We take a look at the best budget Fantasy Premier League (FPL) goalkeepers as we continue our trawl through the price list.
Can a £4.5m option match Matz Sels’ (£5.0m) achievement from last season and finish as the second-highest scoring goalkeeper?
And who are the bench fodder back-ups in the £4.0m bracket?
Let’s take a look…
- READ MORE: Best £5.0m defenders for FPL 2025/26
- READ MORE: Best £4.5m defenders for FPL 2025/26
- READ MORE: Best £4.0m defenders for FPL 2025/26
Club-by-club
Here, we detail the possible £4.5m starters, club-by club:
| Club | Goalkeeper | What to watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | Djordje Petrovic | Neto has returned to Bournemouth after a season-long loan spent as David Raya’s back-up at Arsenal. However, given Petrovic’s desire to be a regular starter, plus the hefty £25m outlay, you’d expect him to be Andoni Iraola’s number one. |
| Brentford | Caoimhin Kelleher | |
| Brighton | Bart Verbruggen | |
| Burnley | Max Weiss | 2024/25 number one James Trafford has re-joined Manchester City. Burnley signed 21-year-old Max Weiss from Karlsruher earlier this summer but appear keen on complementing the youngster with a more experienced positional rival. Recent reports suggest Sam Johnstone could arrive soon. |
| Leeds | Lucas Perri | New £16m signing Lucas Perri was regarded as one of Ligue 1’s best goalkeepers last season and is expected to be first-choice at Elland Road. Karl Darlow and Illan Meslier will likely slip down the pecking order. |
| Sunderland | Anthony Patterson | Patterson has been absent from Sunderland’s pre-season so far due to injury and the club have made no secret of their desire to land a new goalkeeper this summer. Indeed, the Black Cats have reportedly reached an agreement with NEC Nijmegen to sign Robin Roefs. |
| West Ham | Alphonse Areola | |
| Wolves | Jose Sa |
Best budget FPL goalkeepers
The choice of your goalkeeper will likely be influenced by when you plan or at least expect to Wildcard.
Gameweek 4 will be a popular window, as it follows an international break. The summer transfer window will have just closed, too.
Gameweek 7 is also attractive, as Fantasy managers can look to capitalise on Arsenal’s favourable fixture swing.
If this applies to you, there is no need to look too far ahead with the fixtures.
Below is our Season Ticker for the eight clubs featured in the above table, sorted by fixture difficulty in Gameweeks 1-6:
Brentford’s Caoimhin Kelleher instantly jumps out. He’s currently the most-owned goalkeeper in FPL, sitting in 32.0% of embryonic squads.
The Bees had to wait until Gameweek 12 of the 2024/25 season to achieve their first clean sheet; however, from that point onwards, they managed to secure eight shut-outs in 27 matches.
Previous Brentford shot-stopper Mark Flekken had plenty of other routes to points. He racked up 156 saves in total, 30 more than the next-best goalkeeper.
That said, this was linked to Thomas Frank’s approach, which limited opponents to low-quality shooting opportunities, frequently from afar. He has since left, along with Christian Norgaard (£5.5m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m), so there are lots of uncertainties regarding Brentford right now.
Brentford’s first six home fixtures are incredibly tough, too (AVL/CHE/MUN/MCI/LIV/NEW), but the £4.5 goalkeeper bracket doesn’t appear to be particularly strong this season, so Kelleher still looks like one of the best options on paper.
West Ham United’s Alphonse Areola is a viable alternative. The Hammers managed only three clean sheets in 18 matches under Graham Potter last season, but their fixtures in Gameweeks 1-6 – including Sunderland (a), Crystal Palace (h) and Everton (a) – are rated as the fourth-best from a defensive perspective on our Season Ticker.
For those looking longer-term, Djordje Petrovic, Jose Sa and Bart Verbruggen carry more appeal.
The loss of Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.5m), Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez (£6.0m) will have many Fantasy managers concerned about Bournemouth’s clean sheet potential, but Petrovic excelled on loan at RC Strasbourg last season, where he kept 10 clean sheets in 31 league appearances en route to winning the club’s player of the season award.
The initial Bournemouth fixtures present challenges, but there are at least a couple of matches that offer shut-out potential before the end of September, namely Wolverhampton Wanderers (h) and Leeds United (a).
After a tough start, Sa and Wolves face all three newly-promoted clubs in Gameweeks 5-9.
Gameweeks 10-17 is probably the best period for Verbruggen and Brighton. The Dutch goalkeeper has yet to feature in pre-season but was pictured at the Spain training camp.
| Club | 2024/25 goalkeeper | Saves per 90 | Saves made from shots taken outside the area/total saves | Big chances conceded (team) | Mins per xGC (team) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brentford | Flekken | 4.29 | 52/156 | 80 | 65.5 |
| West Ham | Areola | 3.25 | 32/82 | 103 | 61.0 |
| Bournemouth | Kepa | 3.13 | 35/97 | 79 | 74.8 |
| Wolves | Sa | 2.45 | 22/71 | 92 | 63.1 |
| Brighton | Verbruggen | 2.53 | 15/91 | 91 | 67.7 |
As for the newly-promoted options, Leeds United’s Lucas Perri is arguably the best bet, particularly given the current uncertainty surrounding Burnley and Sunderland’s starting goalkeepers.
Daniel Farke’s side impressed defensively last season, with a total of 25 clean sheets.
The Premier League is a completely different proposition, mind, and there are cheaper £4.0m routes into the Whites’ defence.
Assessing the £4.0m goalkeepers
| Club | £4.0m goalkeepers |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | Karl Hein, Tommy Setford |
| Aston Villa | Joe Gauci, Filip Marschall |
| Bournemouth | Will Dennis, Callan McKenna, Alex Paulsen |
| Brentford | Ellery Balcombe, Matthew Cox, Julian Eyestone, Hakan Valdimarsson |
| Brighton | Tom McGill |
| Burnley | Etienne Green, Vaclav Hladky |
| Chelsea | Gabriel Slonina |
| Crystal Palace | Walter Benitez, Remi Matthews |
| Everton | Harry Tyrer |
| Fulham | Benjamin Lecomte |
| Leeds | Alex Cairns, Karl Darlow |
| Liverpool | Armin Pecsi, Freddie Woodman |
| Man City | Marcus Bettinelli |
| Man Utd | Tom Heaton, Dermot Mee |
| Newcastle | Martin Dubravka, Mark Gillespie, Odysseas Vlachodimos |
| Nott’m Forest | Carlos Miguel, Matt Turner |
| Sunderland | Simon Moore, Nna Noukeu |
| Tottenham | Brandon Austin, Antonin Kinsky |
| West Ham | Wes Foderingham, Krisztian Hegyi |
| Wolves | Dan Bentley, Tom King |
There are a whopping 39 goalkeepers listed at £4.0m, as detailed above.
However, it’s unlikely any of them will be a Gameweek 1 starter without an injury or two to a team-mate.
The situation at Tottenham is worth monitoring in pre-season. Guglielmo Vicario (£5.0m) will likely continue as the club’s number one, but Antonin Kinsky’s ability on the ball could make him a decent fit for Frank’s approach. Some have even suggested Kinsky might get the nod in goal, though recent reports have linked him with a loan move to Lille.
Karl Darlow’s (£4.0m) stock has fallen following the arrival of Perri, but he could still provide backup with Illan Meslier (£4.5m) potentially on his way out of the club.
The back-up custodians of Crystal Palace (Walter Benitez), Fulham (Benjamin Lecomte) and Nottingham Forest (Carlos Miguel) are all listed at £4.0m.
Sam Johnstone is expected to leave Wolves, so Dan Bentley could potentially be added too.
For FPL managers looking to spend as little as possible on goalkeepers, these are the only £4.5m/£4.0m first-choice/reserve combinations at the time of writing:
| Team | £4.5m first-choice goalkeeper | £4.0m reserve goalkeeper |
|---|---|---|
| Brentford | Kelleher | Valdimarsson |
| Leeds | Perri | Darlow |
| West Ham | Areola | Foderingham |
We’ve omitted Burnley and Sunderland from the above list, as the arrival of new goalkeepers will likely push the £4.0m options down into third in the pecking order.
