FPL Pre-Season Insights: £4.5m Forward and £4.0m Defenders
The final weekend of pre-season offered exactly what Fantasy Premier League managers wanted – clues. At Ipswich, the £4.0m defender landscape is starting to make sense. At Hull, it’s chaos, wrapped in rotation risk.
And in the middle of it all, a £4.5m forward quietly walked away with two assists.
Ipswich: £4.0m defenders, a flying full-back and a £4.5m wildcard
Union Berlin 2-4 Ipswich Town
Goals: Clarke, Emersonn, O’Shea, McAteer
Assists: Davis, Walle Egeli x2, Mehmeti
Gary O’Neil didn’t blink. Same back four as the previous friendly, same structure, same message: this looks like his first-choice defence.
Dara O’Shea, Issa Diop and Jacob Greaves – all £4.0m – had been locked in a “two from three” battle for centre-back spots for most of the summer. That argument has shifted. O’Shea lined up at right-back again, with Greaves and Diop in the middle and Leif Davis (£4.0m) on the left.
In reality, it often resembled a back three. Davis pushed so high that O’Shea tucked in, the shape tilting towards something far more adventurous than a flat four. O’Shea even curled in a goal here, a reminder that a full-back berth can nudge his open-play attacking threat upwards.
But FPL managers don’t pick £4.0m defenders for the odd worldie. They pick them for DefCons. On that front, Diop looks the safer play: nailed, central, and less likely to be shuffled around.
Davis is a different conversation entirely. He ended pre-season as Ipswich’s most productive attacker, with four attacking returns – more than anyone else in the squad. His latest contribution came with a familiar pattern: advanced on the left, cross into the box, Jack Clarke (£5.5m) finishing it off.
At times, Davis was so high that Daizen Maeda (£5.5m) dropped in behind him to cover. The left-back was the true winger, Maeda the auxiliary full-back. The question now is not whether Davis has the attacking tools – he clearly does – but whether he can finally turn promise into Premier League points after letting managers down two seasons ago.
History will make some wary. Newly promoted centre-halves in 2025/26, like Esteve and Ballard, churned out DefCons in roughly half of their starts. For many, that reliability will trump the gamble on Davis’s attacking ceiling at the same club price point.
Behind them, there’s a mild worry. Kjell Scherpen (£4.5m) has the shirt, but not yet full confidence. Union Berlin’s two goals didn’t come from calamities, but they were the sort of efforts a keeper might feel he should keep out. It’s early, and he’ll get time, but he hasn’t slammed the door on any debate.
Higher up the pitch, Sindre Walle Egeli (£4.5m) turned heads. A start, two assists, and a strong pre-season minutes tally – fifth-highest in the Ipswich squad. He set up Emersonn (£5.5m) and O’Shea, showing he can create from wide areas as well as centrally.
There’s a catch. There always is at £4.5m.
Walle Egeli started on the right flank here, having played as a No 10 the previous week. In both roles, he’s staring down the return of Abdul Fatawu (£5.5m) from a knock and the imminent arrival of Julio Enciso. This might be a short-lived window of opportunity rather than a season-long bargain. For managers willing to roll the dice early, he’s interesting. For those looking for security, he’s a luxury punt.
One more name quietly re-entered the frame: Jaden Philogene (£5.5m). Last season’s 12-goal winger made his first appearance of the summer. Transfer links still swirl and his future remains unclear, but his involvement at least reminds everyone that Ipswich’s attacking pecking order could yet shift again before September.
Hull: rotation, injuries and a standout £4.5m goalkeeper
Hull City 0-0 Nice
Hull’s final friendly felt like a team in transition rather than one ready-made for FPL investment.
Elliot Stroud (£5.0m) went straight into the XI on the left wing for his debut. Three other summer signings arrived from the bench: Lucas Gourna-Douath (price TBA) in midfield, and centre-backs Lucas Herrington (£4.0m) and Nobel Mendy (£4.0m). Joe Gelhardt (£5.0m), another new face, was absent with a right ankle injury carried over from Leeds.
Manager Sergej Jakirovic expects Gelhardt back in team training in about two weeks. That timing matters for one man in particular: Oli McBurnie (£5.5m). He currently has little competition up front, but that won’t last if Jakirovic gets his wish.
“I hope also we will bring, in a few days, another option for the striker position,” the Hull boss said. McBurnie’s apparent security could evaporate quickly.
There were at least some positive returns on the injury front. John Egan (£4.0m), Jens Hjerto-Dahl (£5.0m), Paddy McNair (£4.0m) and Liam Millar (£5.0m) all reappeared after recent scares, with Egan and Hjerto-Dahl starting.
Even so, the XI that faced Nice still carried a Championship flavour: eight of the starters were part of last season’s promotion push. It feels like a side in flux, the old guard holding the fort while the new signings are eased in.
Centre-back is the clearest example. Egan and Semi Ajayi (£4.0m) started this final friendly, but both will feel Mendy breathing down their necks. The club record signing came off the bench alongside Herrington and already looks a genuine threat to the established pairing. It would be no surprise if those shirts change hands early in the season.
For FPL, that’s a headache. Ipswich and Coventry’s £4.0m defenders already look more appealing for early Bench Boosts when you factor in fixtures. Add in Hull’s looming rotation and it becomes hard to justify a punt on their backline in Gameweek 1.
The uncertainty stretches into midfield. Two £4.5m options, Regan Slater and Matt Crooks, just about held their places, helped by injuries elsewhere in the squad. Gourna-Douath’s introduction suggested he might be more of a direct challenger to Hjerto-Dahl than to either of them, but Hull are still being linked with more midfield recruits. Any sense of stability in the engine room feels temporary.
On the pitch, the match itself never really caught fire. Hull’s best moments came from dead balls. Slater and Mohamed Belloumi (£5.0m) whipped in corners that troubled Nice, with Egan, Hjerto-Dahl and Mendy all getting half-chances from set pieces.
In open play, Belloumi stood out. He was the one Hull attacker who looked capable of conjuring something out of nothing, fashioning their best chance for himself before seeing his effort beaten away. Beyond him, Jakirovic’s side struggled to stitch together meaningful attacks.
At the back, one position does look nailed. Konstantinos Tzolakis (£4.5m) was excellent, underlining why he is almost certain to start Gameweek 1. His standout moment came late in the first half with an outstanding double save, the kind that immediately signals how busy he might be this season.
For now, Hull offer more questions than answers. Ipswich, by contrast, are starting to show their hand. The early FPL templates will tell you which managers are prepared to gamble on Hull’s moving parts, and which prefer the clearer, cheaper routes emerging at Portman Road.
