Erling Haaland‘s record-breaking £15m price means something has to give in the 2024/25 FPL season. Considering him in the team along with Mo Salah, priced at £12.5m, that’s £27.5m gone already. Counting the cheapest goalkeeper set you can get, add £8.5m to it. So that’s £36m gone for 4 spots in the team.
What’s the solution now to fill the squad with juicy options? Well, look no further than a midfield of Rashford, Kulusevski and Christopher Nkunku.
Marcus Rashford
Marcus Rashford had a forgettable 2023/24 season after his best FPL haul ever in the 2022/23 season. From 205 points in Erik ten Hag‘s first season, Rashford saw a massive landslide to 108 points. And that’s a good thing. Here is why:
Looking at the trend for the last 4 seasons, Rashford has a productive season in every alternate edition. In 20/21, he finished with 174 points, which took a major dip in 21/22 to 63. The next season again was a successful one, with the recently concluded one being a disastrous one.
To back that up with numbers, Rashford already has 2 assists and a goal in the three preseason games. A prolonged rest due to his ax from the England squad is proving beneficial already. His £7.0m price tag is already enticing enough and to add to that, Rashford’s opening fixtures should turn out to be kind ones.
Manchester United will face 3 of last season’s top 6 teams in the first 9 gameweeks with Fulham and Brighton in the opening two weeks. Why is that good? One of the 3 sides is Liverpool against whom Rashford has scored every alternative season.
Last season he blanked in both Liverpool fixtures so probability suggests Rashford will be on the scoresheet in their gameweek 3 match. Spurs are the next team to visit Old Trafford from the aforementioned category. In 15 outings against Spurs, Rashford has 7 goal involvements (6G, 1A) including last season’s goal at home.
The last one is Aston Villa. Against the Birmingham-based club, Rashford boasts a healthy 7-1 win-loss record with 3 goal involvements.
Considering these permutations and his current ownership of only 7%, Rashford becomes a potent option as the 9th player in the most-picked players list in the £7m bracket.
Christopher Nkunku
Our next suggestion will be Christopher Nkunku. The Chelsea midfielder is essentially a forward with a handy price of £6.5m. Nkunku missed the majority of the previous season due to injury, but in the 3 games he started, he had an xG of 2.47 with 3 goals.
His attacking potency is also on full display during the pre-season friendlies. Nkunku has 3 goals in the same number of matches and was also on penalties. Of course, Cole Palmer will take over once he returns, but by the looks of it, he will be the designated taker in the Englishman’s absence.
Chelsea’s fixtures also help the selection. Barring GW1 against City, Chelsea will not face any top 6 clubs till GW8. That’s six solid GWs with all green fixtures.
Dejan Kulusevski
The final addition to this list is the ultimate game changer. And so far, only 1.7% of managers have considered having Dejan Kulusevski in the starting line-up. The Spurs winger is massively overlooked and can only get better with Son moving in centrally in his second full season as Harry Kane‘s replacement.
The Swedish trickster is only valued at £6.5m and opens his fixture against Leicester away, followed by Everton home. Comparing him with two of the popular choices in the 6.5 to 7m bracket, Kudus and Anthony Gordan, we can see comparable numbers according to Fbref. Gordon edges in the G+A department, but in progressive carries and progressive passes, Kulusevski outperforms both of them. In non-penalty actions, Kulusevski also finishes second behind Gordon with 0.4 non-penalty xG+xA per 90.
Having the three options provided in this article will save you a £44m budget to spread between your defence and bench options. So give it a try and let us know what your final team looks like.
