For Fantasy Premier League managers, this summer's pre-season fixtures will be crucial for squad planning ahead of Gameweek 1.
Will new signings hit the ground running at their new clubs? Will any "out of position" players emerge? And are there any bargains to be found?
We'll hope to have all these questions and more answered by mid-August, when the new Premier League campaign gets under way.
Notepads at the ready: here's what FPL managers should look out for over the next month.
How will new signings fit in?
Fantasy managers can get ahead of their rivals by keeping a close eye on how summer recruits are being deployed in their new teams' line-ups, how quickly they gel with their team-mates, and whether they hit form straight away.
Florian Wirtz is someone who Fantasy managers should be keeping tabs on this summer.
Liverpool's club-record signing hit double figures for both goals and assists at Bayer Leverkusen in 2024/25, so he's a name on many shopping lists ahead of Gameweek 1.
How Arne Slot uses the German attacking midfielder will be interesting, as Wirtz could threaten Dominik Szoboszlai's starts or operate in the front three. If it's the latter, then the game time of Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo will be affected.
The reigning champions also have an all-new full-back pairing of Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez.
With both players excellent going forward, it'll be intriguing to see if either of them can step into the creative void left by Trent Alexander-Arnold and become the go-to premium defender for Fantasy managers. Watch out for their positioning in the pre-season friendlies, as one could be given more attacking licence than the other.
Matheus Cunha is another big-money summer buy who could have a huge season in FPL.
Fresh from delivering 178 points last season, he should fit seamlessly into the Manchester United side given that head coach Ruben Amorim employs the same 3-4-2-1 formation favoured by Cunha's boss at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Vitor Pereira.
Could Cunha even muscle in on Bruno Fernandes' set-piece and penalty-taking duties at Old Trafford? That's something to monitor during pre-season.
New managers, new ideas
There'll not just be new players on display, but new managers, too.
Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur have changed coaches this summer, with Thomas Frank crossing the capital to join Spurs. Keith Andrews has stepped up to replace Frank in west London.
Fantasy managers should look out for a "new manager bounce", especially at Spurs, who finished a lowly 17th last season.
James Maddison and Son Heung-min have been very popular FPL picks in the past but were largely overlooked in 2024/25 as Spurs' attention was increasingly drawn to their UEFA Europa League campaign.
With a new head coach in charge, names like Maddison and Son could soon be back on the Fantasy radar, while it's not just last season's Spurs contingent who could be reborn under Frank.
Mohammed Kudus has joined in a big-money move from West Ham United. Given that Frank's wingers at Brentford, Bryan Mbeumo and Kevin Schade, scored a combined 31 goals in the Premier League last season, we could see Kudus thrive on the flanks.
It's not just new managers to watch out for but fresh tactical ideas, too.
Brighton & Hove Albion have signed centre-backs Diego Coppola and Olivier Boscagli in the last month, with Jan Paul van Hecke, Adam Webster and Lewis Dunk already at the club.
Could Fabian Hurzeler be considering a move to a wing-back system? If so, that would further the appeal of fellow summer recruit Maxim De Cuyper, a very attack-minded full-back who has delivered 39 attacking returns across his last three league campaigns in Belgium. A wing-back role would allow him to play further up the pitch.
Don't underestimate good pre-season form
While pre-season results will ultimately be unimportant when the real action gets under way in Gameweek 1, never underestimate the confidence and momentum that a strong pre-season can give a player heading into a new season.
Morgan Rogers, Amad and Jacob Murphy all had superb summers in 2024, delivering a combined 16 goals and assists across their respective sides' pre-season friendlies.
All three were priced at £5.5m or less in FPL and went on to have excellent campaigns, with Rogers and Murphy finishing among the top 10 highest-scoring midfielders.
Chris Wood scored three goals and assisted another two in Nottingham Forest's warm-up matches before enjoying a remarkable 20-goal Premier League campaign.
And, of course, Erling Haaland looked re-energised 12 months ago, scoring on five occasions in pre-season before embarking on a phenomenal run of 10 goals across the first five Gameweeks of 2024/25.
'Out of position' players
An "out of position" player is someone who is listed in one position in FPL but operates in another.
For instance, an individual could be classified as a defender in Fantasy but then gets a chance to play further up the pitch as a midfielder.
Such instances are relatively rare, but when they do happen, they can be profitable for Fantasy managers. In the above example, a defender operating as a winger will typically get more chances to score, but still benefit from the clean-sheet points on offer at the other end of the pitch - and the extra point that defenders get for scoring a goal.
Mikel Merino was a notable example from the 2024/25 campaign. A midfielder in Fantasy, he had a spell operating as Arsenal's centre-forward.
Bargain finds
Keep an eye out for bargains, too.
It won't be long before the FPL prices are revealed for the new season, at which point we can attempt to assess the value on offer.
We've already touched on three cut-price gems from 2024/25, in Murphy, Rogers and Amad.
Oscar Bobb looked like he would be another last summer. He was Manchester City's top player for attacking returns in pre-season and was set to play a key role in Pep Guardiola's side before injury struck on the eve of the new campaign.
Any £4.0m goalkeepers, £4.0m defenders, £4.5m midfielders and £4.5m forwards getting considerable game time during pre-season are worth keeping tabs on.
We will be providing a minutes tracker, which logs the appearance data of every player involved in these upcoming friendlies, and that can help.
With the FPL budget set at £100.0m, managers will almost certainly have to include one or two players at the cheaper end of the pricing scale in order to afford the likes of Haaland and Mohamed Salah.
Too good to be true?
Finally, watch out for red herrings!
It's easy to get carried away with pre-season findings and not properly assess the full picture before the Premier League season gets under way.
Jarell Quansah and Valentin Barco are two infamous examples from last summer.
Both listed as cheap defenders in Fantasy, their involvement in their respective clubs' warm-up matches led some Fantasy managers to believe that the pair were set to be reliable Premier League starters. Neither materialised.
In hindsight, Quansah was always going to be at risk from the more experienced Ibrahima Konate, while Barco only had one run-out lasting more than 45 minutes in pre-season - so there was not a huge amount of evidence to draw upon.
Those who jumped on the bandwagon thought they'd found a gem - or even two - but were quickly disappointed. Quansah was substituted halfway through the opening match of the season and was mostly on the bench after that, while Barco left Brighton on loan shortly after the start of the campaign.
Fantasy managers either had to absorb price drops as the pair were heavily sold, or use a precious transfer, or alternatively be forced into deploying an early Wildcard.
In the weeks ahead, we'll hopefully be able to steer you away from the "bandwagons" that are too good to be true!