After clubs finished their pre-season matches, The Scout selects the best squad for the start of 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League ahead of Friday's 18:30 BST deadline.
Owning all three of Erling Haaland (£15.5m), Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) and Gabriel (£8.0m) will cost a combined £35.5m of your £100.0m budget in 2026/27 Fantasy.
That’s up by £6.5m from their combined price of £29.0m at the start of last season, so seeking out good value elsewhere will be even more crucial if you plan to structure your squad around the same big-hitters.
While major sacrifices will need to be made, the favourable £4.0m pricing of all promoted defenders for 2026/27, among other things, can help you include Haaland, Fernandes, Gabriel AND Joao Pedro (£7.5m), who are The Scout's "must-haves" for the start of the new Fantasy campaign.
Go BIG on Man Utd
Manchester United have the best schedule of any side over the opening two Gameweeks of the season, facing back-to-back matches against promoted Hull City and Ipswich Town.
There’s an argument that owning Fernandes isn’t enough and by also bringing in Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) and Harry Maguire (£5.0m), you can attack those two kind fixtures.
Mbeumo has the form and the fitness to indicate he is currently a better option than Matheus Cunha (£8.0m).
The Cameroonian has three goals and an assist over his final three starts of the summer and is expected to play up front in the continued absence of forward Benjamin Sesko (£7.0m).
Mbeumo's price point of £8.0m is crucial here because it allows you to transfer in almost any other midfielder in one move, and doesn’t require the need to take a hit to free up cash, if they suddenly find form early on.
Apart from Fernandes, there are only three other midfielders who are more expensive - Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka (both £9.5m) and Antoine Semenyo (£8.5m).
In Maguire's case, the centre-back offers you many routes to returns in those matches against Hull and Ipswich.
As well as the potential for clean sheets, he’s a strong threat at set-pieces and was Man Utd's top defender for defensive contributions (DC) last season.
...and Arsenal
Arsenal’s comprehensive 3-0 win over Manchester City in the FA Community Shield shows why you should also go all-in on their players.
An injury to Gabriel's central defensive partner William Saliba (£6.0m) has allowed Cristhian Mosquera (£5.5m) to secure the role alongside the Brazilian in central defence.
As a sub-£6.0m route into the league’s best defence, he could offer strong value if Saliba’s absence is a long one.
Summer signing Christos Tzolis (£6.5m) supplied two assists against Man City and has been their standout attacker in pre-season, with a goal and six assists to his name.
A home match against Coventry City in Gameweek 1 gives the Gunners' key players the perfect chance to deliver big hauls from the outset.
Look for good value in midfield rather than up front
When shopping in the sub-£6.0m bracket, there is a far greater quantity of midfielders to choose from than forwards right now.
The Fantasy potential of Brighton & Hove Albion's Pascal Gross (£5.5m) has improved recently, with the German taking over penalty duties following the transfer of Danny Welbeck (£6.0m) to Chelsea.
Gross - who is also the Seagulls' main taker of corners and free-kicks - scored a penalty and supplied an assist in the Seagulls' recent 4-3 win over French side Strasbourg.
Meanwhile, Brentford's club-record summer signing Mamadou Sangare (£5.5m) has the all-round style of play to emerge as this season's version of Elliot Anderson (£6.5m) in Fantasy.
In 32 starts for Lens in Ligue 1 last season, Sangare produced three goals and four assists.
In terms of DC potential, he would have earned two points in 19 of those appearances - that's a success rate of 59.4 per cent, which was bettered only by Anderson and Rodrigo Bentancur (£5.5m) among midfielders in 2025/26 Fantasy.
Sangare has already made an impact for the Bees by scoring in their final summer friendly, a 7-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend.
Kinsky as the budget goalkeeper
The signing of centre-backs Marcos Senesi (£6.0m) and Jan Paul van Hecke (£5.0m) over the summer could ultimately make Tottenham Hotspur's Antonin Kinsky (£4.5m) the standout budget goalkeeper in Fantasy.
Encouragingly, after Roberto De Zerbi was appointed head coach in Gameweek 32 last season, Spurs conceded a league-low 10 big chances, which are situations where a player is expected to score.
Kinsky's rival Guglielmo Vicario (£4.5m) has been linked with a move away, which could allow Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) to secure the No 2 role for Spurs, giving you a spend of just £8.5m on a first-choice goalkeeper and his back-up.
Promoted players are ideal for your bench
All promoted defenders are priced at £4.0m for 2026/27 Fantasy, and two centre-backs - Ipswich's Jacob Greaves and Coventry's Bobby Thomas - are among the best options to sit on your bench and be called on in emergencies.
In Fantasy, defenders earn two DC points if they make 10 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles (CBIT) in a match.
Considering Greaves averaged 9.6 of them per 90 minutes in the EFL Championship last season, he could be among the very best assets for DC points in 2026/27.
Thomas's CBIT average of 8.6 per 90 minutes is also expected to improve, while his three goals and four assists underline his superior attacking threat.
Elsewhere, Fulham's Jonah Kusi-Asare (£4.5m) is in the squad as an "enabler". He is not expected to start but, along with the three £4.0m-priced assets, putting a £4.5m forward on your bench allows you to invest as much of your funds as possible in your starting line-up.