As an FPL manager, two variables dictate your strategy more than any others: player movement (who is playing where) and price volatility (what they cost). This isn't a list of transfer headlines — it's an analysis of how those moves change your actual budget availability and team strategy.
We joined this season's squads and prices against last season's, player by player, using the stable code FPL keeps for each player across seasons even though the visible IDs are reissued every year. What follows is what actually happened, not a round-up of headlines.
Tottenham's defensive overhaul: value or rotation risk?
Tottenham has rebuilt nearly half of their defensive unit this window. Six new names in a single backline is rare on its own — the real impact is how much you have to pay for them.
| Player | Pos | From | 2026/27 price | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Dubravka | GK | Burnley | £4.0m | 24.9% |
| Marcos Senesi | DEF | Bournemouth | £6.0m | 11.2% |
| Jan Paul van Hecke | DEF | Brighton | £5.0m | 8.2% |
| Andy Robertson | DEF | Liverpool | £4.5m | 1.7% |
| Mateus Fernandes | MID | West Ham | £6.0m | 4.3% |
| Sandro Tonali | MID | Newcastle | £5.5m | 3.0% |
The analysis. Senesi and Van Hecke arrive with price hikes (£0.8m and £0.3m respectively) because their individual output last season remains the benchmark, regardless of their new club.
Andy Robertson is the outlier. Despite the move to Spurs, his price has dropped £1.2m to £4.5m — the largest fall of anyone who changed clubs this summer. A recognisable name at a low price looks like value, but the risk is buying the reputation rather than the role: check where he actually sits in Spurs' new-look pecking order before committing budget to him.
Man City: distinguishing transfers from price inflation
City's ownership numbers are dominated by players who didn't go anywhere. It's worth separating who actually arrived this summer from who simply got repriced for performing well last season — they carry different risk.
| Player | Pos | Status | 2026/27 price | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elliot Anderson | MID | Arrived from Nott'm Forest | £6.5m | +£0.8m |
| Marc Guéhi | DEF | Already at City | £6.0m | +£0.9m |
| Nico O'Reilly | DEF | Already at City | £6.5m | +£1.2m |
| Rayan Cherki | MID | Already at City | £7.5m | +£1.0m |
| Jérémy Doku | MID | Already at City | £7.5m | +£1.0m |
The analysis. Elliot Anderson was Nottingham Forest's top scorer last season and is the only genuine new arrival here — he walks into a high-ownership squad carrying a real price hike of his own. Guéhi, O'Reilly, Cherki and Doku didn't move at all; their prices rose because last season's output did. For your draft, Anderson is a transfer decision with transfer-sized uncertainty attached; the other three are established pillars whose rising cost simply eats into your budget.
Jack Grealish is the other City name worth noting: back at the Etihad after a season out on loan at Everton, up a modest £0.2m and still under 1% owned. Cheap by reputation, unproven by role this season.
The "promoted-club floor"
Take Abdoulaye Diop, who moved from Fulham to Ipswich this summer: despite being the most-owned defender among anyone who changed clubs (20.7%), his price fell £0.3m to exactly £4.0m.
That's the promoted-club defender floor at work: every defender at Coventry, Hull and Ipswich starts the season at £4.0m regardless of what they did last year. It creates a predictable budget baseline for bench slots — 27 candidates at the identical price — but it also means "cheap" isn't the same as "stable" if the club it's attached to is a relegation risk.
The Arsenal reset: assessing the price drops
Some of the biggest changes this summer belong to players who stayed exactly where they were but saw their price cut after an underwhelming 2025/26.
Biggest reductions among players owned by 2% or more:
- Viktor Gyökeres (FWD, Arsenal): −£1.6m
- Martin Ødegaard (MID, Arsenal): −£1.3m
- Alexander Isak (FWD, Liverpool): −£1.3m
- Dominic Solanke (FWD, Spurs): −£1.1m
- Eberechi Eze (MID, Arsenal): −£0.8m
The analysis. Arsenal take the heaviest hit of any club this summer — Gyökeres up front, Ødegaard and Eze in midfield, all repriced down after seasons that didn't match what they were charged for last year. Isak is the one with no transfer behind it at all: he stayed at Liverpool all along, and 41 points through an injury-hit season did the rest.
A price drop isn't a prediction of failure — it's the game correcting last year's return, nothing more. If you still rate the underlying role for Gyökeres or Eze, these cuts are a cheaper way into an Arsenal attack, not a red flag on it.
The bottom line
High volatility in the mid-range, real surplus at the top if you use it. The corrections to Arsenal's and Liverpool's attacks (Isak, Ødegaard, Gyökeres, Eze) mean that if you can stomach the rotation risk in Spurs' new-look defence, there's more room in your budget than the headlines suggest — enough, potentially, to afford a genuine premium like Haaland or Bruno Fernandes, the only two players in the game above £9.5m this season. Use the cheaper entry points the corrections created to fund the heavyweight you actually want.
Our free Team Planner is the place to work this out properly rather than guess it. Build a squad now, swap in Anderson or a Spurs incumbent, and see exactly how these prices move your remaining budget before you're committed to anything.
Once your structure is set, the Player Explorer has live ownership and price movement for every player in the game across the rest of the season.
Part of the FPL 2026/27 pre-season guide.