We take an early look at the highest-owned players in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), along with potential stars that are not part of many squads.
One caveat at this point of the season is that some price points (eg £5.5m defenders, £7.0m midfielders, £8.0m forwards etc) may be inflated due to being ‘auto-pick’ selections.
We’d expect these percentages to continue to drop between now and Gameweek 1 and we’ll monitor those figures ahead of the start of 2021/22.
GOALKEEPERS
One player that may apply to is Emiliano Martinez (£5.5m), who sits in 39.2% of squads despite a price hike from last season’s initial £4.5m start.
Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez (£4.5m), on the other hand, looks set to be part of many Gameweek 1 teams. One of a cluster of starting shot-stoppers available under £5.0m, the Spaniard – whose Brighton side sit at the top of our Season Ticker over the first eight Gameweeks – is currently owned by 27.1% of FPL managers.
The Albion custodian’s ownership is greater than all of the other £4.5m options in this position combined.
Watford’s Ben Foster (£4.0m) is one of only two other goalkeepers selected by more than 10% of the game. The 24.7%-owned veteran lost his place to Daniel Bachmann (£4.5m) for the second half of last season, though enables budget to be used elsewhere as a non-playing substitute.
Dean Henderson (£5.0m) and David de Gea (£5.0m) barely clear 5% ownership between them. The former is in 3.5% of teams, with De Gea part of 1.7%. Whoever nails down the No 1 spot at Old Trafford is likely to see their popularity surge, though the ongoing uncertainty isn’t doing either any favours at present.
DEFENDERS
Manchester United’s Luke Shaw (£5.5m) is the most-selected defender at 40.3%. That is probably a mixture of auto-picks and serious investment in the England left-back, with a fairly generous price tag and his excellent showings at the European Championship boosting interest.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m), the game’s most expensive defender, is next up on 27.3%. With Liverpool’s favourable early fixture list and his superb form at the back-end of 2020/21, we might expect to see that figure rise before the Gameweek 1 deadline.
Wesley Fofana (£4.5m) is the pick of the budget options at 27.1%, with an attractive price seeing the Leicester centre-half included in plenty of drafts.
Interestingly, Tariq Lamptey (£4.5m) also makes 19.0% of selections despite missing most of last season through injury.
Ruben Dias (£6.0m), Lucas Digne (£5.5m) and Aaron Cresswell (£5.5m) are the other defenders in more than 20% of squads although again, in the latter two cases, that could be influenced by auto-pick figures.
MIDFIELDERS
Liverpool’s attractive opening fixture list, which begins with a trip to Norwich, means Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) is already owned by 49.8% of Fantasy managers. The midfielder is not travelling to the Olympics with Egypt, in a further boost to his Gameweek 1 appeal.
Salah is trailed by Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m), last season’s leading points-scorer who sits in 40.5% of squads. It remains to be seen how the introduction of Jadon Sancho will affect the Portugal midfielder’s popularity, with a price still awaited on the soon-to-arrive England international.
Amid sustained transfer speculation, Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish (£8.0m) has earned a 37% ownership. Dean Smith’s side have three great opening fixtures before their schedule takes a turn for the worse.
Raphinha (£6.5m) is next in line for midfielders at 25%, with only a £1.0m price hike from last season meaning FPL players are flocking to the Leeds winger who racked up 16 attacking returns as a budget asset in 2020/21.
England man Mason Mount (£7.5m) is the only other midfielder selected by more than 20% so far.
Raphinha’s team-mate Stuart Dallas (£5.5m) makes 18.3% of squads despite his reclassification as a midfielder, with the loss of points for clean sheets and goals scored evidently not enough of a deterrent – although we did see similar sentimental demand for John Lundstram last summer before the penny dropped.
At the other end of the scale, Sadio Mane‘s (£12.0m) ownership figure of 2.9% is remarkably low but no doubt owing to FPL’s decision to price the Senegal international and Salah up so closely, with the latter outscoring his teammate by 55 FPL points in 2021/22.
Raheem Sterling (£11.0m), one of England’s star performers at EURO 2020, has a near-identical ownership figure to Mane, while City club colleague Ilkay Gundogan (£7.5m) is also in differential territory at 5.1%.
FORWARDS
Ivan Toney (£6.5m) is proving very popular so far, sitting in 35.2% of squads. The penalty-taking forward bagged 31 goals in 45 Championship appearances last season, assisting a further 10 of Brentford’s strikes.
A former Bee in Ollie Watkins (£7.5m) is just behind Toney at the top of the forward ownership charts. The Aston Villa striker features in 33.4% of FPL selections.
England striker Harry Kane (£12.5m) makes 28.2% of these embryonic squads. Spurs take on Man City (H), Chelsea (H) and Arsenal (a) over the first six Gameweeks, mixed in with a plum fixture at home to Watford. Whether or not FPL’s most expensive forward is still plying his trade in north London in 2021/22 is another question.
Next in line is the 27.9%-owned Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.0m), now under the management of Rafa Benitez. With Richarlison (£7.5m) off to the Olympics, Everton’s attack should centre around Calvert-Lewin in the early part of the season.
The Toffees enjoy some excellent opening fixtures, too, which should boost Calvert-Lewin’s appeal.
Kelechi Iheanacho (£7.5m), who now has Patson Daka (£7.5m) for forward company at Leicester, is currently picked by 17.8% of managers. Patrick Bamford (£8.0m) is just behind Iheanacho on 17.2%.
Despite Newcastle sitting in sixth on our Season Ticker when sorted by attack for Gameweeks 1 to 6, Magpies penalty-taker Callum Wilson (£7.5m) is only part of 4.8% of squads so far.
“He’s got a dozen goals in 26 appearances which proves how valuable he is. He’s a really good player and we’ve seen his importance to the team. Let’s hope he can stay well. At the moment we look a very decent team going forward.” – Steve Bruce speaking about Wilson on May 21
Proven FPL performers (albeit with chequered fitness records in 2020/21) in the form of Danny Ings (£8.0m) and Raul Jimenez (£7.5m) are also owned by fewer than 5% of managers.
Christian Benteke (£6.5m) scored in four consecutive games to end the season, earning himself a 1.3% ownership heading into the new campaign. Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace do face Chelsea (a) in Gameweek 1, followed by ties with Brentford (H) and West Ham (a).
