FPL Budget Picks: The Best GK Under £5.0

Budget keepers: £5.0m and under, who actually earns it

Twenty-eight keepers qualify at £5.0m or below, and the dull truth of this price band is that most of them are there for a reason. A goalkeeper's job in your squad is simple: start every week, don't blank, cost nothing. Here's who does it.

Trafford (LEE, £5.0m) tops our list. Expected to start, a very kind run of fixtures ahead, and our model has him good for around 24 points over the next six — the best of anyone at this price. He's not a proven Premier League keeper yet, which is the honest caveat, and Arsenal away first up is nobody's idea of a gentle start. But only about 1 in 2 of every 10 managers own him, and the fixtures after that opener are where the value sits.

Kelleher (BRE, £5.0m) is the grown-up alternative — proven, nailed, another lovely fixture run, projected just behind Trafford at around 22. Villa away next. If you want the same points with less guesswork, he's your man.

The rest, briefly:

• Verbruggen (BHA, £4.5m) — the template pick at ~2 in 10 owned. Starts, kind fixtures, around 19 points. Fine. Just fine.
• Petrović (BOU, £4.5m) — quietly projects about 20 at the bottom price, favourable run, hardly anyone owns him (~3 in 100... call it nobody). Chelsea away next, so patience required.
• Lammens (MUN, £4.9m) — starts, but average fixtures and you're paying £4.9m for them. Pass.
• Kinsky (TOT, £4.5m) — cheap and popular (~2 in 10), but unproven and projects below Petrović at the same price. The crowd has this one wrong.
• Martinez (CHE, £5.0m) — proven, but a tough run. Not at full price.
• Tzolakis (HUL, £4.7m) — nice fixtures, unproven, middling return. Meh.
• Leno (FUL, £4.5m), Roefs (SUN, £4.9m) — both start, both average fixtures, both honest bench fodder if you're rotating.
• Horníček (NEW, £5.0m) — favourable run, barely owned, but unproven at the top price in the band. Why pay £5.0m to gamble?
• Sels (NFO, £5.0m) — proven, tough fixtures. No.

The call: Trafford is the pick — best projected return, kind fixtures, and the price is the ceiling of the bracket, not above it. If the lack of a Premier League track record bothers you, take Kelleher for the same money and sleep better. Either way, stop paying £5.5m for a goalkeeper. That half a million buys you a forward's upgrade, and keepers don't score goals.