The best FPL squad for 2026/27 has to solve a problem that looks simple on paper but becomes increasingly difficult once the £100 million budget starts disappearing, because Erling Haaland costs £15.5m, Bruno Fernandes costs £12.0m, and Gabriel costs £8.0m before a single other player has been added.
Those three alone swallow £35.5m, leaving £64.5m for the other 12 players, and that is £6.5m more than managers needed to spend on the same trio at the beginning of last season. The price inflation makes value picks more important this year, particularly with João Pedro available at £7.5m and all promoted defenders priced at only £4.0m.
The good news is that the squad can still be built around those four players, provided the rest of the team is constructed with purpose rather than filling the bench with expensive names who may rarely see the pitch.
Manchester United’s opening fixtures make the decision even more interesting, with Michael Carrick’s side travelling to promoted Hull City before hosting promoted Ipswich Town, while Arsenal begin at home to Coventry City.
That opening run creates a natural path towards Fernandes and one of Bryan Mbeumo or Matheus Cunha, while the pre-season evidence currently gives Mbeumo the edge after he has operated as a forward and scored three goals during Manchester United’s preparations.
The challenge, then, is not just squeezing the biggest names into the team, but creating a starting XI with enough firepower while keeping the bench cheap, playable and flexible enough to survive injuries, rotation and the inevitable surprises of August.
If you are new to fantasy Premier League and you do not know how to go about it, read our exclusive guide on how to play FPL this season
The £100m strategy
There are two ways to approach a premium-heavy FPL squad, with one involving three or four expensive attackers and a collection of £4.5m players filling the remaining positions, while the other spreads the money more evenly and sacrifices one major name.
For 2026/27, the first approach has plenty going for it because Haaland, Fernandes, Gabriel and João Pedro provide strong routes to points without forcing the rest of the squad into complete disrepair.
The key is understanding that your bench does not need to look impressive every week, because those four substitutes are there primarily to protect the squad from unexpected absences rather than compete with the starting XI for spending power.
The ideal structure therefore looks something like this:
- One premium striker: Haaland
- One premium midfielder: Fernandes
- One premium defender: Gabriel
- One mid-priced forward: João Pedro
- One £8.0m midfielder: Mbeumo
- Several £5.0m to £6.0m players with starting potential
- A £4.0m defender-heavy bench
- One dependable £4.5m goalkeeper
- Enough money remaining to react to early-season form
That last point matters more than it appears, because committing every pound to a rigid squad can leave you needing two transfers and a four-point hit when an early-season breakout player suddenly becomes impossible to ignore.
Goalkeeper: Antonín Kinský, £4.5m
Antonín Kinský at £4.5m is one of the most attractive routes into a budget goalkeeper slot, particularly because Tottenham’s defensive picture has improved during the summer with the additions of Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke.
Tottenham’s defensive numbers also encourage, with Roberto De Zerbi’s arrival late last season coinciding with Spurs conceding a league-low 10 big chances from his appointment onwards, according to The Scout’s pre-season assessment.
Kinský’s appeal comes from the price rather than the expectation that Tottenham will suddenly become the league’s stingiest defence, because a £4.5m goalkeeper who starts regularly can release another £1m or £1.5m for positions where attacking returns are generally easier to find.
The goalkeeper position should therefore remain an area where managers resist the urge to spend heavily, particularly when the rest of the squad contains several premium assets.
Backup goalkeeper: £4.0m Martin Dúbravka
If Kinský establishes himself as Tottenham’s No 1, a £4.0m backup option becomes an extremely efficient way of completing the goalkeeper pairing without tying up unnecessary funds.
The situation still needs monitoring before Gameweek 1 because Guglielmo Vicario’s future has been the subject of transfer speculation, while Tottenham’s eventual goalkeeping hierarchy could change the attractiveness of the cheaper option.
The important principle remains the same, however, because spending £9.5m or £10m on two goalkeepers would make little sense when only one can start each Gameweek.
Defence
Gabriel, £8.0m, is the expensive defender who earns his place in this squad because Arsenal’s defensive strength gives him a reliable clean-sheet route while his threat from set pieces adds another way of collecting points.
The problem is that Gabriel’s price leaves less room elsewhere, so pairing him with another £6m defender would make the structure unnecessarily expensive unless that player offers an exceptional attacking role.
The smarter route is to move into the £5.0m to £5.5m bracket, where several players can provide a useful mixture of security, clean-sheet potential and attacking upside.
Harry Maguire, £5.0m
Harry Maguire is particularly attractive at £5.0m because Manchester United begin with Hull City away and Ipswich Town at home, giving the England international two fixtures where clean-sheet points and defensive contribution points are both realistic possibilities.
Maguire has also been one of United’s regular pre-season starters, while The Scout notes that he was their leading defender for defensive contributions last season, giving him a route to points even when the clean sheet disappears.
His aerial threat adds another layer because Manchester United have several players capable of delivering dangerous set pieces, meaning Maguire can produce attacking returns without needing to become an attacking full-back.
Cristhian Mosquera, £5.5m
Arsenal’s defensive situation makes Cristhian Mosquera at £5.5m one of the players worth watching particularly closely before the deadline.
William Saliba is expected to miss an extended period with a back problem, while Jurrien Timber is also facing weeks out, leaving Mikel Arteta with several defensive combinations to consider.
Mosquera has started Arsenal’s first two pre-season matches at centre-back, which makes him an interesting route into a defence that should generate plenty of clean-sheet opportunities if his starting position becomes secure.
Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White and Piero Hincapié are also priced at £5.5m, so the final decision should be made after Arsenal’s remaining pre-season team selections provide clearer evidence of Arteta’s preferred back four.
The £4.0m Bench
This is where the 2026/27 pricing structure becomes extremely useful.
All promoted defenders are available at £4.0m, allowing managers to fill the bench without sacrificing money that could be used on the starting XI.
Hull’s John Egan is particularly interesting for managers looking for defensive contribution potential, while Coventry’s Bobby Thomas offers a little more attacking promise after registering three goals and four assists in the Championship last season.
Egan averaged 10.1 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles per 90 minutes in the Championship last season, while Thomas averaged 8.6, making both worth monitoring under the new defensive contribution scoring rules.
These players do not need to become weekly starters for the strategy to work, because their primary job is providing emergency cover at the lowest possible price.
Midfield
Bruno Fernandes at £12.0m is the easiest premium midfielder to justify at the beginning of the season because Manchester United’s opening fixtures are among the most attractive in the league.
United face Hull City in Gameweek 1 and Ipswich Town in Gameweek 2, before travelling to Everton and then hosting Manchester City, meaning the opening two fixtures offer an obvious opportunity to attack the schedule aggressively.
Fernandes also brings penalties, set pieces, assists and goals into the equation, which gives him several routes to a big score rather than relying on one particular type of return.
Bryan Mbeumo, £8.0m
Bryan Mbeumo at £8.0m is the midfield partner who makes the premium-heavy structure possible without completely draining the budget.
The price is especially useful because £8.0m gives you considerable flexibility when the season begins, allowing a manager to move towards most other midfield options without immediately needing another transfer to release funds.
Mbeumo’s pre-season role is even more encouraging, because he has been used centrally while Benjamin Sesko has yet to feature for Manchester United during their preparations, and Mbeumo has scored three goals during that period.
The latest Scout update also reports that Mbeumo scored both Manchester United goals in a 2-1 friendly victory over Atlético Madrid, while his ownership has moved ahead of Cunha.
Cunha remains an excellent alternative, particularly if Sesko’s fitness keeps him out of the starting XI, because Cunha occupied the central role when Sesko was unavailable late last season.
For the moment, though, Mbeumo has the stronger combination of fitness, form and positional upside.
Pascal Gross, £5.5m
Pascal Gross at £5.5m is the kind of player who can make an expensive squad function.
His appeal has increased after taking over penalty duties at Brighton following Danny Welbeck’s departure, while the German remains involved with corners and free kicks, giving him several opportunities to generate points.
Gross scored from the spot and supplied an assist during Brighton’s 4-3 pre-season victory over Strasbourg, providing further encouragement for managers looking for a cheap midfielder with set-piece responsibility.
At £5.5m, he does not need to produce premium-level numbers to justify his place, because regular starts and occasional attacking returns would make him a useful fifth midfielder while leaving the bigger money concentrated elsewhere.
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Forward
The forward line is where the squad’s biggest decisions become visible, because Haaland consumes £15.5m while João Pedro costs £7.5m and the budget options around £6m create an opportunity to keep the overall structure balanced.
Erling Haaland, £15.5m
There is no clever accounting trick that changes the reality of Haaland’s price, because £15.5m is an enormous portion of the budget, but Manchester City’s striker remains one of the clearest captaincy options in the game.
The premium price means you need to be comfortable sacrificing elsewhere, but the reward is having the league’s most expensive player available for captaincy during favourable fixtures and avoiding the constant temptation to spend a transfer buying him later.
For a Gameweek 1 squad, that certainty carries value.
João Pedro, £7.5m
João Pedro at £7.5m is one of the key pieces in making this structure work, with The Scout identifying him alongside Haaland, Fernandes and Gabriel as one of the must-have players for the opening campaign.
At that price, he occupies the important middle ground between premium forwards and the budget options, giving managers a player who can start every week without forcing the rest of the team into a collection of £4.0m assets.
His inclusion also gives the squad enough attacking depth to avoid becoming completely dependent on Haaland.
Igor Jesus, £6.0m
Igor Jesus at £6.0m is the budget forward currently carrying the most pre-season momentum.
The Nottingham Forest forward has scored four goals in four pre-season appearances, putting him among the most productive attackers during the build-up to the new campaign.
Forest also have three attractive home fixtures during the opening five Gameweeks, hosting Leeds United, Tottenham Hotspur and promoted Coventry City, although his starting position still requires monitoring because Chris Wood, Taiwo Awoniyi and Arnaud Kalimuendo provide competition.
That uncertainty is the only reason to avoid treating him as an automatic selection, but at £6.0m his upside makes him one of the best budget forwards to monitor before the deadline.
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The Ideal £100m squad
Putting the pieces together produces a squad that keeps the major premiums while leaving enough cheap players to protect the budget.
| Position | Player | Price |
|---|---|---|
| GK | Antonín Kinský | £4.5m |
| GK | Martin Dúbravka | £4.0m |
| DEF | Gabriel | £8.0m |
| DEF | Harry Maguire | £5.0m |
| DEF | Cristhian Mosquera | £5.5m |
| DEF | John Egan | £4.0m |
| DEF | Bobby Thomas | £4.0m |
| MID | Bruno Fernandes | £12.0m |
| MID | Bryan Mbeumo | £8.0m |
| MID | Pascal Gross | £5.5m |
| MID | Enzo Le Fée | £6.0m |
| MID | Regan Slater | £4.5m |
| FWD | Erling Haaland | £15.5m |
| FWD | João Pedro | £7.5m |
| FWD | Igor Jesus | £6.0m |
Total: £99.5m
That leaves £0.5m in the bank, which is a useful position to occupy before the opening deadline because it gives the squad a little breathing room without sacrificing the core structure.
Enzo Le Fée at £6.0m deserves particular attention because his 2025/26 Fantasy season produced five goals, six assists, 16 defensive contribution points and 16 bonus points, while Sunderland begin with Ipswich away before hosting Fulham in Gameweeks 1 and 2.
There is also a neat structural advantage here, because with Le Fée, three Manchester United players and two Arsenal players in the starting XI, six players could face promoted opposition during Gameweek 1 depending on the final selection.
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The Starting XI
The first-choice lineup from this structure would look something like this:
Kinský
Gabriel, Maguire, Mosquera
Fernandes, Mbeumo, Gross, Le Fée
Haaland, João Pedro, Igor Jesus
The formation gives the squad three defenders, four midfielders and three forwards, while the bench contains a £4.5m midfielder and three £4.0m defenders who can provide emergency cover without having consumed money that could have been used on the starting XI.
That balance is the entire point.
You are not trying to build the strongest-looking 15 players on paper, because doing that would leave too much money sitting on the bench every week. The aim is to create the strongest possible XI while spending as little as possible on players who are unlikely to start.
The Best Cheap Players To Monitor
The opening squad should never be treated as something carved into stone, particularly with several clubs still working through pre-season lineups and squad changes.
Some of the most interesting value names heading into the deadline include:
- Harry Maguire, £5.0m, because his defensive contribution numbers and Manchester United’s opening fixtures give him several routes to points.
- Cristhian Mosquera, £5.5m, because Saliba’s injury could open a regular Arsenal starting role.
- Pascal Gross, £5.5m, because penalties, corners and free kicks give him a route to points that most players at his price do not possess.
- Enzo Le Fée, £6.0m, because his previous season produced goals, assists, defensive contribution points and bonus returns.
- Igor Jesus, £6.0m, because four goals in four pre-season appearances have made him one of the most intriguing budget forwards.
- John Egan, £4.0m, because his defensive contribution potential could make him an unusually useful bench option.
- Bobby Thomas, £4.0m, because his Championship attacking numbers make him more than a purely defensive placeholder.
- Antonín Kinský, £4.5m, because Tottenham’s changing defensive structure could create a strong low-cost goalkeeper route.
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Why The £8m Mbeumo Slot Matters
The most useful part of this squad may not be Haaland or Fernandes, because those players are obvious premium selections, while the £8m midfielder gives the entire structure its flexibility.
Mbeumo can become Palmer at £9.5m, Saka at £9.5m or another midfielder who explodes into form without requiring a complete rebuild, while dropping from Mbeumo to a cheaper player can create money for an upgrade elsewhere.
The same flexibility does not exist when a squad is overloaded with awkwardly priced players who require two transfers to move from one premium asset to another.
That is why price structure matters almost as much as player quality.
What Could Change Before Gameweek 1?
The final pre-season matches should still influence the last decisions, particularly at Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest, where several positions remain unsettled.
Sesko’s fitness is especially important because his availability could change the Manchester United forward structure, potentially moving Cunha into the central role and making the £8.0m midfielder decision more complicated.
Arsenal’s centre-back situation also deserves another look, because Mosquera, Calafiori, White and Hincapié are all competing for opportunities around Gabriel while Saliba and Timber recover from their injuries.
Forest’s forward battle is another situation where four goals from Igor Jesus cannot completely settle the decision, particularly with Wood, Awoniyi and Kalimuendo also competing for minutes.
The best FPL managers therefore enter the final days with a preferred squad rather than a fixed squad, because the difference between those two approaches is having room to respond when the team sheets and injury reports provide new information.
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Verdict
A £100m FPL squad containing Haaland, Fernandes, Gabriel and João Pedro looks expensive at first look, but the 2026/27 pricing structure provides enough cheap defenders and mid-priced players to make the combination work without completely hollowing out the bench.
The strongest version of the strategy is built around Haaland as the premium captaincy option, Fernandes as the Manchester United talisman, Gabriel as the premium defender, Mbeumo as the flexible £8m midfielder and João Pedro as the mid-priced forward, with Gross, Le Fée, Maguire, Mosquera and Igor Jesus providing the value needed to keep the machine running.
There is also no need to spend the entire £100m just because the game gives you that much money, because leaving £0.5m unused is far more useful than forcing an unnecessary upgrade that leaves the squad with no flexibility.
The opening Gameweeks give Manchester United particular appeal, while Arsenal’s defensive situation creates an opportunity to find a cheaper route into one of the league’s strongest defences.
For Gameweek 1, the priority should be simple: spend heavily where points are most likely, spend lightly where the bench can cover you, and keep enough flexibility to react when the season starts revealing which pre-season signals were real and which ones were simply summer noise.
That is how you build a £100m squad without squandering the budget before the first ball is kicked.
