FPL New Signings 2026/27: The 10 Best Transfer Picks

Gameweek 1 locks at 18:30 UK time on Friday 21 August, and forty-one players who finished last season at one Premier League club start this one at another. These are the ten with the strongest case to beat their own numbers — all last season's, earned at the club they just left — whether through a better team, a bigger role or underlying stats their totals hide. Each pick comes with what has to go right, because a recommendation with no stated downside is marketing.

The shortlist at a glance

The ten, in rank orderFixtures GW1–3

Player	Club	Price	Pts	Val	Sel	Fixtures
AndersonMID	MCI	£6.5m	180	27.7	11.0%	BOU (H) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageCRY (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageCOV (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: Easy
RogersMID	CHE	£7.5m	169	22.5	25.8%	FUL (A) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageBHA (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyARS (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 5: Very Difficult
Bruno G.MID	ARS	£7.0m	154	22.0	10.3%	COV (H) gameweek 1, difficulty 2: EasyAVL (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 4: DifficultCHE (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 4: Difficult
SenesiDEF	TOT	£6.0m	175	29.2	10.1%	BRE (A) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageNEW (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyNFO (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 3: Average
LacroixDEF	CHE	£6.0m	154	25.7	11.1%	FUL (A) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageBHA (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyARS (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 5: Very Difficult
Van HeckeDEF	TOT	£5.0m	148	29.6	8.7%	BRE (A) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageNEW (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyNFO (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 3: Average
DubravkaGKP	TOT	£4.0m	96	24.0	22.4%	BRE (A) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageNEW (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyNFO (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 3: Average
WilsonMID	LEE	£6.5m	168	25.8	7.8%	NFO (A) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageBRE (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageBHA (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 3: Average
WelbeckFWD	CHE	£6.0m	126	21.0	2.5%	FUL (A) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageBHA (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyARS (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 5: Very Difficult
GarnachoMID	AVL	£6.0m	56	9.3	0.8%	BHA (A) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageARS (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 4: DifficultHUL (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: Easy

1. Anderson — the headline pick

Elliot AndersonMan City · MID

£6.5mAvailable

Pts

180

PPG

4.7

Val

27.7

Sel

11.0%

xG/90

0.08

xA/90

0.13

GW1–5

BOU (H) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: Average

CRY (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: Average

COV (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: Easy

MUN (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 4: Difficult

SUN (H) gameweek 5, difficulty 2: Easy

Ownership

30 Jul15 Aug

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No player who changed clubs this summer scored more last season: 180 points at Nott'm Forest, built on 3,332 minutes, defensive contributions and 16 bonus. The move to Man City is a straight ceiling upgrade for that profile — a defensive midfielder collects clean-sheet points, and City's are worth more than Forest's. At £6.5m and 10.9% owned he is priced like a mid-tier midfielder while carrying a top-tier floor.

The trade-off is the volume. Those 3,332 minutes are the engine of the 180, and nobody is guaranteed that many under Guardiola. If the minutes drop to a rotation share, the floor drops with them — this is a pick on his starter status, and pre-season team sheets are the tell.

Anderson vs the MCI MIDsSame club · same position

Player	Price	Pts	Min	Val	Sel
Semenyo	£8.5m	202	3,200	23.8	27.8%
Anderson — the player under review	£6.5m	180	3,332	27.7	11.0%
Cherki	£7.5m	135	1,772	18.0	8.8%
Foden	£7.0m	131	2,078	18.7	6.1%
Doku	£7.5m	120	1,773	16.0	6.5%

The premium midfield question

Two movers landed at title-contending clubs for £7.0m or more, and most managers will only fit one alongside the captaincy premiums.

One premium mover — which?Fixtures GW1–3

Metric	RogersCHE · MID	Bruno G.ARS · MID	AndersonMCI · MID
Price	£7.5m	£7.0m	£6.5m
Points	169	154	180 ✓ — best of this group
PPG	4.6	5.3 ✓ — best of this group	4.7
Value	22.5	22.0	27.7
xGI/90	0.31	0.39 ✓ — best of this group	0.21
Minutes	3,280	2,456	3,332 ✓ — best of this group
Owned	25.8%	10.3%	11.0%
Fixtures	FUL (A) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageBHA (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyARS (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 5: Very Difficult	COV (H) gameweek 1, difficulty 2: EasyAVL (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 4: DifficultCHE (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 4: Difficult	BOU (H) gameweek 1, difficulty 3: AverageCRY (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageCOV (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: Easy

2. Rogers (Chelsea, £7.5m)

The market has already decided: 25.8% ownership makes Rogers the most-owned mover of the summer and the default route into Chelsea. The base is real — 169 points, 10 goals and 8 assists at Aston Villa. The trade-off is that £7.5m buys last season's Villa role before anyone has seen his Chelsea one, in a squad with genuine competition for the attacking-midfield slots, and the opening run includes Arsenal away in GW3.

Rogers vs the CHE MIDsSame club · same position

Player	Price	Pts	Min	Val	Sel
Rogers — the player under review	£7.5m	169	3,280	22.5	25.8%
Enzo	£7.0m	157	3,114	22.4	5.5%
Neto	£6.5m	125	2,629	19.2	1.4%
Palmer	£9.5m	114	1,954	12.0	11.2%
Caicedo	£5.5m	110	2,796	20.0	4.1%

3. Bruno Guimaraes (Arsenal, £7.0m)

Quietly the best rate in the premium bracket: 154 points in only 2,456 minutes at Newcastle — 5.6 points per 90, with 9 goals, 7 assists and 22 bonus. Arsenal upgrade both his supply and his clean-sheet share. Two honest caveats: he only signed on 8 August, so integration time is short, and after Coventry at home Arsenal go straight into Aston Villa away and Chelsea at home — the toughest opening stretch of any club on this list.

Bruno G. vs the ARS MIDsSame club · same position

Player	Price	Pts	Min	Val	Sel
Rice	£7.5m	184	3,093	24.5	21.5%
Saka	£9.5m	157	2,218	16.5	10.6%
Bruno G. — the player under review	£7.0m	154	2,456	22.0	10.3%
Zubimendi	£5.5m	133	2,991	24.2	1.4%
Eze	£6.5m	113	1,885	17.4	3.0%

Defence: the Spurs pipeline and the Chelsea wall

Spurs signed six players who were at other Premier League clubs last season — a fully rebuilt spine — and the opening fixtures are kind to it: Brentford away, then Newcastle at home, then Forest away, with the Newcastle game actually the gentlest of the three by rating.

4. Senesi (Spurs, £6.0m)

The highest-scoring defender to move clubs: 175 points at Bournemouth with 11 clean sheets and 6 assists. Attacking output from centre-half is exactly what makes a £6.0m defender pay. The trade-off is that a rebuilt back line rarely keeps clean sheets from week one — six new arrivals is a lot of relationships to build by Friday.

Senesi vs the TOT DEFsSame club · same position

Player	Price	Pts	Min	Val	Sel
Senesi — the player under review	£6.0m	175	3,288	29.2	10.1%
Van Hecke	£5.0m	148	3,210	29.6	8.7%
Pedro Porro	£5.5m	117	2,793	21.3	23.3%
Van de Ven	£5.0m	116	3,041	23.2	7.4%
Romero	£5.0m	91	1,869	18.2	1.0%

5. Lacroix (Chelsea, £6.0m)

154 points and 11 clean sheets at Crystal Palace, and 3,085 minutes says he starts wherever he plays. He steps up from a 3-star side to a 4-star one on the game's own strength ratings, which lifts every defensive metric. Same GW3 caveat as Rogers — Arsenal away — and a stacked Chelsea defence means his starting spot is earned, not given.

Lacroix vs the CHE DEFsSame club · same position

Player	Price	Pts	Min	Val	Sel
Lacroix — the player under review	£6.0m	154	3,085	25.7	11.1%
ChalobahUnavailable	£5.5m	136	2,780	24.7	1.1%
James	£5.5m	115	1,957	20.9	8.1%
Gusto	£5.0m	96	2,255	19.2	1.1%
FofanaSuspended	£5.0m	65	1,718	13.0	0.0%

6. Van Hecke (Spurs, £5.0m)

The cheapest defender on this list: 148 points at Brighton, 3,210 minutes, at a price that frees budget elsewhere. He shares Senesi's new-unit risk, and the two compete with each other for your Spurs defensive slot — the three-per-club cap starts to bite once Dubravka enters the conversation.

Van Hecke vs the TOT DEFsSame club · same position

Player	Price	Pts	Min	Val	Sel
Senesi	£6.0m	175	3,288	29.2	10.1%
Van Hecke — the player under review	£5.0m	148	3,210	29.6	8.7%
Pedro Porro	£5.5m	117	2,793	21.3	23.3%
Van de Ven	£5.0m	116	3,041	23.2	7.4%
Romero	£5.0m	91	1,869	18.2	1.0%

7. Dubravka (Spurs, £4.0m)

96 points behind a relegated Burnley defence, playing 3,150 minutes, now at £4.0m behind a far better one — 22.4% of managers have already drawn the same conclusion, making him the template budget keeper. The honest counterweight: 127 saves were worth 42 of his 96 points, and keepers at better clubs face fewer shots. This is a floor pick, not a ceiling one.

Dubravka vs the TOT GKPsSame club · same position

Player	Price	Pts	Min	Val	Sel
Dubravka — the player under review	£4.0m	96	3,150	24.0	22.4%
Vicario	£4.5m	90	2,790	20.0	1.4%
Kinsky	£4.5m	20	630	4.4	19.6%
Austin	£4.0m	0	0	0.0	0.6%

The value plays

8. Wilson (Leeds, £6.5m)

168 points in just 2,674 minutes at Fulham — 5.6 points per 90, level with Bruno Guimaraes for the best rate on this list — with 10 goals and 9 assists. At Leeds he inherits the talisman role, and the opening fixtures are manageable: Forest away, Brentford at home, Brighton away. Two things must be said: Leeds are a 2.5-star side, so those fixtures only pay if Leeds create enough; and those 19 returns came from roughly 10.7 expected goal involvements, a big overperformance that history says regresses. The role upgrade is the bet; the finishing luck is the risk.

Wilson vs the LEE MIDsSame club · same position

Player	Price	Pts	Min	Val	Sel
Wilson — the player under review	£6.5m	168	2,674	25.8	7.8%
Stach	£6.0m	137	2,369	22.8	1.1%
Ampadu	£5.5m	134	3,119	24.4	1.6%
Aaronson	£5.5m	126	2,449	22.9	0.9%
Okafor	£6.0m	109	1,553	18.2	0.7%

9. Welbeck (Chelsea, £6.0m)

The opposite profile: no luck in the numbers at all. 13 goals on 12.36 xG at Brighton — every goal earned — in only 2,249 minutes, and now a £6.0m forward at a club that will create more. The trade-off writes itself: he is 35, and Chelsea did not sign him to play every minute. Treat him as a third forward with a startlingly high points-per-appearance ceiling, not a set-and-forget starter.

Welbeck vs the CHE FWDsSame club · same position

Player	Price	Pts	Min	Val	Sel
João Pedro	£7.5m	177	2,658	23.6	56.0%
Welbeck — the player under review	£6.0m	126	2,249	21.0	2.5%
Delap	£5.5m	45	1,092	8.2	0.5%
Marc Guiu	£5.0m	13	265	2.6	0.4%
Mheuka	£4.5m	1	1	0.2	0.4%

10. Garnacho (Aston Villa, £6.0m)

The punt, and the purest version of this article's thesis. 56 points at Chelsea looks like a fail; 0.51 expected goal involvements per 90 — the best underlying rate of any midfielder on this list — in 1,261 scattered minutes says the output was there whenever the pitch time was. Villa are buying him to start. At 0.8% owned he is a genuine differential, and the risk is the obvious one: if the starts do not come, nothing else matters.

Garnacho vs the AVL MIDsSame club · same position

Player	Price	Pts	Min	Val	Sel
McGinn	£5.5m	103	2,136	18.7	3.1%
Buendía	£6.0m	102	1,753	17.0	1.2%
Gomes	£5.5m	85	2,207	15.5	0.3%
OnanaInjured	£5.0m	76	1,755	15.2	0.0%
Garnacho — the player under review	£6.0m	56	1,261	9.3	0.8%

Near misses

Three movers missed the cut narrowly. Anthony (Brentford, £6.0m) scored 127 points with 8 goals at relegated Burnley and lands in a better side at 0.2% owned. Fernandes (Spurs, £6.0m) put up 135 points at relegated West Ham and is the cheapest route into Spurs' midfield. Tonali (Spurs, £5.5m) offers pedigree at a price, but with two attacking returns in 2,534 minutes last season, his 81 points do not argue urgency. All three are watchlist material once roles clarify.

What the data cannot tell you

Everything above is last season's record plus this season's prices. It cannot see pre-season minutes, new managers' plans, or where a player fits in an unfamiliar system — the exact things that decide whether a mover beats his history. It also says nothing about arrivals with no Premier League record at all: signings from abroad and academy graduates alike start this exercise invisible, whatever their reputation.

For picks judged on price bracket rather than club change, see our long-term value holds, and check any name in this piece against the full player database at the player explorer before the Friday deadline.