Haaland equals record held by Ronaldo in Fantasy Premier League

Fantasy Premier League aficionados now have little over a month to whip their teams into shape with the start of the 2023-24 season already on the horizon.

To that end, the first raft of FPL prices have been revealed this week, and there are no prizes for guessing which free-scoring, treble-winning superstar striker has the most expensive transfer fee in the game.

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Haaland takes top billing

Unsurprisingly, Erling Haaland is the most expensive player in Fantasy Premier League 2023-24 by a clear margin, with the Man City striker commanding a hefty starting fee of £14 million. FPL managers will therefore need to set aside a whopping 14% of their initial £100m budget should they wish to include Haaland in their 15-man squad.

Haaland therefore equals the FPL record for the highest value at the start of a season, joining Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robin van Persie as the only stars to have kicked off with a £14m rating.

The Norwegian started last season with a price of £11.5m, but that soon increased to £12.4m by the end of the campaign after he scored 36 league goals and registered nine assists for City, totalling 272 FPL points in the process — more than any other player.

Salah stuck in second

Mohamed Salah is the second-most-expensive player in FPL 2023-24, but the Liverpool forward has seen his initial price dip very slightly from last season, falling from £13m to £12.5m this time around.

Despite the decrease, the Egyptian finished just 33 points shy of Haaland’s overall total in 2022-23 after scoring 19 goals and laying on 12 assists for Jurgen Klopp’s side.

The top two most expensive #FPL assets 💰

Will you be attempting to fit both in your team? 😅 pic.twitter.com/BbLePcJ7iT

— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) July 3, 2023

Son price slashed

Having struggled to replicate his finest form for Tottenham Hotspur last season, Son Heung-Min has seen his FPL price tumble dramatically with the South Korean forward having a full £3m taken off his value.

Son begins the 2023-24 season with a bargain fee of only £9m after only managing to produce an underwhelming 10 goals, six assists and 152 points with Spurs last term. By way of comparison, he previously tallied 228 and 258 points in 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectively, even scoring 23 goals to share the Premier League Golden Boot with Salah during the latter season.

Odegaard on the rise

As a result of his impressive season with Arsenal, creative midfielder Martin Odergaard has seen his price bumped up to £8.5m for 2023-24 after finishing last campaign as the Gunners’ highest points scorer (212).

The 24-year-old Norwegian’s FPL fee increases by £2m after amassing 76 key passes and creating 15 big chances for his teammates last year, more than any other Arsenal player as he came close to captaining the club to a first league title in 20 years.

Bruno downgrade

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes will also go into the 2023-24 campaign with an FPL value of £8.5m, though that constitutes a £1.5m drop for the Portugal international.

Despite the dramatic price cut, Bruno could still prove a bargain after accruing a healthy 16 goals for United last season that equated to a 176-point haul — only seven points shy of the total mustered by Man City star playmaker Kevin De Bruyne.

Midfield maestros 🪄

Prices for two key playmakers have been revealed! 💰 pic.twitter.com/XsNdPlxd8X

— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) July 3, 2023

Trent still a defender

While the debate continues over what precise role he occupies for Liverpool, it has been confirmed that Trent Alexander-Arnold will still be classed as a defender in the 2023-24 FPL listings.

The roving Reds full-back has seen his initial value increased from £7.5m to £8m, which makes him the second-most-expensive defender in FPL history (behind the £8.5m fee of Chelsea captain John Terry in 2005-06).

While fluidly slipping between defence and midfield, Alexander-Arnold earned 176 points last season after pitching in with one goal and seven assists. In fact, 60 of his total FPL points were generated during Liverpool’s final 10 fixtures of the season, which coincided with Klopp’s tactical shift to moving the England international further up the field.

New arrivals

Several of the Premier League’s high-profile new faces have had their FPL values revealed already, with Chelsea forward Christopher Nkunku leading the charge with a value of £9m.

The France international enjoyed a highly productive season with RB Leipzig in 2022-23, scoring 16 goals and adding six assists in 25 Bundesliga appearances despite missing the middle third of the campaign because of injury. In fact, Nkunku only missed out on a share of the Torjagerkanone award as Werder Bremen‘s Niclas Fullkrug scored the same number of goals but registered one more assist.

Further down the list, Justin Kluivert of Bournemouth has been added to the latest FPL midfield ranks with a starting price of £5m. The Netherlands international is bidding to become only the third player ever to score goals in all of Europe’s top five leagues, after Florin Raducioiu and Stevan Jovetic.