Premium Players in FPL 2025/26

When it comes to building a strong Fantasy squad, few decisions matter more than how you handle the premium players in FPL 2025/26. These high-priced stars often become the go-to captain picks and headline your team, but they come at a cost – and fitting them in without weakening the rest of your squad is a serious balancing act.

In this guide, we’ll break down what makes a premium worth it, what to look for early on, and which big-hitters could be worth the investment this season.

Forwards

Starting with the forwards, only two come in above £10m.

Manchester City’ Erling Haaland still comes in with a hefty price-tag of £14m, but that’s a huge £1m less than what managers would have paid at the beginning of 2024/25 campaign.

The Norwegian produced 22 goals and three assists in the previous campaign, which evidently wasn’t enough to keep his title as the most expensive player in the game.

With price increases elsewhere, notably Mohamed Salah whom we’ll cover shortly, and mixed starting fixtures against Wolves, Tottenham and Brighton, FPL managers may have a huge decision to make.

Meanwhile, Newcastle penalty taker Alexander Isak earned his £2m price rise from £8.5m after racking up 23 goals and six assists.

Whilst he was one of the best assets in the game last season, his schedule opens up with fixtures against Aston Villa, Liverpool, Arsenal and Bournemouth during the first six, which is far from ideal. This could mean we see FPL managers stay patient until his fixtures start to ease.

You can check out every teams best fixture run in the upcoming campaign here.

Midfielders

Mohamed Salah takes the title of the priciest player in the game – with an increase of £2m on last season. Amassing a huge 344 points marked a record-breaking season for the Egyptian. Salah was relentless as his points suggest – that was reflected in his output of 29 goals and 18 assists.

Liverpool come up against Bournemouth, Newcastle, Arsenal, Burnley, Everton and Crystal Palace in the first six games, teams the Egyptian had success against last time out. But, there could be a major decision to make between him or Erling Haaland for FPL managers.

Although quiet for the second half of the season, 15 goals and 10 assists was still enough to provide Cole Palmer owners more than 200 points in 2024/25.

Whilst many may be slightly underwhelmed by his end-of-season form last season, his starting fixtures could be enough to force him into favour – with matches against Crystal, Palace, West Ham, Fulham and Brentford in his first four.

Even with a £0.5m price drop on last season may not be enough to make Bukayo Saka hot property early on. The Arsenal talisman has potential in his first two games with Leeds and Manchester United, but then meets with Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Newcastle immediately after.

As well as our Premium Players in FPL 2025/26 article, you can catch everything FPL for the new season in our Essential Guide!

Defenders

FPL managers were shocked to find no defender priced above £6m for 2025/26. Part of this was due to Trent Alexander-Arnold’ departure to Real Madrid, combined with a general lack of clean sheets last season.

However, a huge nine defenders come in at £6m:

Liverpool feature heavily in the list above, with the likes of new signings Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, as well as veterans Andy Robertson and Virgil Van Dijk.

Liverpool’ fixtures are hit and miss in terms of difficulty. But, they were very good defensively last season and new signings offer plenty of potential in attack.

Arsenal were also defensively consistent in the previous campaign – collecting 13 clean sheets – the joint second highest. Owning at least one Arsenal defender throughout 2024/25 was a staple for many within the community, and that could well continue into the next season.

Manchester City duo Rayan Ait-Nouri and Josko Gvardiol offer a mix of attacking threat and clean sheet potential. However, rotation could be enough to put FPL managers off, at least until we see some stability in terms of gametime.

At the time of writing Chelsea full-back Marc Cucurella sits among the top five most owned in his position. He also finished his season among the top six highest scoring defenders. Good early fixtures, attacking threat and gametime guaranteed is evidently enough to appeal.

Goalkeepers

Not one goalkeeper has been priced above £5.5m this season. This is fully justified as the lowest scoring position in the game (not one goalkeeper made the top 20 highest scoring assets last season).

Based on the fact that Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City have been regulars among the top defences for clean sheets over recent years, it’s no surprise to see David Raya, Alisson Becker and Ederson in the list below.

Also among the £5.5m shot-stoppers is Jordan Pickford. The England number one became the highest scoring in his position for a second consecutive season, so arguably deserves his £0.5m price rise. But, it could be exactly that which puts FPL managers off.