With the 2024/25 Fantasy Premier League season now complete, it's time to look back at the players who offered the best value for money.
In a year that saw Erling Haaland priced at a record-breaking £15.0m – the highest starting price in FPL history – many managers questioned whether he truly delivered value. He became the first player ever to start a season above the £14.0m mark, but his returns didn’t always justify the hefty outlay.
Haaland wasn’t the only premium-priced option. Six attacking players started the season at £9.5m or more, including former 'cheat code' Cole Palmer, who was handed a staggering £10.5m price tag after a £5.5m rise from his 2023/24 starting price.
So, who truly delivered the best points per million? Let's break down the top 10 best value FPL picks from the 2024/25 season.
Evaluating player value is one of the most important aspects of building a successful Fantasy Premier League (FPL) team — but which metric gives the clearest picture?
There are several ways to assess FPL value, each with its strengths and weaknesses:
Points Per 90 Minutes (PP90) is a popular metric because it standardises performance regardless of total minutes played. This helps highlight players who may have missed games due to injury but delivered strong returns when fit. However, it also has a key flaw: players who frequently come off the bench — and aren't first-choice starters — often appear more valuable than they truly are.
To address that, many FPL managers turn to Points Per Match (PPM). This evens out the impact of short substitute appearances, but it still doesn’t account for player price — making it difficult to compare premium picks with budget enablers.
That’s where Points Per Match Per £1m (PPMM) comes in. By factoring in player cost, PPMM allows managers to assess how many FPL points a player delivers relative to their starting price. It’s especially useful when comparing midfielders and forwards, who vary significantly in price.
However, this metric also has limitations. Cheaper players — especially defenders and goalkeepers — often appear to offer exceptional value simply by earning appearance points consistently, even if their actual FPL impact is minimal.
To overcome this, many in the FPL community are turning to a more refined metric: Value Added Per Million (VAPM).
Value Added Per £1m (VAPM) is a refined metric that addresses the shortcomings of more basic FPL value stats by filtering out the impact of simple appearance points.
VAPM works by deducting appearance points from a player’s Points Per Match (PPM) — effectively removing the points gained just for playing — and then dividing the result by their price. This ensures players who offer little more than regular starts, or one-point substitute appearances, no longer appear artificially valuable.
By applying this adjustment across all players, VAPM reveals who actually delivers returns beyond just showing up. It offers a much clearer comparison of value across different price points — particularly helpful when choosing between premium assets and budget enablers.
This article uses the VAPM metric to identify the best value FPL players from the 2024/25 season. You can calculate your own VAPM stats using the Fantasy Football Fix Custom Stats Builder.
| Player | Position | £m | VAPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mbeumo | MID | 8.3 | 20.9 |
| M. Salah | MID | 13.6 | 20.3 |
| Wood | FWD | 7.2 | 19.5 |
| J. Murphy | MID | 5.2 | 19.1 |
| Wissa | FWD | 6.9 | 18.7 |
| Kluivert | MID | 5.9 | 17.6 |
| Cunha | FWD | 7.0 | 17.4 |
| Elanga | MID | 5.5 | 16.9 |
| Bowen | MID | 7.9 | 16.8 |
| Schade | MID | 5.3 | 16.8 |
Interestingly, no goalkeepers or defenders feature in the top 10 best value players by VAPM — the list is dominated entirely by midfielders and forwards. This shift could be partly attributed to changes in FPL’s Bonus Points System (BPS) for the 2024/25 season.
Notably, Jordan Pickford narrowly missed out, finishing 11th with a VAPM of 16.7. Goalkeepers were hit hardest by the BPS changes: penalty save points were reduced from 15 to 9, and all goalkeepers and defenders now lose 4 BPS for each goal conceded — a significant penalty for those in leaky defences.
The highest-scoring goalkeeper for bonus points was Jordan Pickford, registering just 15 across the entire season — enough only for 30th place overall. Among defenders, Gvardiol, Wan-Bissaka, and Aina also finished joint-30th for bonus points, underlining how difficult it was for defensive assets to break into the top value rankings through BPS returns alone.
At the top end of the VAPM chart, Bryan Mbeumo led the way with a score of 20.9, just ahead of Mohamed Salah (20.3). Chris Wood also stood out with an impressive 19.5 VAPM, proving that budget forwards can offer serious value. The New Zealand international exceeded expectations by scoring 20 goals from just 15 expected goals and 25 shots on target.
When it comes to bonus points, Salah was dominant, picking up a huge 55 BPS – well ahead of both Wood and Cunha, who were joint-second with 41, according to data from the Opta Heatmaps tool.
Of the top 10 players by VAPM, seven were midfielders, including budget-friendly picks like Jacob Murphy (£5.2m, 19.1 VAPM), Kluivert, and Elanga. This highlights just how valuable the midfield position is under the current FPL scoring system.
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