Fantasy Premier League Transfer Window Insights: Tzolis, Schlager, Targett
The transfer window is starting to reshape Fantasy Premier League, and Friday’s batch of new prices offers three very different puzzles: a high-ceiling Arsenal wildcard, a grafting destroyer at Nottingham Forest, and a cut‑price defender at newly promoted Hull City.
This is where early drafts start to take shape – or fall into traps.
Tzolis: Temptation at £6.5m, Risk at Arsenal
Christos Tzolis lands in FPL with a £6.5m tag and a highlight reel that almost picks itself.
Seventeen goals. Twenty-three assists. A title with Club Brugge. Those numbers scream “mid-price gem”, the kind of all-action winger who can quietly win you a mini-league while everyone else chases premiums.
But this is Arsenal. And this is Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners’ title-winning 2025/26 campaign came with a clear Fantasy warning: if you play in the attacking midfield or wide roles for Arsenal, you are at the mercy of the rotation wheel. Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi were the only midfielders who truly escaped it. Rice started 35 matches, Zubimendi 34. They were the heartbeat.
Everyone ahead of them lived in a different world.
Bukayo Saka – even in an injury-hit year – was the only other midfielder to start more than 21 league matches, with 25 starts and six sub appearances. After that, the pattern is brutal for FPL managers: minutes spread thin, roles tweaked, line-ups shuffled.
Eberechi Eze, Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, even Mikel Merino – all were chopped and changed. All averaged under 66 minutes per appearance. Eze, Odegaard, Madueke and Martinelli didn’t even reach 60 minutes on average. They now sit at £6.5m, the same price bracket as Tzolis, and that tells its own story.
Tzolis has the profile to thrive when he plays: direct, creative, goal threat and assist potential rolled into one. In another team, at that price, he’d be close to an automatic pick.
At Arsenal, he’s a calculated gamble.
And right now, there are safer bets at exactly the same cost. Brentford’s Dango Ouattara, Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr and Everton’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all look set for regular starts, with far less uncertainty hanging over their minutes. In a game where reliability is often more valuable than upside, Tzolis feels like a luxury risk for those who can stomach the benchings.
Schlager vs Sangare: Forest’s Battle for DC Value
Xaver Schlager arrives at Nottingham Forest with a reputation for hard work and tactical discipline from RB Leipzig, and at £5.0m he drops straight into the Fantasy conversation for one reason: defensive contribution (DC) points.
Forest need to replace Elliot Anderson, now at Manchester City. That is no small task.
Anderson’s pressing and his knack for hoovering up loose balls underpinned a monster DC output last season. In FPL terms, a midfielder earns two DC points if he hits 12 Clearances, Blocks, Interceptions and Recoveries (CBIRT) in a match. Anderson got there regularly, powered largely by one standout number: 8.3 recoveries per 90 minutes in 2025/26.
Put that next to the contenders and the drop-off is stark. Ibrahim Sangare and Schlager combined for only 12 recoveries per 90 between them. The message is blunt: do not expect Anderson-level consistency from his replacement.
The rest of the defensive metrics tell a similar story. Anderson averaged 13.9 defensive actions (clearances, blocks, interceptions, recoveries and tackles) per 90. Sangare came in at 11.6. Schlager lagged further behind at 9.0.
There is one twist. Schlager knows Olivier Glasner, Forest’s new head coach, from their previous spell together. That relationship could carry weight when the first XI for 2026/27 starts to take shape in pre-season. If Glasner leans on familiarity, the Austrian could see more minutes than the raw numbers currently suggest.
Right now, though, the numbers point in one direction. For DC value at £5.0m, Sangare looks the stronger Fantasy option. If he nails down the starting role, he could quietly become one of the most efficient budget midfielders in the game.
Targett Returns, but Hughes Is Hull’s Defensive Pick
Matt Targett is back on the FPL radar at £4.0m, this time in Hull City colours after a free transfer from Newcastle United. On paper, that price and his history will catch the eye.
You have to go back to 2020/21 to find his peak Fantasy season: 138 points for Aston Villa, a campaign built on clean sheets, bonus and steady attacking involvement from left-back. Many managers will remember it.
But Fantasy has evolved.
The introduction of DC points last season has tilted the game towards centre-backs, the players most likely to rack up the volume of defensive actions that now translate into extra returns. Full-backs, once the darlings of the game, have to work harder to keep pace unless they offer serious attacking output.
Targett will be battling Ryan Giles, also priced at £4.0m, for the starting left-back spot. That competition alone adds uncertainty. And even if he wins it, Hull’s standout defensive asset on paper is not out wide.
It is Charlie Hughes.
The centre-back, also £4.0m, averaged 11.8 combined Clearances, Blocks, Interceptions and Tackles (CBIT) per 90 minutes in the Championship last season. In Fantasy terms, defenders earn two DC points when they hit 10 CBIT in a match. Hughes was not just clearing that bar – he was leading the promoted pack.
Those numbers put him in the conversation to be one of the very best DC assets in 2026/27. At £4.0m, that profile is gold for managers looking to stretch a budget backline without sacrificing upside.
So while Targett’s name and price will tempt those nostalgic for his Villa days, the smarter play among Hull defenders looks clear. If Hughes carries his Championship output into the Premier League, he could become one of the season’s defining enablers.
The window is only just opening, but already the choices are sharp: chase Tzolis’ ceiling or bank safe minutes, back Sangare’s grind over Schlager’s familiarity, and trust the centre-back revolution with Hughes. How bold are you prepared to be?
