Best Value FPL Players 2026/27: VAPM, DEFCON & Prices

9 Aug. 2026

These FPL Price Rises Reveal Where the Value Really Is

Finding the best value FPL players for 2026/27 could be one of the keys to building a strong Fantasy Premier League squad.

Premium picks will always take up a large chunk of the budget, but it is often the underpriced defenders, reliable starters and mid-priced assets who create the flexibility to build a balanced team.

One way to identify potential value is to look back at which players delivered the strongest returns last season. Rather than relying only on total points or points per million, we have used Value Added Per Million (VAPM) to highlight players who produced meaningful FPL returns relative to their price.

We have also compared their final 2025/26 prices with their new 2026/27 starting prices, giving us an indication of how much FPL has adjusted for last season's performances.

With DEFCON becoming an increasingly important route to points, these numbers could also offer clues about the type of underpriced players managers should be looking for next.

So, which players offered the best value last season, and what can their new prices tell us ahead of 2026/27?

Best Value FPL Players: Which Metric Works Best?

Finding the best value FPL players is not always as simple as looking at total points.

A premium asset may score heavily across the season, but that does not always mean they offered the best value for money. Likewise, a cheap player may appear to be great value simply because they played regularly, even if they rarely delivered attacking returns, clean sheets or bonus points.

That is why Fantasy Premier League managers often use different value metrics to compare players.

Points Per 90 Minutes (PP90) can highlight players who scored well when they were on the pitch, but it can also overrate substitutes or players with limited minutes.

Points Per Match (PPM) gives a better idea of regular Gameweek output, but it does not factor in player price, making it harder to compare premium picks with budget options.

Points Per Match Per £1m (PPMM) adds price into the equation, helping managers see how many points a player delivered relative to their cost. However, cheaper defenders and goalkeepers can still look artificially strong because regular appearance points boost their value.

That is where Value Added Per Million (VAPM) can be useful.

What is VAPM in Fantasy Premier League?

Value Added Per Million is a more refined FPL value metric because it removes basic appearance points before comparing a player’s output against their price.

In simple terms, VAPM helps show which players delivered meaningful points beyond simply turning up and playing minutes.

This makes it useful when comparing players across different positions and price points, especially when trying to identify genuine value picks rather than players who only look good because they were cheap regular starters.

In this article, we use VAPM to highlight the best value FPL players from last season and assess which assets could be worth monitoring ahead of the 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League campaign.

You can also calculate your own VAPM stats using the Custom Stats Builder tool.

VAPM caveat: VAPM is useful retrospectively, but it shouldn't be presented as a straight prediction of future value. A player changing club, role or minutes can completely alter it. Anderson is the obvious example: £6.5m could still be excellent if his DEFCON rate survives at City, but his role and minutes matter just as much as last season's numbers.

Top 10 FPL Players by VAPM

Player	Pos.	25/26 Final	VAPM	26/27 Start	Change
Gabriel	DEF	£7.3m	22.2	£8.0m	+0.7
Guéhi	DEF	£5.1m	22.1	£6.0m	+0.9
Senesi	DEF	£5.2m	20.8	£6.0m	+0.8
Mukiele	DEF	£4.6m	20.7	£5.5m	+0.9
O'Reilly	DEF	£5.3m	19.7	£6.5m	+1.2
Anderson	MID	£5.7m	19.4	£6.5m	+0.8
Truffert	DEF	£4.8m	19.4	£5.5m	+0.7
Casemiro	MID	£5.8m	18.4	N/A	N/A
Wilson	MID	£5.8m	18.3	£6.5m	+0.7
Dewsbury-Hall	MID	£5.3m	18.3	£6.5m	+1.2

Final Thoughts: What Can FPL Managers Learn from the Best Value Picks?

The biggest takeaway from the VAPM table is clear: defensive contributions (DEFCON) had a major impact on FPL value last season — and the 2026/27 prices suggest FPL has taken notice.

The prices in the table above compare each player's finishing price from 2025/26 with their new starting price for 2026/27. Despite several of these assets already increasing in value during last season, almost all have been handed another significant price rise.

Gabriel finished the campaign at £7.3m and now starts at £8.0m, while Guéhi and Senesi have both moved from just over £5.0m to £6.0m. Mukiele and Truffert now cost £5.5m, while O'Reilly has jumped from a £5.3m finishing price to £6.5m.

Those increases highlight just how highly FPL appears to have valued their 2025/26 output. Defenders such as Gabriel, Guéhi and Senesi were not simply relying on clean sheets either. DEFCON gave them another consistent route to points, with Senesi's 48 defensive contribution points helping him become one of the standout value picks in the game.

There is an important lesson here for 2026/27: last season's best value players will not necessarily provide the best value this time around. FPL has priced much of that previous advantage out of the market.

Elliot Anderson is particularly interesting. He finished last season at £5.7m and starts 2026/27 at £6.5m, but his four goals, five assists and 50 DEFCON points show how many different routes he had to FPL returns. If he can maintain similar defensive contribution efficiency at Manchester City — and secure enough minutes — he could still represent good value even at the higher price.

More importantly, Anderson and the defenders above may provide a blueprint for finding the next breakout value picks.

Rather than chasing the players who topped last season's VAPM rankings, the real opportunity could be identifying the £4.5m–£5.5m defenders and cheaper midfielders capable of producing similar DEFCON numbers before their prices catch up with their output.

This links closely with what we have seen when assessing this season's budget defenders and midfielders. Secure minutes remain crucial, but players who can combine DEFCON with clean sheets, attacking returns, set pieces or bonus potential suddenly have several routes to FPL points.

That could also strengthen the case for a big-at-the-back strategy. The very best defenders are now considerably more expensive, but finding one or two underpriced DEFCON options alongside them could allow managers to benefit from defensive points without committing too much of their £100m budget.

Ultimately, the key lesson from last season isn't simply to pick the players who previously offered the best value. The edge in 2026/27 could come from finding this season's underpriced DEFCON assets before FPL — and the wider player base — fully catches on.