Our resident Fantasy Premier League expert looks at five players worth keeping an eye on for the 2026/27 season - but not to sign straight away.
The new Fantasy Premier League season is officially up and running with the game’s release on Thursday, and that means that our resident expert is already analysing dozens of potential signings ahead of the opening day of the season.
Earlier this week, he took a look at five must-buy players that caught his eye right out of the gate - but there are also an awful lot of players he believes are worth keeping an eye on, players he’s likely to watchlist rather than sign ahead of Gameweek 1. Here are five FPL assets worth bearing in mind, along with the reasons that there is just enough doubt to dodge them for the big kick-off…
Bukayo Saka & Cole Palmer – Arsenal & Chelsea (£9.5m)
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I’m cheating right from the off in this article, by bundling two players into one entry because their situations are so similar – these are two players with the potential to be among the highest scoring assets in the FPL, but who enter the season with significant doubts over form and fitness.
Saka was in and out of the England squad at the World Cup and is dealing with what seems to be a chronic Achilles injury which could cost him the burst of acceleration which became such an important part of his armoury. Palmer, meanwhile, has had a much-needed summer of rest after an injury-addled season, but also needs to rediscover his best form.
I could easily see either becoming must-buys as the season wears on, but I’m holding my powder ahead of Gameweek 1. Saka has the technical class to overcome a reduction in pace – as he recently demonstrated against France – but may be in and out of the team at the very start of the campaign. Palmer is probably a nailed-on starter, but I’d want proof of form before I snap him up, especially at £9.5m. At that price, I want big returns week after week, with little cause for doubt.
I’m especially wary given that there are players at slightly cheaper price points who promise similar returns early on – I picked out Antoine Semenyo as a must-buy in my last article, and he’s £1.0m cheaper than either Saka or Palmer. I don’t really love any Arsenal midfielders at their price points right now, but if I decide I want a Chelsea player I’d be more interested in Morgan Rogers, a consistent 160+ point scorer, at £7.5m.
Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City (£6.5m)
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O’Reilly hit 160 points last season from defence which absolutely justifies a £6.5m price tag, and there’s every chance that he does it again – but it’s all too easy to see the fail case.
He has a new head coach who might well prefer Joško Gvardiol or even Rayan Aït-Nouri at left-back, for starters (I’m hesitant to sign Gvardiol at a competitive £5.5m for the same reason) and there’s no guarantee that he’ll get anywhere near as many minutes in midfield as he did under Pep Guardiola, which was key to his high score in 2025/26.
Three of his five Premier League goals came while he was playing in midfield, not at left-back, and his attacking returns hinge on aggressive usage. He could well be a regular starter who spends a lot of time in the final third again, but he could equally end up as a rotational option in defence who gets far fewer opportunities to score goals or provide assists.
In essence, he’s already priced at his ceiling with little room to earn more points than his value suggests that he should – and there’s a worryingly high chance that his returns don’t match his price tag. I want to see how Enzo Maresca uses him before I buy in.
Florian Wirtz – Liverpool (£7.5m)
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Wirtz’s potential is sky high, and his semi-premium price point makes him extremely tempting. If he can find the same goalscoring form he did at Bayer Leverkusen before his big-money move to Anfield, he’d probably end up as the single biggest bargain in the game.
This is a player who scored 10 goals and provided 12 assists in the 2024/25 Bundesliga season, with 11 goals and 11 assists the season before that. That’s 200-point territory, and would make Wirtz a must-have in every single FPL squad.
The problem isn’t just that he hasn’t yet proved that he can do it at Liverpool, but also that he hasn’t proved he can do it from a more traditional number 10 role. At Leverkusen, he was an inside forward and spent a lot of time in and around the penalty area. If Andoni Iraola uses him in much the same way that Arne Slot did, in a more supporting role, it’s very difficult to gauge how likely he is to hit that immensely high ceiling.
Perhaps he’ll find his feet in the Premier League, and perhaps Iraola will use him in a way that greatly increases his chances of getting on the scoresheet. Or perhaps he’ll go for 125 points again and not be worth the outlay. I’d prefer to get a hint or two before I signed him – at exactly the same price, Rogers is a safer bet.
Yoane Wissa, Nick Woltemade & William Osula – Newcastle United (£6.0m)
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I think you can probably guess why I’m playing the waiting game on Newcastle forwards from the header – there is absolutely a world in which any one of the Magpies’ strikers prove to be a steal at £6.0m, with Wissa having perhaps the highest ceiling if he can recapture some of his Brentford form. But who’s actually going to play?
Howe’s system only calls for one striker. By the end of the season, that was generally Osula with Woltemade playing an attacking midfield role. Wissa had a horrible debut campaign but found some form for his country over the summer, and Howe has hinted at the belief that he can still flourish now that he’s fully fit.
Osula has bags of potential and could be a great signing, but he’s largely unproven. Wissa could score like a £9.0m striker again, but could also end up on the right wing or the bench. Woltemade… Well, I’m not yet sure what he could be, quite frankly.
There’s also a very valid question about whether or not Newcastle will be any good as a whole. They’ve gone back and forth quite a bit in recent seasons, and are currently in the middle of an enforced rebuild after the departure of key players. Their players could be good assets, and their strikers are priced to move – but there’s too much uncertainty for me to buy in, especially when safer bets like Dominic Solanke exist at the same price point. But I’ll bear them in mind. There’s potential for a very good attack which includes two £6.0m forwards.
Viktor Gyökeres – Arsenal (£7.5m)
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Speaking of strikers I need to see proof of concept for, Gyökeres is another forward who could easily prove to be priced too low if he can rediscover his best form – but who could very easily end up being outclassed by similarly-priced players.
The Swede had a 50-goal season for Sporting before joining Arsenal and for all the criticism he received, his overall return of 21 goals in 55 appearances really wasn’t that bad – and his 14 Premier League goals came from an xG of 12.4. In other words, he’s still a dangerous finisher. He just needs more chances from his team-mates and to improve his movement off the ball to get into more scoring areas.
If Arsenal can find a little more fluency in attack this summer (they’re on the hunt for a new left winger, which could make a difference) and start getting Gyökeres’ xG closer to 20, then he could easily be a 20-25 goal striker and a massive Fantasy difference-maker. The problem is that there’s no way to know if that’s remotely likely or not before the season gets underway.
It doesn’t help Gyökeres’ case that he’s at the same price point as Chelsea’s João Pedro, who looks underpriced, and is only £0.5m less than Brentford’s Igor Thiago. There’s a world in which he’s the best buy of the three, but it’s not a gamble worth taking from the kick-off.