FPL Budget Picks: The Best GK Under £5.0

Budget Keepers Under £5.0m: Who's Actually Worth Your Money

Trafford at £5.0m projects for around 27 points over the next six gameweeks — the best number in the whole budget bracket — and barely 1 in 20 managers have noticed. Leeds get a very kind run starting with Crystal Palace at Elland Road, and he's nailed on between the sticks. He hasn't proven it over a full season yet, which is the honest caveat, but a starter with fixtures like these at this price is exactly what the position is for.

Here's the rest of the bracket, in order of preference:

Verbruggen (BHA, £4.5m) — the proven, template pick, owned by about 2 in 10. Also on a very kind run, good for roughly 25 points over six, and he's half a million cheaper than Trafford. Arsenal at home first is ugly, but it softens fast after that.

Kelleher (BRE, £5.0m) — starts every week, favourable fixtures, around 20 points coming. Solid, unspectacular, no complaints.

Kinsky (TOT, £4.5m) — nearly 2 in 10 own him, but average fixtures and unproven. Fine if you already have him; not a buy.

Tzolakis (HUL, £4.6m) — starter, average run, Newcastle away first. Pass for now.

Roefs (SUN, £4.9m) — quietly good for ~23 points over six despite average fixtures, and hardly anyone has him. City away next week is grim, but he's a genuine sleeper after that.

Lammens (MUN, £4.9m) and Petrović (BOU, £4.5m) — both starters, both fine, neither offers anything the names above don't do better. Petrović hosts Liverpool first, which tells you what you need to know.

Leno (FUL, £4.5m) — reliable minutes, modest returns. A bench body, not a starter in your XI.

Emiliano Martinez (CHE, £5.0m) and Sels (NFO, £5.0m) — tough runs of fixtures. At full price for the bracket with the hardest schedules, there's no version of this where they're the answer.

Horníček (NEW, £5.0m) — the intriguing one. Very kind fixtures, Hull at home first, owned by almost nobody. Unproven, but worth watching if Newcastle keep it tight early.

The call: buy Trafford at £5.0m — best projection, kindest run, plays every week. If the extra £0.5m matters at the other end of your squad (and it usually does), Verbruggen at £4.5m is the sensible fallback and barely gives anything up. Everyone else is bench fodder or a watchlist name.