Fantasy Premier League is back. The 2026/27 game went live this week, and the first ritual of every pre-season is the same: scan the launch prices, wince at the premiums, and start doing budget maths. We have pulled the most expensive players in every position from the Statz FPL data, alongside their returns from last season — every number below comes straight from the game.
One health warning before the tables: the season stats attached to each player are 2025/26 returns, and several of the priciest names are wearing new shirts this year. The prices are new; the evidence is last season's.
Erling Haaland is the most expensive player in the game at £15.5m — and it is hard to argue with the invoice: 239 points, 27 goals and 25.5 xG last season. Owning him costs more than 15% of a standard £100.0m budget, and 31.1% of early drafts have paid it already.
The gap to the next forward is enormous. Alexander Isak is second at £9.0m following his move to Liverpool — priced on reputation rather than last season's numbers, after injury restricted him to 694 minutes and 41 points. Behind him at £8.0m sit two very different propositions: Ollie Watkins (167 points, 16 goals) and Brentford's Igor Thiago, whose 22-goal, 181-point breakout season has made him the most-owned premium in the game at launch — 43.6% of teams already have him.
Bruno Fernandes is the game's second-most expensive player at £12.0m after a monster 235-point season built on 24 assists — the classic set-piece-and-penalties package priced accordingly.
The £9.5m tier is where the interesting decisions live: Cole Palmer (114 points in an injury-hit 1,954 minutes, but 10 goals from 10.55 xG when he played) and Bukayo Saka (157 points, 7 goals, 10 assists). Just behind them, Antoine Semenyo's £8.5m tag comes with a twist — the data lists him at Manchester City after 202 points and 17 goals for Bournemouth last season. The £8.0m band pairs Manchester United's new-look attack of Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha with Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White (188 points, 15 goals).
The eye-catcher of the whole price list: Gabriel Magalhães at £8.0m — premium-midfielder money for an Arsenal centre-back. The game is pricing his 209-point, 18-clean-sheet season like the attacking asset it effectively was.
A full £1.5m back sit Manchester City's Nico O'Reilly (160 points) and Virgil van Dijk (175 points, 3,420 minutes — he never rests) at £6.5m. The £6.0m band is deep: Marc Guéhi, now listed at Manchester City after 179 points, Crystal Palace's Maxence Lacroix (a third of early teams own him at 34.3%), Everton's James Tarkowski, and William Saliba — 15 clean sheets last season yet sitting in just 0.9% of drafts so far.
David Raya is the game's only £6.0m goalkeeper, and his 2025/26 numbers explain why: 162 points and 19 clean sheets, comfortably the best keeper return in the game. The £5.5m tier offers three routes to saving the half-million: Alisson, Jordan Pickford (135 points off the back of 3,420 ever-present minutes) and Gianluigi Donnarumma, now listed at Manchester City with 15 clean sheets from last season.
The budget maths bite quickly: Haaland plus Bruno is £27.5m — more than a quarter of the £100.0m budget on two players — before you have bought a single defender. The early ownership numbers suggest the crowd's answer is to anchor on one premium and fill the middle with last season's breakout scorers: Thiago (43.6% owned), Watkins (40.3%) and Bournemouth's £7.5m Eli Kroupi (34.5%) are the launch-week template.
Scarcity matters too. The current-season player pool holds just 33 recognised forwards against 143 midfielders and 115 defenders, which is part of why the striker premiums hold their prices — there simply aren't many places to spend up front. It also explains the annual migration of managers into five-midfield structures, where the £8.0m tier is three names deep this year.
The counter-argument lives in the low-ownership premiums — Palmer at 13.6% and Saliba at 0.9% are priced on pedigree the crowd is ignoring. Build and test your draft in the Statz My Team planner, check the opening run of games on the fixture ticker, and dig into position-by-position picks in our FPL guides.
Who is the most expensive player in FPL 2026/27? Erling Haaland, at £15.5m — the highest launch price in the game after his 239-point, 27-goal season.
Who is the most expensive defender in FPL 2026/27? Gabriel Magalhães of Arsenal at £8.0m, priced off a 209-point season with 18 clean sheets.
Who is the most expensive goalkeeper in FPL 2026/27? David Raya at £6.0m — the only keeper above £5.5m, after 162 points and 19 clean sheets last season.