Fulham’s new head coach, Alvaro Arbeloa, has brought youngsters Gonzalo Garcia (£6.0m) and Cesar Palacios (£5.5m) with him to Craven Cottage, in a double deal costing around £42.9 million.
Both players featured under Arbeloa at Real Madrid, first for the second string and then the senior team.
So, what impact will the Spanish duo have on Fantasy Premier League (FPL)?
THEIR CAREERS SO FAR
GARCIA
| SEASON | TEAM | DIVISION | STARTS (SUBS) | GOALS | ASSISTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | Real Madrid | La Liga | 9 (21) | 6 | 1 |
| 2025 | Real Madrid | Club World Cup | 6 (0) | 4 | 1 |
| 2024/25 | Castilla | Primera Federación II | 36 (0) | 25 | 4 |
| 2023/24 | Castilla | Primera Federación II | 25 (2) | 5 | 1 |
The 22-year-old Garcia has more first-team experience (above), but even that is minimal.
Promoted to Real Madrid’s B-team (Castilla) in January 2022, the versatile attacker experienced a brilliant 2024/25, grabbing multiple hat-tricks on the way to 25 goals, while also scoring in the senior side’s Copa del Rey quarter-final victory.
Incoming boss Xabi Alonso liked what he saw and took him to that summer’s Club World Cup. While Kylian Mbappe was ill, Garcia suddenly found himself netting past Al Hilal, RB Salzburg, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund. He became the tournament’s joint-top scorer.
However, his game time naturally slowed down throughout 2025/26. Eight first-team goals included a January hat-trick versus Real Betis. A week later, Arbeloa stepped up to temporarily replace Alonso in the hot seat, leading to more appearances.
PALACIOS
As for the 22-year-old Palacios, there’s less to say, reflected by his fee. He began at Numancia before joining Real Madrid in 2020, but an August 2024 cruciate ligament injury sidelined him for nine months.
A senior debut occurred in January 2026, though all five La Liga appearances were as a substitute. Indeed, he’s never started a senior game of football.
So, his 2025/26 was still mostly at Castilla, registering 16 goals from an attacking midfield berth.
WHERE THEY FIT IN AT FULHAM
For Arbeloa to quickly bring both with him from Madrid, there must be a plan in place. We know he isn’t afraid to use youth talents.
Fulham have just lost Harry Wilson (£6.5m), Raul Jimenez and loanee Samuel Chukwueze for free; that trio scored 22 of last season’s 47 league goals.
“I know Gonzalo very well. I’ve had many years working with him. This is a very young player with a lot of ambition, with a lot of capacity. He has pace, he has quality, he has everything that I need from a striker, so we are very lucky to have him in the team. I think it’s going to be a good season for him, and the fans will enjoy him.” – Xabi Alonso on Garcia
Garcia can be a winger, but Arbeloa played him as a first-team centre-forward. Therefore, he’ll probably be used up front for the Cottagers, showcasing his great finishing, ability to bring teammates into play and surprisingly good aerial ability for someone no bigger than 6ft.
It doesn’t bode well for Rodrigo Muniz (£5.5m), whose xMins were sky-high in initial 2026/27 projections simply because he didn’t have any real competition. Now, he very much does.
“He works hard, he puts in a brutal intensity, he is focused — and he doesn’t give you a smile, whether you’re the coach, the physical trainer or one of the team-mates with more quality. If you don’t pass to him, he makes you see that you have to pass to him; if you don’t work well, he makes you see that you don’t work well. He doesn’t hold back. All that is in a good sense: he has personality and is very committed both to the team and to himself.” – an anonymous Real Madrid academy coach on Garcia, speaking to The Athletic
Based on his inexperience, we can initially expect contributions off the bench from Palacios, either on the left wing or, more likely, in the ’10’. Longer term, he may eat into the minutes of Josh King (£5.5m), Emile Smith Rowe (£5.5m) and Kevin (£5.5m)
ANY FPL INTEREST?
Both prospects have arrived at Fulham with little more than a fortnight before Gameweek 1 but they have been training in pre-season with Real Madrid, with Garcia on target in a recent friendly against Leganes.
As mentioned above, Palacios isn’t expected to walk straight into the starting XI. We can likely shelve any interest in him.
Garcia could be a different proposition, although Muniz – plagued by injuries in 2025/26 and restricted to 10 starts and one goal – is fighting fit and getting pre-season minutes under his belt.
Probably the biggest ‘tell’ will be the final pre-season friendly line-up against Stuttgart on August 15. In the meantime, Muniz’s Fantasy appeal has taken a big dent.
In any event, would FPL managers even want to start with Fulham assets?
As well as the iffy opening five fixtures, they’ve just made a risky managerial appointment. This year’s £6.0m price point is competitive for forwards, so perhaps we can look elsewhere initially.
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Gameweeks 6-8 is the time to pounce. Three-match runs don’t get much better than this, when the Cottagers face the newly promoted sides in succession:
Perhaps a switch from Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) to whoever is starting up top for Fulham at that point?
One final word on another topic of intrigue: penalties.
Jimenez has gone, leaving a void from 12 yards. Over the last two seasons, Fulham’s only non-Mexican spot-kick scorer was defender Antonee Robinson (£4.5m), in Gameweek 37. Muniz and Alex Iwobi (£5.5m) have netted from the spot in pre-season, for what that’s worth.
Garcia didn’t play enough minutes to take Real Madrid penalties, but he did score six out of seven for Castilla in 2024/25. Spot-kick duties would obviously only boost his appeal.
