Who are the best FPL budget gems in this season&#8217;s game?
FPL content creator and pundit Holly Shand takes a look at who could be this year&#8217;s Morgan Rogers, who had a breakout season by scoring 161 points at a starting price of just £5.0m.
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<h2>Goalkeepers</h2>
James Trafford (£5.0m) has re-signed for Manchester City from Burnley and could make a mockery of his price tag if he becomes number one.
Keep an eye on Pep Guardiola&#8217;s team sheet for their final pre-season game against Palermo on Saturday. It would be a steal to get the starting City keeper at this price.
The validity of an early Bench Boost could rest on the possibility of a starting goalkeeper at £4.0m &#8211; and there are two potential hopes in the frame.
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Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) could be on his way to Burnley. It&#8217;s a stiff opener for them in Gameweek 1 against Spurs but they then face Sunderland in Gameweek 2.
Elsewhere, Karl Darlow (£4.0m) could start the season between the sticks for Leeds United, with new signing Lucas Perri in a race against time to be fit for Gameweek 1. They face Everton at home on opening weekend.
<div id="attachment_73175" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-73175" class="size-full wp-image-73175" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/James-Trafford.jpg" alt="James Trafford. Picture by Getty Images" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/James-Trafford.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/James-Trafford-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/James-Trafford-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />James Trafford. Picture by Getty Images</div>
<h2>Defenders</h2>
Crystal Palace&#8217;s Chris Richards (£4.5m) tops the <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/predictions">Hub AI</a> rankings as the best defender at this price point and a key beneficiary of changes to the scoring matrix.
He would have scored 16 <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-2025-26-changes-defensive-contributions">defensive contribution points</a> from 24 appearances last season, so his output shouldn&#8217;t by too impacted by tricky opening fixtures.
At Fulham, Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) is another player primed for defensive points, scoring 26 in 30 games last season.
Fulham have some unpredictable early fixtures, facing Brighton, Manchester United and Chelsea. He rotates nicely with a Nottingham Forest defender.
The departure of Pervis Estupinan at Brighton paves the way for Maxim De Cuyper (£4.5m) to be a regular starter.
The summer signing is a flying full-back, who has plenty of scope for goals and assists. The Seagulls face Fulham and Everton in their opening two games.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka is the most popular £4.5m defender but don&#8217;t overlook teammate El Hadji Malick Diouf (£4.5m) at the same price point on the opposite flank.
He&#8217;s likely to play more advanced than Wan-Bissaka as a wing-back this season and he&#8217;s already bagged an assist in a <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-pre-season-results-guide">pre-season friendly</a>.
<div id="attachment_73722" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-73722" class="size-full wp-image-73722" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Diouf-West-Ham.jpg" alt="El Hadji Malick Diouf. Picture by Getty Images" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Diouf-West-Ham.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Diouf-West-Ham-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Diouf-West-Ham-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />El Hadji Malick Diouf. Picture by Getty Images</div>
<h2>Midfielders</h2>
A player with scope for both attacking returns and defensive contributions is Forest&#8217;s Elliot Anderson (£5.5m).
He produced eight goal involvements last season and ranked second for defensive contribution points among midfielders with 36.
He had some set-piece responsibilities too &#8211; and could get more now Anthony Elanga (£7.0m) has left the club.
Forest have an excellent set of fixtures to start the season, facing Brentford, Crystal Palace and West Ham in the opening three gameweeks.
Rodri&#8217;s injury robs us of another potential all-rounder to start the season, however Tijjani Reijnders (£5.5m) is growing in fans after a brace in City&#8217;s friendly against Palermo.
Keep an eye on Fulham youngster Josh King (£4.5m), who has scored two goals in pre-season so far.
Lineups of all the Cottagers&#8217; friendlies have not been made public but he started and played 45 minutes in at least two of them.
The lineup for their last match against Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend will be an interesting one &#8211; and while King is far from guaranteed regular minutes, he could build on last season&#8217;s eight league appearances and do a job at such a low price.
<div id="attachment_73506" style="width: 850px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-73506" class="size-full wp-image-73506" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/playerstats-Anderson-bordered.jpeg" alt="Elliot Anderson Stats" width="840" height="690" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/playerstats-Anderson-bordered.jpeg 840w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/playerstats-Anderson-bordered-300x246.jpeg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/playerstats-Anderson-bordered-768x631.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px" />Elliot Anderson&#8217;s <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c="1" title="FPL Stats by OPTA - Player and Team Stats">stats</a></div>
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At the same price point, Aston Villa&#8217;s Donyell Malen (£5.5m) is gathering interest within the FPL community and bears all the hallmarks of being this season&#8217;s Rogers.
The departures of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio this summer sees Malen as a potential starter in Gameweek 1, with four goal involvements in pre-season.
He is one of the more promising attacking options around this price point, with sound fixtures over the opening eight gameweeks.
An injury to Rogers last night could further enhance his initial expected minutes, although it has emerged that is it not thought to be serious.
Another £5.5m midfielder who could shine is Wolves&#8217; new signing Jhon Arias. He scored on his debut in pre-season and looks to be the replacement for Matheus Cunha. He could take a share of set-pieces, with an outside chance of penalties.
Granit Xhaka (£5.0m) has signed for Sunderland in this transfer window and has a rich history of goal involvements, registering 15 in his most recent season for Arsenal, back in 2022/23.
He could well be the talisman of the team, with appealing opening fixtures against West Ham, Burnley and Brentford.
And at the same price point, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall could be a regular for new team Everton, possibly offering more attacking threat than Xhaka.
<div id="attachment_73803" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-73803" class="size-full wp-image-73803" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Malen.jpg" alt="Donyell Malen. Picture by Getty Images" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Malen.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Malen-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Malen-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Donyell Malen. Picture by Getty Images</div>
<h2>Forwards</h2>
Right now it feels like slim pickings among the budget forwards, with little help provided by the introduction of defensive contributions for these players.
If Yoane Wissa&#8217;s Brentford future remains in doubt before the Gameweek 1 deadline, then that could spell starts for Igor Thiago (£6.0m).
Brentford are set to be unpredictable, with the departure of manager Thomas Frank and talisman Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) in this transfer window.
At West Ham, a fully fit Niclas Fullkrug (£6.0m) could be a tempting option for their clash with Sunderland in Gameweek 1.
He already has a couple of goals in pre-season but his injury record does raise some concerns.
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Best FPL budget gems: Who could be this year’s Morgan Rogers?

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