FPL Budget Picks: The Best MID Under £6.5

Budget mids under £6.5m: one of these is not like the others

Pascal Groß is projected for 52 points over the next six gameweeks. The next-best midfielder in this entire price bracket is on 29. That's not a gap, that's a different sport — and he costs £5.8m.

Fifty-nine midfielders qualify under £6.5m, but the honest version of this article is short: buy Groß, then argue about the rest. Brighton have a very kind run starting at Sunderland (A), he's a proven starter — the sort who plays 90 and picks up bits everywhere — and at roughly 2 in 10 owned he's not even fully template yet. That's the whole value case at this end of the market: a man who plays every week, on set pieces' worth of involvement, for less than six million.

The rest, one line each, in the order our model likes them:

• Tavernier (BOU, £6.1m) — proven, average fixtures, Chelsea away first. Fine, unspectacular.
• Schade (BRE, £6.2m) — proven, but a tough run beginning at Villa Park. Wait.
• Barnes (NEW, £6.1m) — very kind fixtures, Coventry away next, and hardly anyone has him (~0.5 in 10). The watchlist differential.
• Scott (BOU, £6.1m) — proven, but sits behind his own team-mate Tavernier in our order. Take the hint.
• Diego Gomez (BHA, £5.0m) — the value line of the week. Same lovely Brighton run as Groß, projected 27 over six, a quid cheaper than everyone above him. If you need a fifth mid who actually plays, here he is.
• Belloumi (HUL, £5.1m) — not proven as a starter and a very tough run. No.
• Ndiaye (MCI, £5.8m) — favourable fixtures after Liverpool away, but City rotate people for fun.
• Le Fée & Xhaka (SUN, £5.7m / £5.5m) — very tough run; Le Fée isn't a confirmed starter either. Pass on both.
• Stach (LEE, £6.0m) — proven, but Arsenal away into a very tough run. Timing's wrong.
• Anderson (MCI, £6.3m) — same rotation caveat as Ndiaye at a higher price.

The caveat on Groß is that 24 in 100 already own him, so he's not a differential — he's insurance. Doesn't matter. At this price, points you can actually bank beat points you're dreaming about.

The call: buy Groß at £5.8m. Best alternative if you already have him: Tavernier — but if the budget's tight, Diego Gomez at £5.0m does the enabler job with the same fixtures. Buy the one who plays.