Five FPL hidden gems emerge as 2026/27 season officially launches

FPL is back, and here are five hidden gems that you should be considering in your first drafts.

The 2026/27 Premier League season is rapidly approaching with less than four weeks to go before Arsenal welcome Coventry City to the Emirates in the opening fixture.

While many fans are looking at the transfer window to help with the wait for the season starting again, others have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game.

And after days of teasing, the game officially went live at lunchtime on Thursday (July 23), with thousands of managers already submitting their first drafts.

Naturally, the first thing many managers will have done is look up some of the most popular players in the game to see how they've been priced for this season.

But with Manchester City star Erling Haaland priced at a record high of £15.5million and Manchester United talisman Bruno Fernandes receiving a huge £3m price increase up to £12m, it's simply not possible to fit every big name wanted into your teams.

With that in mind, every manager is going to need to find some budget-friendly enablers and good value picks to fit into their teams, and here are five that stand out ahead of pre-season fully getting underway.

1) Luke Shaw - £4.5m - Manchester United (DEF)

At just £4.5m, Shaw is looking like he could be one of the best value picks in the entire game.

Of course with Shaw the worry will always be if he can stay fit, but last season he started 38/38 Premier League matches for Manchester United, proving he's still got it in him to be a regular player for Michael Carrick.

Last season, the Englishman scored a total of 113 points, just one less than Chelsea's Cole Palmer, putting him alongside popular picks like Eli Junior Kroupi and ahead of Riccardo Calafiori and Lewis Hall.

But, with United back in cup competitions this season, it is very possible that Patrick Dorgu, who has been reclassified as a midfielder in FPL this season, could take some minutes off of Shaw.

2) Bobby Thomas - £4.0m - Coventry City (DEF)

Every season in FPL, fans work hard to find the perfect budget £4m defender that can just sit on the bench almost every week, while also having a chance of performing should he be needed.

In the past, the likes of the legendary John Lundstram, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and last season's hero Maxime Esteve have all helped managers afford the big hitters elsewhere in their teams.

This season, FPL have decided to price all of the defenders from the promoted teams at £4m, and of the whole lot Thomas stands out as perhaps the best pick.

Although many would expect Coventry City to be relegated this season, Frank Lampard's side managed 17 clean sheets last season and Thomas scored three goals with four assists and looks good to regularly get defensive contribution (DEFCON) points.

Bobby Thomas has emerged as a potential budget gem in FPL. (Image: Getty)

3) Antonin Kinsky - £4.5m - Tottenham Hotspur (GK)

Like the search for the £4m defender, FPL managers also spend pre-season trying to identify the best budget goalkeepers to fit into their teams.

Although David Raya (£6m) will no doubt be a popular pick, his London rival Kinsky (£4.5m) could prove to be better value, with Spurs expected to massively improve in their first full season under Roberto De Zerbi.

As it stands, Guglielmo Vicario is still a Spurs player, but having been left out of the pre-season squad, it seems almost certain that Kinsky will be the starting goalkeeper.

With BRE (a), NEW (H), NFO (a), EVE (H), AVL (H) to come in his opening fixtures, there's some massive potential for the Czech goalkeeper to score big this season.

4) Dominik Szoboszlai - £7.0m - Liverpool (MID)

Although he's much more expensive than the other players on this list, Szoboszlai could prove to be one of the best value picks in FPL this season.

As it stands, Liverpool are a bit of an unknown, with the club yet to play a match under new manager Andoni Iraola.

But, if Iraola's spell at Bournemouth last season is anything to go by, Szoboszlai's attacking play either as a midfielder, winger or even at right-back appears to be well-suited to high-octane Iraola style.

Add to this the fact that Hungarian has promising opening fixtures, takes both direct free-kicks and corners and could even be on penalties in the wake of Mohamed Salah's departure and Szoboszlai could be one of the highest owned players in the game come GW1.

Dominik Szoboszlai is arguably the best value player in FPL. (Image: Getty)

5) Cristhian Mosquera - £5.5m - Arsenal (DEF)

It's no secret that Arsenal are the best defence in the Premier League right now and therefore everybody will be looking for the cheapest way to own a part of Mikel Arteta's backline.

Although he was by quite some distance the highest scoring defender last season, Gabriel at £8m will be impossible to afford for managers looking to have plenty of strong attacking options.

Therefore Mosquera could be the perfect way into the Arsenal defence, with the Spaniard expected to start alongside Gabriel while William Saliba remains sidelined with a back injury.

Although it is not known exactly how long he will be out for, Arsenal recently confirmed it will be an 'extended period' meaning Mosquera could an incredible pick for the start of the season