We survey the budget Fantasy Premier League (FPL) goalkeepers as we continue our trawl through the price list.
Will anyone emulate the heroics of Emi Martinez (£5.0m) in 2020/21? Can a £4.5m option match David Raya‘s (£5.0m) achievement from last season and finish as the top-scoring goalkeeper? And who are the bench fodder back-ups in the £4.0m bracket?
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BUDGET FPL GOALKEEPERS: A SUMMER OF CHANGE AND UNCERTAINTY
Usually, even at this early stage of pre-season, we can be pretty sure of who is going to line up in goal for the majority of clubs.
But it’s a summer of upheaval for a lot of Premier League sides.
Long servants like David de Gea (£5.0m) and Hugo Lloris (£5.0m) are exit-bound, other clubs need departed loanees replacing, and a number of sides are seemingly on the lookout for upgrades.
Here, we detail the possible £4.5m-and-under starters – and where there are probably going to be changes:
| Club | Current number one? | What to watch out for |
| Bournemouth | Neto (£4.5m) | |
| Brentford | Mark Flekken (£4.5m) | We’ve put Flekken down as the Brentford number one here as David Raya (£5.0m) will presumably depart for pastures new this summer. Even if the Spaniard heads elsewhere, however, Thomas Strakosha (£4.0m) will have designs on the number one spot himself. |
| Brighton | Jason Steele (£4.5m) | The signing of Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) muddies the waters at Brighton. The Dutch custodian is a ball-playing goalkeeper very much in the Steele mould, with the Seagulls splashing out £16m for his services. |
| Burnley | Ari Muric (£4.5m) | Despite Muric’s contributions to Burnley’s league-best defence in 2022/23, reports strongly suggest that the Clarets are set to sign another Man City youngster in the form of James Trafford (unpriced). |
| C Palace | Sam Johnstone (£4.5m) | Johnstone started the final nine matches that Roy Hodgson oversaw upon his return but Vicente Guaita (£4.5m), the hitherto number one, had been injured for the start of Johnstone’s run in the side. |
| Everton | Jordan Pickford (£4.5m) | |
| Fulham | Bernd Leno (£4.5m) | |
| Luton | James Shea (£4.5m) | Loanee Ethan Horvath (£4.5m) was between the posts for Luton’s promotion-winning campaign but has since returned to parent club Nottingham Forest. The Hatters will almost certainly strengthen between the sticks. |
| Nottm Forest | Wayne Hennessey (£4.0m) | The chances of Hennessey starting in Gameweek 1 look very slim. Steve Cooper secured temporary moves for both Dean Henderson (£4.5m) and Keylor Navas last season, rather than play the experienced Welshman. Henderson may yet return to the City Ground. |
| Sheff Utd | Wes Foderingham (£4.5m) | While there’s less uncertainty about the goalkeeping spot at Sheffield United than there is at Luton and Burnley, there is still the possibility that the Blades upgrade on Foderingham – someone who, at the age of 32, has never played a Premier League game in his life. |
| West Ham | Lukasz Fabianski (£4.5m) | It’s only speculation at this stage but the usually reliable ‘exwhuemployee’ has suggested that Alphonse Areola (£4.0m) may be about to get his chance as West Ham’s number one in the Premier League. |
So as you can see above, there are question marks over the first-choice goalkeepers at several Premier League teams.
At the time of writing, Jordan Pickford (£4.5m), Bernd Leno (£4.5m) and Murara Neto (£4.5m) are the only budget options who we can be really confident about starting in Gameweek 1.
In four weeks’ time, however, we should have a much better idea.
BUDGET FPL GOALKEEPERS: SHORT-TERM PURCHASES
Your goalkeeper of choice may depend on when you plan or expect to use your first Wildcard.
Gameweeks 5 and 9 will likely be popular windows, as an international break precedes each of them. If that is the case, you don’t need to look too far ahead with the fixtures.
Here is what our colour-coded Season Ticker looks like for the 11 clubs featured in the above table, sorted by difficulty from Gameweeks 1-9:
