The FPL Template: The Players Almost Everyone Owns
The call — Seven in 10 managers already own Haaland — and they haven't even priced in a game yet. That's the number that frames everything this pre-season. Before a ball's been kicked, the £15.5m man is the most-owned player in the game, and our projections say the crowd is right: he's top of the pile for points over the opening six gameweeks.…
Here's how we protect our rank together. The template XI costs £91.0m, and three pieces are non-negotiable shields:
Haaland (£15.5m, ~7 in 10). When he hauls and you don't own him, you fall off a cliff. Owning him isn't clever — it's survival, and survival is a strategy.
João Pedro (£7.5m, ~6 in 10). At that price with that ownership, going without him means betting against most of the game every single week. Our numbers say he's a steady scorer rather than a monster, but steady at £7.5m is exactly the point.
Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m, ~5 in 10). He projects almost level with Haaland over the next six, which is remarkable for a midfielder. Half the game has him. We should too.
The interesting middle: Mbeumo (£8.0m, ~3 in 10) is quietly the best value in the whole XI — our model has him third for points in this team, ahead of players costing more and owned by more. If we're picking one sub-30%-owned piece to match, it's him. Semenyo (£8.5m) and Szoboszlai (£7.0m) are solid but optional — miss them and a blank won't sink us.
And the safe skip? Calafiori (£5.5m, ~2.5 in 10). He's the weakest projection in the side by a distance — Pedro Porro costs exactly the same and projects meaningfully better, so even inside the template there's a better version of that slot. Gabriel is the Arsenal defender worth paying for; Calafiori is the one the crowd will drift away from first.
The call: lock in Haaland, João Pedro and Fernandes before GW1 — those three are the flock's armour. Take Mbeumo as your value pick, and skip Calafiori without a second thought. Safe first, clever second.