Nico O’Reilly a defender? Matheus Cunha a midfielder? Luis Diaz a forward?!
As well as starting price rises and falls, the relaunch of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) for 2025/26 will almost certainly see positional reclassifications for a handful of Premier League players.
In this article, we’ll outline the case for – or against – a change of position for a number of Fantasy assets.
We should stress that this is purely educated guesswork on our part and is based on how FPL have gone about classifying players previously.
As well as our Members Area, we’ve called upon Transfermarkt for help in this piece.
HOW FPL CLASSIFY PLAYERS
As a rough guide, FPL tend to classify players using the following criteria:
| Defenders | Centre-backs, full-backs, wing-backs (eg in a 3-4-3/3-5-2) |
| Midfielders | Central/defensive midfielders, number 10s, wingers/wide-midfielders, players on either flank of a front three |
| Forwards | Lone strikers, both strikers who play in a two-man attack, the central striker in a three-man frontline |
So forget what you might think about heatmaps, shot counts and penalty box touches: starting position on a teamsheet has traditionally been pretty much all that matters for the folk at FPL Towers, whether you agree with that or not.
Only with a revamp of the above criteria will we see the likes of Mohamed Salah become forwards, as the vast majority of their appearances in 2024/25 were as ‘wingers’ on paper.
The positional classifications are typically based on what each player in question has done in the previous season.
PLAYERS WHO COULD CHANGE POSITION
MYLES LEWIS-SKELLY (ARSENAL): MIDFIELDER TO DEFENDER
- Points in 2024/25: 37
- Points had he been a defender: 55
We start with one of the likelier changes this summer as Lewis-Skelly pretty much exclusively featured at left-back in 2024/25.
It started off as an enforced experiment in mid-December. Arsenal were without the likes of Riccardo Calafiori, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ben White for the UEFA Champions League tie against Monaco, leaving the Gunners short in the full-back department.
Lewis-Skelly excelled in the role, however, keeping his place for the Gameweek 16 clash with Everton a few days later.
The youngster never looked back, starting 15 of the Gunners’ 23 final league matches. Don’t forget that there was domestic rotation around the European fixtures, too: he was the left-back in all six Champions League knockout round ties.
Lewis-Skelly would have gained an extra 20+ points through clean sheets, bonus and his solitary goal had he been a defender in 2024/25. Four points would have been chipped off for goals conceded.
Even with a reclassification, the England international isn’t massively appealing as a Fantasy asset – price dependent, of course. He managed just one attcking return in 2024/25, registering just three shots and nine chances created in over 1,300 minutes of pitch-time.
KEANE LEWIS-POTTER (BRENTFORD): MIDFIELDER TO DEFENDER
- Points in 2024/25: 94
- Points had he been a defender: 110
For a player who had never (so far as we can tell) started a senior match as an orthodox left-back before the start of 2024/25, Lewis-Potter didn’t do a half-bad job for Brentford last season.
He was an ever-present in the matchday squad, starting 36 of those games.
Left-back had been a problem position in the (almost) season-long absence of Rico Henry. Lewis-Potter wasn’t even the first band-aid: Kristoffer Ajer, Vitaly Janelt and Sepp van den Berg had all been trialled there in the opening 10 Gameweeks, to not much success.
Lewis-Potter, primarily a left-winger by trade, was then switched to the back four in Gameweek 11. And that was pretty much that for the rest of the campaign.
The £5.0m ‘midfielder’ delivered six attacking returns in 2024/25 – although three of those came in the first 10 Gameweeks when he was playing further up the flank.
While Lewis-Potter would have gained 32 extra points for clean sheets, his one goal and bonus points as a defender, half of that would have been wiped off for goals conceded.
Next season will be an interesting watch now that Henry is back fit again. Could we see Lewis-Potter as an ‘out-of-position’ left-winger at some point, if he is to be reclassified by FPL? Kevin Schade will have something to say about that, of course.
ILIMAN NDIAYE (EVERTON): FORWARD TO MIDFIELDER
- Points in 2024/25: 114
- Points had he been a midfielder: 131
The Toffees had contrasting fortunes under Sean Dyche and David Moyes but the two Everton bosses were united in one belief: that Ndiaye is not a centre-forward.
The Senegalese attacker played almost the entire season as a left-winger. There was the occasional appearance in the ’10’ role and the opposite flank, too, but not up top.
A reclassification as an FPL midfielder beckons, then.
Had he been a midfielder in 2024/25, he would have benefited from 15 clean sheet points and an extra nine for goals. He’d have lost seven bonus points – but that’s still a net gain of 17 FPL points.
Just as an aside, no Premier League outfielder kept more clean sheets (15) than Ndiaye last season.
MATHEUS CUNHA (MANCHESTER UNITED): FORWARD TO MIDFIELDER
- Points in 2024/25: 178
- Points had he been a midfielder: 190
We’ve already written about Matheus Cunha on these pages in the last few days following his move to Manchester United.
In that Moving Target piece, we discussed how he could effectively take up the same role (left-sided 10) at United as he chiefly operated under Vitor Pereira.
Even before Gary O’Neil’s dismissal, the Brazilian had been plying his trade mostly in the attacking midfield positions, rather than leading the line.
If FPL follow their criteria above, that should be enough for Cunha to be reclassified as a midfielder.
By our calculations, he would have gained 22 points as a midfielder through goals/clean sheets in 2024/25. Ten, however, would have been lost through bonus.
That still would have seen him finish as the fifth-highest scoring midfielder in the game:
CODY GAKPO (LIVERPOOL): FORWARD TO MIDFIELDER
- Points in 2024/25: 127
- Points had he been a midfielder: 134
An FPL positional swap for Gakpo at Liverpool looks likely this summer.
The Dutchman spent the vast majority of the season on the left flank. In fact, not one of his Premier League starts came as a centre-forward.
Any appearances in other positions have come either off the bench or in another competition.
As is the case elsewhere, life as a midfielder is more lucrative, Fantasy-wise. Gakpo would have been better off with a change (+10 goal points, +5 clean sheet points, -8 bonus points).
There is another possible name to throw into the mix at Anfield. Luis Diaz was used up front in the middle third of the campaign, also ending the season in that position.
Transfermarkt have his 28 league starts divided equally between left wing and centre-forward. More of his substitute appearances came out wide, too, so perhaps that’s not enough for FPL to rubber-stamp a positional change.
MATHEUS NUNES (MANCHESTER CITY): MIDFIELDER TO DEFENDER
NICO O’REILLY (MANCHESTER CITY): MIDFIELDER TO DEFENDER
NUNES
- Points in 2024/25: 81
- Points had he been a defender: 106
O’REILLY
- Points in 2024/25: 31
- Points had he been a defender: 40
One of the features of Pep Guardiola’s line-ups in the second half of 2024/25 was the use of FPL midfielders O’Reilly and Nunes in defence.
All six of O’Reilly’s Premier League starts came at full-back, as did 14 of Nunes’ 19 line-up appearances. The Portugal international hasn’t featured in midfield since December.
FPL may wait to see what City do in the transfer market before committing to a change. Does Rayan Ait-Nouri’s arrival lessen the likelihood of, say, O’Reilly being reclassified?
Nunes would have been better off to the tune of – by our rough calculations – 25 points had he been an FPL defender in 2024/25.
Seven assists was also a total that only one defender, Antonee Robinson, could better, although it’s worth pointing out that three of Nunes’ seven came when he was playing further up the pitch.
LESS LIKELY TO CHANGE POSITION?
There’s certainly a case to change Omar Marmoush to a midfielder: only five of his 16 league appearances came as a centre-forward.
But we only have to cast our minds back 12 months to a similar question over Julian Alvarez.
Alvarez played in an ‘8/10’ hybrid role for a big chunk of 2023/24, with less than a third of his 36 league appearances coming as a line-leading striker.
But Alvarez remained a forward before he moved to Atletico Madrid. Perhaps FPL Towers’ view was that City would only be an Erling Haaland injury away from Alvarez getting a string of starts as the league champions’ central striker. The same may apply to Marmoush this season.
It felt like Mikel Merino operated as a striker for longer than he did. In the end, however, he only made six league starts and one substitute appearance as a centre-forward.
We’d expect him to remain as a midfielder, then, especially with Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz back from injury and further arrivals expected this summer.
Some of Marcus Rashford’s best work last season came as a central striker for Aston Villa but the bulk of his run-outs in 2024/25 (including those for Manchester United) still came as a winger, and he may not be a Premier League player in the upcoming campaign anyway.
Sticking with United, Amad Diallo did feature quite a bit at wing-back last season – but he still clocked up more minutes as a ’10’. Little chance of a change to a defender, then.
Ryan Sessegnon is a much closer thing: he made three starts as a left-back/wing-back, four as a winger. Given that he logged only 574 minutes of pitch-time, is there enough evidence for a positional reclassification?
Finally, an interesting question over Jarrod Bowen. His 2024/25 league starts were split almost equally between winger/attacking midfield (18) and striker (16). But under Graham Potter, they came mostly as part of a two-man attack in a 3-5-2. Would FPL consider a reclassification for him and Mohammed Kudus as a consequence?
Let us know below if you think we’ve missed anyone obvious from the above article.
