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FPL Pre-Season Insights: £4.5m Forward and £4.0m Defenders
As the friendlies dry up and the serious stuff looms, the budget end of Fantasy Premier League is finally starting to reveal its hand.
Ipswich Town offered clarity. Hull City offered questions.
And for FPL managers hunting value, that contrast matters.
Ipswich: £4.0m defenders take shape, £4.5m forward delivers
Union Berlin 2-4 Ipswich Town
- Goals: J Clarke, Emersonn, O’Shea, McAteer
- Assists: Davis, Walle Egeli x2, Mehmeti
Gary O’Neil didn’t blink. Same back four as the previous game, same structure, same signals to FPL managers. With the season a week away, this is no longer fitness work. This is rehearsal.
The big news sits at £4.0m.
What had looked like a “two from three” scramble between Dara O’Shea, Issa Diop and Jacob Greaves is starting to sort itself out. O’Shea has been pushed to right-back, with Greaves and Diop paired centrally and Leif Davis marauding down the left.
On paper it’s a back four. On grass it often looks like a back three with Davis playing like a winger.
O’Shea’s new role brought a headline moment here: a curling goal from open play. It hints at attacking upside from full-back, but that’s not really why managers buy £4.0m defenders. They buy them for steady defensive returns. On that front, Diop still feels like the safer long-term ticket – the classic set-and-forget DefCon pick, not the occasional screamer.
Davis, though, is a different conversation entirely.
Priced at £4.0m but playing like a £5.5m full-back, he finished pre-season with more attacking returns than any other Ipswich player – four in total, adding another assist in Berlin with a cross for Jack Clarke. At times he was more advanced than Daizen Maeda, with the Japan international tucking in and covering while Davis tore beyond him.
The talent has never been in doubt. The question is whether he finally converts that promise into consistent FPL output in 2026/27, two seasons on from frustrating managers in his last crack at the top flight. With newly promoted centre-backs in 2025/26 posting DefCons in around half their starts – think Esteve, think Ballard – Davis will need to keep the returns coming to tempt managers away from the safer £4.0m centre-back route.
Clean sheets would help. Ipswich didn’t get one here, and eyes inevitably turn to Kjell Scherpen at £4.5m. He wasn’t guilty of howlers, but both Union goals were the kind a keeper might feel he should do better with. Early days, but he’s not yet forcing his way into many drafts.
Higher up the pitch, Sindre Walle Egeli made his move.
A £4.5m forward, a start, and two assists: one for Emersonn, one for O’Shea. He ends pre-season with the fifth-most minutes in the Ipswich squad, which is no small detail at his price. He started on the right flank in this one after operating as a No.10 last week, showcasing useful versatility.
But the caveat is loud. Abdul Fatawu is due back from a knock, and Julio Enciso is about to arrive. Both can operate in those advanced roles. Walle Egeli has momentum and minutes, but his long-term game-time is fragile. If you go there, you’re squeezing value out of a short window.
Jaden Philogene’s late cameo adds another wrinkle to the attacking mix. Last season’s 12-goal winger finally stepped onto the pitch for the first time this summer. His future remains unclear amid ongoing transfer links, and FPL managers will be wary of building around a player who may not even be in the league by September.
Hull: rotation fears, injury clouds and a busy £4.5m keeper
Hull City 0-0 Nice
On paper, a goalless draw. In reality, a team still trying to work out what its Premier League XI looks like.
Elliot Stroud, priced at £5.0m, was thrown straight in for his debut on the left wing. Three other summer signings followed from the bench: Lucas Gourna-Douath in midfield and centre-backs Lucas Herrington and Nobel Mendy, both at £4.0m. Another new arrival, Joe Gelhardt (£5.0m), stayed out of sight with a right ankle injury.
“Because he had an injury. He has an injury from Leeds, three weeks already gone. I expect in two weeks he will be on the pitch with the team. Right ankle,” Sergej Jakirovic explained.
At least there was some positive news on the fitness front. John Egan (£4.0m), Jens Hjerto-Dahl (£5.0m), Paddy McNair (£4.0m) and Liam Millar (£5.0m) all returned after recent scares, with Egan and Hjerto-Dahl starting.
Even so, Hull’s XI still looked very Championship. Eight of the starters were part of last season’s promotion push. The sense is of a squad in transition, not one settled and ready to be trusted in FPL from Gameweek 1.
Centre-back is the clearest example. Egan and Semi Ajayi (£4.0m) got the nod in this final friendly, but how long do they keep those shirts? Herrington and Mendy were eased in off the bench, and Mendy, as the club-record signing, feels like a looming threat to the existing order. For early Bench Boosts, the £4.0m defenders at Ipswich and Coventry already look more appealing from a fixture perspective. Layer Hull’s rotation risk on top, and the case to avoid their cheap defenders in the opening weeks grows stronger.
The uncertainty doesn’t stop at the back.
Up front, Oli McBurnie (£5.5m) started again, largely because there is no real alternative at the moment. That may not last.
“I hope also we will bring, in a few days, another option for the striker position,” Jakirovic said, underlining how temporary McBurnie’s monopoly could be.
In midfield, two £4.5m options – Regan Slater and Matt Crooks – are hanging on to their places. They’re being helped by injuries to several would-be competitors, but that safety net won’t last forever. Gourna-Douath, based on this outing, looks more likely to challenge Hjerto-Dahl than those two, with the Norwegian still working his way up to full sharpness. Hull continue to be linked with further reinforcements in the engine room, adding yet more doubt.
The match itself rarely sparked. Hull’s main threat came from dead balls. Slater’s corners and the deliveries of Mohamed Belloumi (£5.0m) unsettled Nice at times, with Egan, Hjerto-Dahl and Mendy all finding half-chances from set plays.
In open play, Belloumi was the standout. He carried the ball with intent, looked the likeliest to conjure something, and carved out Hull’s best opportunity for himself before seeing his shot beaten away. Beyond him, creativity was thin.
At least one position looks locked: goalkeeper.
Konstantinos Tzolakis (£4.5m) was excellent, producing an eye-catching double save before half-time and generally radiating the kind of busy authority that FPL managers love from a cheap keeper. He will face plenty of shots this season. The only question is whether that workload comes with enough clean sheets to justify picking him over a £4.5m from a more stable defence.
Ipswich’s structure, Hull’s chaos, a £4.5m forward flashing early value, and a cluster of £4.0m defenders jostling for our attention – the final weekend of pre-season didn’t just fill the schedule. It sharpened the dilemmas that will define countless Gameweek 1 drafts.
