Best Value FPL Picks Ahead of the 2023/24 Season

Fantasy Premier League relaunched their game yesterday ahead of the 2023/24 Premier League season. With friends, family and football lovers all competing against each other weekly, let’s look at some FPL players that are good value for their price and why you should consider bringing them into your Gameweek 1 team.

Under Robert De Zerbi last season, Brighton were arguably one of the best teams to watch in the Premier League and they rightfully earned a European spot for the first time in the club's history. Although Brighton have many valuable FPL assets such as Julio Enciso and Evan Ferguson, last campaign’s success may make choosing players slightly more difficult due to the chance of rotation.

However, a player which should avoid much rotation is their left back and popular FPL pick, Pervis Estupinan. As of right now, the 25-year-old is the only left-back in the squad which obviously massively increases his chances of starting. The Ecuadorian was the tenth-highest-scoring defender last season with 128 points, a tally higher than Luke Shaw and Andrew Robertson. For 5M you would expect your defender to keep clean sheets and provide attacking numbers, which Estupinan can guarantee. He kept seven clean sheets, scored once, and got five assists last campaign.

Brighton don’t have a terribly tricky start next season, with the first two games against recently promoted Luton Town and Wolves. Although fixtures are not as important with an asset who can perform even against the big sides, as seen last season against Arsenal where Estupinan scored and registered an assist.

Raheem Sterling at a price of 7M seems too good to be true. Despite Chelsea’s previous season of change and unrest, Sterling still quietly played well, scoring six goals, and getting three assists in 23 starts. The ex-Manchester City man knows where the back of the net is and I predict he will have an impressive season under the management of Mauricio Pochettino, albeit we do not know what his favoured starting XI will look like come Gameweek 1.

If Sterling nails a place in the first eleven, it is not a reach to say we could be looking at one of the highest-scoring players in FPL next year, at only £7 million. To have Raheem in your FPL team last season would have set you back 10M and Chelsea’s disastrous campaign has created a steal.

Chelsea also has a relatively easy run after facing Liverpool on the opening weekend, as they will play Luton, Forest, and Bournemouth in Gameweek 3, 4 and 5. If Pochettino can get the best out of Sterling, he could be a mainstay in many FPL teams next season.

Bryan Mbeumo’s 2022/23 season has somewhat gone under the radar given the impact he had on his side. The biggest reason why the Cameroon international is good value, is simply because he is a forward who is classed as a midfielder in FPL. This isn’t only good for building your squad structure, but it also means he will pick up points when Brentford keep a clean sheet (forwards don’t).

Mbeumo will most likely start the season as the Bees focal point due to Ivan Toney’s ban which keeps him out of action until January, essentially meaning you can field four forwards in your FPL team. The twenty-three-year-old scored nine goals and registered eight assists last campaign, which boosts his overall chance of points due to him being a creative outlet as well as a goal scorer. In the three games without Toney at the end of the season, Mbeumo scored three times and got two assists which could give us a glimpse of what we may see next season. There is also the potential that Mbeumo takes penalties!

With the cost of Haaland, Trent Alexander- Arnold and Mo Salah, Mbeumo could be the perfect optimal enabler for the entire season!

Son Heung-min looked like a shadow of his former self at stages last season, but I am confident that he will have a stellar campaign this term in what looks to be an attacking, free-flowing, Ange Postecoglou side. The South Korean forward was one of the most expensive assets in the game last year, costing 12M, so to be able to get him as low as 9M does seem like a bargain.

Despite being held back because of defensive tactics and the changing of managers, the 30-year-old scored ten goals last campaign and registered six assists, which is still respectable, but it is his worst goal-scoring tally since the 2015/16 season.

Spurs have a tough first two games of the season as they travel to Brentford and then host Manchester United, but their fixtures do improve between Gameweek 3 and 5. However, we know that Son performs well against big sides so fixtures shouldn’t be a deciding factor. Regardless of the rumours around Harry Kane’s future and whether he will be staying at Spurs or not, I think Son will still perform, and he is worth the risk at 9M.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes is another player in this article whose price has decreased from last season, dropping from £10M. One of the best aspects of owning Bruno as an FPL manager is the fact that you know he will start every single game like he did last season and rarely get subbed.

The Portuguese midfielder scored eight goals and registered eight assists last season, which is potentially due to his slightly deeper positioning and lack of goal scorers in the side to put away the chances he creates, which was the most in the Premier League last season with 32, ahead of Kevin De Bruyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

United’s fixtures are quite tough at the start, however, similarly to Son, fixtures are almost irrelevant in Bruno’s case. As Manchester United develop as a side and improve, Bruno will only get better and become a buy and lock-in for the season.

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