Following my previous articles on value (parts one, two, three, four) I have taken a look at the prices for the 2020/21 season and looked at the value of players new prices based on last seasonโs score.
Method & Limitations
The approach Iโm using is to take a base team of 11 of the cheapest possible players, then make upgrades to that team that offered the best value (points per million) until the team value was at ยฃ100m. You can read the full approach and some thoughts on its limitations in the previous article.
Additionally, this forward-looking approach presumes players score the same as last year, which you may or may not think will be true for each player. I have tried to address this for some common cases (e.g. January signings) however the skill of the game is in knowing which players will perform better and worse than history suggests.
First Run
The first run-through came out with some interesting options, with 5-2-3 formation coming out on top:
GK: Pope | ยฃ5.5m
DEF: Robertson | ยฃ7.0m
DEF: Alexander-Arnold | ยฃ7.5m
DEF: Doherty | ยฃ6.0m
DEF: van Dijk | ยฃ6.5m
DEF: Tarkowski | ยฃ5.5m
MID: Lundstram | ยฃ5.5m
MID: De Bruyne | ยฃ11.5m
FWD: Ings | ยฃ8.5m
FWD: Martial | ยฃ9.0m
FWD: Vardy | ยฃ10.0m
Clearly there are some issues here with positional changes. If Martial and Lundstram perform the same as last season they will get fewer points due to their changes. Equally, there will be others who perform better because of reclassification.
Adjust for Position
Next, I did a run-through with the scores amended for each player that has changed position to calculate what they would have got last year in that position (with a rough estimate for bonus point changes included).
This also came out with 5-2-3 as the strongest formation with:
GK: Pope | ยฃ5.5m
DEF: Robertson | ยฃ7.0m
DEF: Alexander-Arnold | ยฃ7.5m
DEF: Doherty | ยฃ6.0m
DEF: van Dijk | ยฃ6.5m
DEF: Tarkowski | ยฃ5.5m
MID: Rashford | ยฃ9.5m
MID: De Bruyne | ยฃ11.5m
FWD: Ings | ยฃ8.5m
FWD: Wood | ยฃ6.5m
FWD: Jimenez | ยฃ8.5m
Project Restart
The final adjustment was to bring into the mix those players that had only really come out in the latter half of the season. I took the players that did well after Project Restart and multiplied out their points from that period to a whole season.
Some of the key players who came into their own after the restart, and their scores if they could keep it up for a whole season were:
Fernandes: 337 points
Greenwood: 241 points (as a midfielder)
Foden: 211 points
Lloris: 198 points
Laporte: 173 points
Soucek: 148 points
This limitation here is that Project Restart only covered nine games and so fixture difficulty and whole-season sustainability would probably render some of these prices unrealistic.
This is where it gets less scientific. I adjusted a few of the scores from the โproject restartโ section to be more conservatively realistic.
Fernandes could continue his hot streak, but even if he drops off a bit, Iโd still expect him to hit 200 points this season. Greenwood and Foden I would both expect around the 175-180 mark if they continue to get decent minutes, and Lloris I have downgraded to around his consistent total for the past few seasons (we could expect this to go up under Mourinho, but with Pope at the same price it doesnโt make any difference to the team structure).
Fernandes: 200 points
Greenwood: 180 points (as a midfielder)
Foden: 175 points
Lloris: 145 points
Laporte: 173 points
Soucek: 148 points
Laporte totalled 177 points the season before last, so that seems reasonable. Whether Soucek can keep up his form and get near 150 remains to be seen, but usually there is a ยฃ5-6m midfielder that gets in that range, so I will leave him at that.
With those changes, and we get another five at the back with 5-3-2:
GK: Pope | ยฃ5.5m
DEF: Robertson | ยฃ7.0m
DEF: Alexander-Arnold | ยฃ7.5m
DEF: Doherty | ยฃ6.0m
DEF: van Dijk | ยฃ6.5m
DEF: Laporte | ยฃ6.0m
MID: Foden | ยฃ6.5m
MID: De Bruyne | ยฃ11.5m
MID: Greenwood | ยฃ7.5m
FWD: Ings | ยฃ8.5m
FWD: Vardy | ยฃ10.0m
Five at the Back?
As you will see from my previous article, five at the back seems to look good going into the season due to the fact that we arenโt calculating for the ยฃ5-6m attacker that hits the 170-180 mark, and the ยฃ8-10m attacker that hits the 200 mark.
This year, however, we have Ings and Vardy, both in the ยฃ8-10m and at (or nearly at) the 200 point mark (this is interesting in itself โ I donโt think weโve had a player hitting 200 points one season and being priced under ยฃ10m in recent history).
What I thought would be interesting was to add in ยฃ5.5m midfielder at 175 points to simulate the usual, but as yet unknown, budget overperformer.
This returns a 4-3-3 as the optimal formation, with 3-4-3 just one point off:
GK: Pope | ยฃ5.5m
DEF: Robertson | ยฃ7.0m
DEF: Alexander-Arnold | ยฃ7.5m
DEF: van Dijk | ยฃ6.5m
DEF: Laporte | ยฃ6.0m
MID: Foden | ยฃ6.5m
MID: De Bruyne | ยฃ11.5m
MID: Unknown | ยฃ5.5m
FWD: Jimenez | ยฃ8.5m
FWD: Ings | ยฃ8.5m
FWD: Vardy | ยฃ10.0m
Or
GK: Pope | ยฃ5.5m
DEF: Alexander-Arnold | ยฃ7.5m
DEF: van Dijk | ยฃ6.5m
DEF: Laporte | ยฃ6.0m
MID: Greenwood | ยฃ7.5m
MID: Foden | ยฃ6.5m
MID: De Bruyne | ยฃ11.5m
MID: Unknown | ยฃ5.5m
FWD: Jimenez | ยฃ8.5m
FWD: Ings | ยฃ8.5m
FWD: Vardy | ยฃ10.0m
Rotating 4.5m Defenders
My last article on rotating pairs of ยฃ4.5m defenders shows that, if you can find a good pair that rotate avoiding Man City/Liverpool and, ideally, the top 8 teams, then you can displace some of the premiums for value.
So, out of interest, I have added in a rotating pair of ยฃ4.5ms to the equation with a (conservative) projected score of 170. That returned a 4-4-2 with:
GK: Pope | ยฃ5.5m
DEF: Alexander-Arnold | ยฃ7.5m
DEF: van Dijk | ยฃ6.5m
DEF: Laporte | ยฃ6.0m
DEF: Rotating ยฃ4.5ms | ยฃ5.0m
MID: Salah | ยฃ12.0m
MID: Foden | ยฃ6.5m
MID: De Bruyne | ยฃ11.5m
MID: Unknown | ยฃ5.5m
FWD: Jimenez | ยฃ8.5m
FWD: Ings | ยฃ8.5m
Players
Forwards
What stands out to me this year, is the change in pricing for forwards. With the issues in the past 3-4 seasons with premium forwards not providing good value, the change to have none priced over ยฃ10.5m looks like a good one to mix things up a bit. That shows with three up top looking good value, even without cheap over-performers to free up budget.
Jimenez (ยฃ8.5m) has shown consistency for two seasons now and ยฃ8.5m for a player that is highly likely to finish with 180-200 points is a no-brainer for me. It remains to be seen if Ings (ยฃ8.5m) can repeat is tally from last year, but we have seen flashes of that form in previous seasons, just interrupted by injury. Vardy (ยฃ10.0m) too could prove great value with a decent chance of another 200 pointer this season.
Budget forward donโt look very appealing for value. Wood (ยฃ6.5m) or Antonio (ยฃ6.5m) are perhaps the most likely source of value, possibly a promoted striker might emerge, but at the start, I wouldnโt be confident in cheap strikers providing value.
Midfielders
Lots of the early talk has been about saving funds up front and in defence to make room for lots of premium mids, but Iโm sceptical of the value of the ยฃ12.0m players when we have so many options slightly cheaper that could provide better value.
De Bruyne (ยฃ11.5m) looks the standout premium for value if he can hit at least 225 points this year. Fernandes (ยฃ10.5m) is an interesting one โ if he can match 60% of his PPG from project restart then he will hit 200 points, and at ยฃ1.5m less than Salah/Mane/Aubameyang, he could also end up as a must-own. There is always the chance that Salah (ยฃ12.0m) returns to a 260-300 kind of score, which would make him a value pick even at ยฃ12m, so I would plan for a way to bring him in if youโre not starting with him.
At the mid-priced range in midfield, Greenwood (ยฃ7.5m) could be absolutely essential if he retains first choice this season. Rashford (ยฃ9.5m) is also worth considering, if he replicates his form last year and hits 200 points he looks good value. I will also be keeping tabs on the likes of Mahrez (ยฃ8.5m), Pulisic (ยฃ8.5m), Ziyech (ยฃ8.0m) and Grealish (ยฃ7.0m) to see if they look like kicking on towards to 200 mark.
At the budget end there is likely to be a ยฃ5-6m option that comes in at 180 points for the season again. Possibly one of the Leeds creative midfielders could fit this mould if they get a more clinical striker or maybe one of the West Ham midfielders like Soucek (ยฃ5.0m) and Yarmolenko (ยฃ6.0m). Stretching the bracket up to ยฃ6.5m brings in a lot more options who could be interesting (Perez, Foden, Anderson, Traore, Jota).
Defenders
Once again, premium defenders look really good value for money, though I will try a rotating pair of ยฃ4.5m this year after my research in my previous article. I donโt think there is enough value or predictability to rotate two spots with 4.5m pairs.
Vinagre (ยฃ4.5m) could be an interesting one until Jonny returns, if he can add a few attacking returns to a decent clean sheet potential then he could end up matching some of the premium options without rotation.
Alexander-Arnold (ยฃ7.5m) is surely the first name on the team sheet, and I think van Dijk (ยฃ6.5m) will be worth it over Robertson (ยฃ7.0m) unless Robertsonโs assist start picking up to 2018/19 levels again. Laporte (ยฃ6.0m) could offer great value, but with the deployment of Ake (ยฃ5.5m) in that defence still up in the air, he may be a wait-and-see. Doherty (ยฃ6.0m) is probably a good bet, with a couple of extra clean sheets with Boly fit all season maybe pushing him to nearer 175 points.
Conclusion
My instinct is that, despite the wealth on premium midfield options, this will be the year of spreading the budget widely to as many mid-priced options as possible. I think the ยฃ7.5m โ 10m range this year will offer outstanding value and stocking up on these rather than cramming in 12m options could be the way to go.
The blanks for Man Utd and Man City make things tricky to start the season and this may push me towards Salah and Aubameyang to start with. I will, however, be planning to move these towards the likes of De Bruyne and Fernandes early on and upgrade and cheap attacker to a mid-priced one.
Once the Manchester blanks are over, I can see a huge amount of value in those clubโs midfielders. Deploying Fernandes, Rashford, Greenwood, De Bruyne and Foden as a midfield five could be tasty, particularly for an early double gameweek

