FPL Budget Picks: The Best GK Under £5.0
The call — Budget keepers: who actually earns their £4.5m Thirty-one keepers qualify at £5.0m or under, and the good news is the best of the lot is also one of the cheapest. Bart Verbruggen, £4.5m, Brighton, starts every week, and he's staring at a very kind run that opens with Leeds at home. Our model has him good for around 24 points…
The rest, quickly, in order of preference:
Kelleher (BRE, £5.0m) — nailed, favourable fixtures, Sunderland at home first up. Roughly 22 points projected, owned by fewer than 1 in 10. The best alternative if you want off the template.
Trafford (LEE, £5.0m) — starts, but the fixtures are rough (Brighton away next) and he's unproven at this level. Pass for now.
Roefs (SUN, £5.0m) — starter, decent run, hardly anyone owns him. Solid if you're already sold on Sunderland.
Petrović (BOU, £4.5m) — nailed at £4.5m with average fixtures. Newcastle away isn't a welcome mat, but he's a proper enabler.
Lammens (MUN, £5.0m) — starts, but a tough run and only about 16 points projected. You're paying for the badge. Don't.
Horníček (NEW, £5.0m) — the interesting one. Very kind fixtures, Bournemouth at home next, projected nearly as well as Verbruggen, and owned by basically nobody. The catch: he's unproven, and unproven keepers are how you end up with a £5.0m bench ornament in October. Punt with eyes open.
Tzolakis, Martinez, Kinsky, Leno, Sels — all start, all fine, none project above the mid-teens. Kinsky is the odd one: 2 in 10 own a keeper projected for 13 points. That's the template doing your thinking for you.
The call is not complicated. Buy Verbruggen. He's £4.5m, he never misses a game, the fixtures are the friendliest in the bracket, and he tops the projections anyway — the rare pick where the cheap option and the best option are the same player. If Brighton's run has already passed you by or you want a different route, Kelleher at £5.0m is the sensible second. Everyone else is either paying more for less or gambling on minutes you can't bank. Take the boring points and spend the savings up front.