FPL Budget Picks: The Best GK Under £5.0
The call — Budget Keepers: Where £4.5m Actually Buys You Points The sharpest thing in the numbers this week: Verbruggen at £4.5m projects for around 24 points over the next six gameweeks — more than any keeper in the budget bracket, including every £5.0m option. Cheaper AND better. That doesn't happen often, so let's not overthink it.
What has not being with FFIQ cost you this season?
One squad, picked before a ball was kicked and run for six gameweeks on three transfers — no hits taken. Scored on FPL’s own results.
Your name and your FPL team name. That is all it takes, and we will have your answer before you have finished reading this sentence.
↓ Start here — your name, then your team.
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Here's the whole bracket, in order of preference, one honest line each:
Verbruggen (BHA, £4.5m) — starts every week, proven, and Brighton's fixtures are genuinely kind, starting with LEE (H). About 2 in 10 already own him. The pick.
Lammens (MUN, £5.0m) — nailed, decent for roughly 18-19 points over six, average fixtures beginning at EVE (A). Fine, but you're paying £0.5m more for fewer points.
Kelleher (BRE, £5.0m) — starts, proven, but a tough run after SUN (H). Hardly anyone has him, and there's a reason.
Trafford (LEE, £5.0m) — plays every week but unproven at this level and the fixtures are brutal, BHA (A) first. Pass.
Kinsky (TOT, £4.5m) — about 2 in 10 own him, which is baffling given a tough run and the weakest projection of the £4.5m starters. The template got this one wrong.
Petrović (BOU, £4.5m) — quietly solid, proven, projects near Kelleher for £0.5m less. Tough fixtures (NEW (A) next), but a legitimate bench keeper.
Roefs (SUN, £5.0m), Henderson (CRY, £5.0m), Sels (NFO, £5.0m), Sánchez (CHE, £5.0m) — all start, all proven, all staring down tough-to-horrible runs. None earns the extra £0.5m over Verbruggen.
Tzolakis (HUL, £4.5m) and Horníček (NEW, £5.0m) — starters, but unproven with grim projections. Leave them.
The dull truth of budget keepers: minutes plus fixtures wins, romance loses. Every name here starts, which is rarer than you'd think in this price band, so the tiebreaker is fixtures — and Brighton's run stands alone. The caveat on Verbruggen is only that 2 in 10 managers already have him, so he's not making you clever, just solvent. He's usually good for 4-5 a week with clean-sheet weeks pushing him higher, and the £0.5m you save versus the £5.0m crowd funds the players who actually score your points.
The call: buy Verbruggen. If you need a second cheap body or a genuine alternative, Petrović at £4.5m is the value backup — Lammens is fine if you've somehow got spare cash, but paying £5.0m for fewer projected points isn't value, it's habit.