains 2023/24
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Therefore it’s important to identify the correct enablers and not fall for traps such as Pedro Neto (£5.5m) and Leon Bailey (£5.5m) last season. Here is a collection of midfielders with a starting price of up to £6.0m.
BARGAIN FPL MIDFIELDERS
Julio Enciso (£5.5m)
The 19-year-old Paraguayan emerged during the closing Gameweeks of last season, starting seven of the final nine. Inside 794 minutes, he was able to squeeze in four goals and three assists.
Enciso allows FPL managers to cover Brighton’s opening meetings versus Luton, Wolves and West Ham for £1m less than Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m) but he likely comes with a bigger rotation risk.
Dwight McNeil (£5.5m)
As for the Everton winger, it depends on whether we judge his Burnley years or last season’s climax. For example, 2021/22 yielded no goals and just one assist from 35 starts. Yet the Toffees’ final eight brought four and two respectively.
Perhaps fellow midfielder Demarai Gray (£5.5m) has to start up front – depending on Dominic Calvert-Lewin‘s (£6.0m) fitness – in which case he’d theoretically be the better option. But their first eight fixtures look brilliant, facing Wolves, Fulham and the promoted trio.
Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.0m)
Eyebrows were raised when Nottingham Forest signed Gibbs-White for a fee that could reach £35m-£40m. However, his 17 attacking returns of 2022/23 ranked joint-tenth amongst FPL midfielders and lowered those brows.
He’s another who ended strongly, delivering three goals and five assists during the closing seven matches.
Above: Most FPL points between Gameweeks 32 and 38
Team-mate Brennan Johnson has been reclassified as a midfielder and is also £6.0m, although he’s been linked with possible transfers to either Aston Villa or Brentford. Either way, he offers out-of-position potential and netted eight times in his debut Premier League campaign.
Jordan Ayew (£5.5m)
Even if Wilfried Zaha opts to stay at Crystal Palace, the hamstring injury of Michael Olise (£6.0m) should make Ayew a safer pick for the early weeks. After all, he started 31 of last season’s 38 matches, including all occasions since Roy Hodgson returned to Selhurst Park in late March.
An initial trip to Sheffield United is followed by Arsenal in Gameweek 5. Then it’s Brentford, Wolves, Aston Villa and Fulham.
Kevin Schade (£5.5m)
The hope in Schade is currently unsupported, as seven starts and no goals followed his January arrival. Nevertheless, his loan was recently made permanent for £22 million, perhaps indicating that Thomas Frank intends to use him more often in the absence of Ivan Toney (£8.0m).
Already a full German international, the 21-year-old could form a front three with Bryan Mbeumo (£6.5m) and Yoane Wissa (£6.0m), although there’s always the possibility that Brentford dip into the transfer market. As mentioned above, they’ve been linked with Brennan Johnson, so Schade is a wait-and-see risk.
Justin Kluivert (£5.0m)
Finally, we turn to Bournemouth and exciting new head coach Andoni Iraola. Inspired by his time playing under Marcelo Bielsa, the Spaniard encourages a high-pressing that forces turnovers in attacking areas.
The son of legend Patrick Kluivert, he’s already graced five top-flight competitions in a nomadic young career. Only once before has Justin reached double figures for league goals but his minutes-per-shot average of 33 compared fairly well in last season’s La Liga.
Likely to be deployed on the left flank of Iraola’s 4-2-3-1 formation, Kluivert is priced very low and could drop even further by the time Bournemouth’s fixtures turnaround in Gameweek 8. The right-sided Dango Ouattara (£5.0m) could also become a bargain.
