Maxence Lacroix: Chelsea’s New Defensive Force for FPL

The numbers are already there in black and white. The question for 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League managers is simpler: are you willing to pay £6.0m to find out what Maxence Lacroix looks like in a Xabi Alonso defence?

Chelsea’s new centre-back arrives with a reputation quietly built at Crystal Palace, where he anchored the middle of a back three in a 3-4-2-1 for the last two seasons. It was not a glamorous role. It was, however, relentlessly effective.

Last season he delivered 154 FPL points, seventh among all defenders. One goal, two assists, 11 clean sheets and, crucially, 40 defensive contribution (DC) points. That final column is where Lacroix separates himself from the pack.

A DC Machine in Waiting

Run the tape back to 2024/25, before DC was even an official Fantasy metric. Apply today’s scoring to that campaign and Lacroix would have banked 34 DC points, beaten by only four defenders in the league.

Across the last two seasons, only James Tarkowski has matched his consistency in that area. Tarkowski and Lacroix are the only two defenders to finish in the top five for DC in both 2024/25 and 2025/26. That is not a hot streak. That is a profile.

In the inaugural DC season of 2025/26, Lacroix’s 40 points trailed only Marcos Senesi (50) and Tarkowski (44). He started 36 times, and more than half of those starts brought DC returns. Managers chasing reliable baseline points know how rare that is in a premium defender.

If Alonso leans into what he used at Bayer Leverkusen – a back three with aggressive wing-backs – Lacroix looks purpose-built for the system. If he pivots to a four, the Frenchman’s DC output still gives him a floor that many £6.0m defenders simply don’t have.

Pre-season will tell us how Chelsea line up. The data already tells us what Lacroix will do once he’s on the pitch.

Set-Piece Menace Hiding in Plain Sight

On the surface, his attacking returns at Palace look modest: one goal and two assists in each of the last two seasons. That reads like a defender who chips in occasionally, nothing more.

The underlying numbers scream something else.

In 2025/26, Lacroix produced 15 headed shots from set-pieces and 23 shots from set-pieces in total. Both figures ranked inside the top 10 defenders in Fantasy. They were identical to Arsenal’s Gabriel, who turned similar volume into three goals and five assists.

Go back another year and the picture sharpens. In 2024/25, no defender in the league had more shots from set-pieces than Lacroix. Twenty-seven in total. Twenty of them were headers. Both tallies led his position.

Those 20 headed efforts matched Nikola Milenkovic and Virgil van Dijk. Milenkovic scored five times, Van Dijk three. Lacroix did not cash in to the same extent, but the process is exactly what FPL managers want: repeatable, high-value chances in the box.

You are not paying for a fluke. You are paying for a defender who keeps arriving in the right zones when the ball is swung into the area.

Chelsea’s Set-Piece Void

Now drop that profile into Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea were strangely tame in the air from dead balls last season. Only two of their defenders – Trevoh Chalobah and Wesley Fofana – managed more than three headed shots from set-pieces across the entire campaign.

Chalobah led the way with 12 total set-piece efforts, Fofana followed with eight. Respectable numbers, but both fall well short of Lacroix’s 23 for Palace.

Reece James, for all his technical quality, recorded 10 set-piece shots but not a single header. Malo Gusto, Tosin and academy graduate Josh Acheampong barely registered as aerial threats. Levi Colwill’s season never really got going, limited to just two starts.

Look back to Colwill’s breakout 2024/25, though, and you see why his name keeps surfacing in FPL discussions. Across 35 starts he recorded 14 shots from set-pieces, nine of them headers. Strong, but still some distance behind Lacroix.

Over the last two seasons, Lacroix has averaged 17.5 headed shots from set-pieces per campaign. Colwill’s best return as a regular starter is nine. Same number of starts in 2024/25. Very different level of aerial volume.

Now factor in the context. Chalobah is linked with a move away. Fofana is sidelined until September. The door is wide open for a back three built around Lacroix, with James and Colwill either side.

Chelsea have lacked a dominant, reliable aerial focal point at both ends of the pitch. Lacroix walks straight into that vacancy.

Pay Up or Look Elsewhere?

The decision for Fantasy managers is not just about the player. It is about how you intend to build your squad.

At £6.0m, Lacroix sits in the premium bracket. If you want “set and forget” defensive assets and prefer to chase value with cheaper midfielders and forwards, he fits that philosophy neatly – especially if Alonso commits to a three-man defence.

You are buying:

• Elite DC output over two seasons
• Consistent minutes (35 and 35 starts at Palace)
• Heavy involvement at set-pieces, particularly in the air

You are also buying into the idea that Alonso will weaponise that profile, just as he did with his centre-backs at Leverkusen.

There is a cheaper route. If Colwill nails down a regular role in pre-season at £5.0m, he becomes the obvious alternative for managers who want exposure to a potentially improved Chelsea defence without paying top dollar. A back four would likely boost his minutes and perhaps his bonus potential.

James, at £5.5m, always tempts. The hope is simple: no European football, fewer games, less strain on a body that has been through too much too soon. The same logic could help Colwill stay fit after his long spell on the sidelines.

But none of Chelsea’s other defenders combine DC reliability and set-piece volume the way Lacroix does. The metrics are clear on that.

So the dilemma is set. Do you trust Alonso to turn Chelsea into a side that protects clean sheets and piles on corners? If the answer is yes, Lacroix may not just be the standout Chelsea defender.

He might be the premium defender that shapes how you spend the rest of your FPL budget.