Fantasy Premier League Pricing Insights: Tzolis, Schlager, and Targett

The transfer window is moving, and so is Fantasy Premier League pricing. Three new names dropped into the game on Friday – and while all carry intrigue, only one looks close to essential right now.

This is where the numbers meet the reality of team sheets.

Tzolis: Big Numbers, Bigger Risk

Christos Tzolis arrives at Arsenal with the sort of headline figures that make Fantasy managers sit up. Seventeen goals and 23 assists for Club Brugge in a title-winning season is elite output in any league, let alone for a wide player.

At £6.5m, the pricing reflects that upside. It also screams one word: uncertainty.

Mikel Arteta’s 2025/26 title defence came with a clear pattern. He trusted his central midfield core. Declan Rice, at £7.5m in Fantasy, started 35 matches. Martin Zubimendi, £5.5m, started 34. They were the heartbeat, almost ever-present.

Around them, chaos.

Bukayo Saka, even in an injury-hit season, was the only other Arsenal midfielder to start more than 21 league matches, and he still came in at just 25 starts. Everyone else lived in the rotation blender.

Leandro Trossard, Eberechi Eze, Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, Mikel Merino – all shuttled in and out. All averaged under 60 minutes per appearance. All are now priced at £6.5m, exactly where Tzolis lands.

That price bracket tells its own story. Fantasy managers are being asked to pay for potential, not security.

Tzolis has the profile to explode when he plays. He can score, he can create, he presses, he runs in behind. But in a side where Arteta repeatedly shuffled his attacking midfielders and wingers, pinning your Gameweek 1 hopes on him feels like a luxury move, not a foundation.

Especially when the same £6.5m buys you something very different elsewhere: minutes.

Brentford’s Dango Ouattara, Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr and Everton’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all look far more secure as starters. They may not match Tzolis for ceiling on any single day, but over 38 Gameweeks, availability often beats volatility.

If you want an Arsenal midfielder, history points you towards Rice or Zubimendi for reliability, Saka for star power. Tzolis might yet become a Fantasy darling, but at the start of 2026/27, he’s a gamble you don’t need to take.

Schlager vs Sangare: Forest’s DC Battle

At Nottingham Forest, the puzzle is different. The question isn’t about goals and assists; it’s about dirty work and Defensive Contribution points.

Xaver Schlager arrives from RB Leipzig at £5.0m, expected to contest the holding role with Ibrahim Sangare, also £5.0m, after Elliot Anderson’s move to Manchester City left a sizeable hole in Forest’s midfield.

Replacing Anderson statistically is a tall order. His pressing and ball-winning underpinned a huge haul of DC points last season. In Fantasy terms, midfielders receive two DC points for reaching 12 Clearances, Blocks, Interceptions and Recoveries (CBIRT) in a match.

Anderson averaged 8.3 recoveries per 90 minutes alone in 2025/26. Sangare and Schlager combined for only 12 recoveries per 90 between them. That gap matters.

On the broader defensive metrics per 90 minutes, Anderson totalled 13.9 defensive actions (clearances, blocks, interceptions, recoveries, tackles). Sangare posted 11.6, Schlager just 9.0. Those numbers make one thing clear: Forest are unlikely to find a like-for-like DC machine.

There is, however, a nuance. Schlager knows new head coach Olivier Glasner from their previous time together, and that relationship could shape selection. Pre-season friendlies will be revealing, both in terms of system and who anchors it.

Right now, though, the numbers tilt towards Sangare as the more promising DC option. He simply gets through more defensive work than Schlager and, at the same £5.0m price, looks the better value play until Glasner’s first-choice XI settles.

Managers chasing early defensive contribution points in midfield should keep a close eye on Forest’s line-ups. But if you have to pick today, Sangare is the one with the clearer statistical path to steady returns.

Targett Arrives, but Hughes Steals the Spotlight

Matt Targett’s move to Hull City on a free transfer adds experience and a familiar Fantasy name at £4.0m. He’ll challenge Ryan Giles, also £4.0m, for the left-back slot in 2026/27.

It’s tempting to drift back to 2020/21, when Targett racked up 138 points for Aston Villa and looked like one of the game’s best value defenders. The landscape has shifted since then.

The introduction of DC points last season has fundamentally altered where the value lies at the back. Centre-backs, not full-backs, have become the main beneficiaries.

In Fantasy, defenders earn two DC points for reaching 10 Clearances, Blocks, Interceptions and Tackles (CBIT) in a match. That threshold plays straight into the hands of central defenders who spend their afternoons heading, blocking and tackling for fun.

Enter Charlie Hughes.

Also priced at £4.0m, the Hull centre-back averaged 11.8 CBIT actions per 90 minutes in the Championship last season – more than any other defender from the promoted clubs. That is a serious volume of defensive work, and exactly the kind of profile DC scoring was built to reward.

Targett and Giles may offer the odd attacking return from the left, but their DC ceiling is capped by position and role. Hughes, by contrast, looks tailor-made for the new scoring era: central, busy, and constantly in the line of fire.

Among Hull’s defenders, the choice is blunt. If you want to ride the DC wave in 2026/27, Hughes is the standout £4.0m pick.

The window will throw up bigger names and flashier signings in the weeks ahead. But for Fantasy managers hunting value in the margins – the fourth midfielder, the fifth defender, the cheap enabler who quietly ticks over – these early prices might prove just as decisive when the season starts to bite.