FPL Users Furious as Liverpool Transfer Saga Scuppers Cheat Code

Fantasy football users were left furious after Liverpool's transfer business created a potential cheat code.

The reigning Premier League champions had a chaotic transfer deadline day, as they broke the British transfer record to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle. They also agreed a £35m deal with Crystal Palace for Marc Guehi, but the deal ultimately fell through with the Eagles unable to find a replacement in time.

For a brief moment it looked as though Liverpool were set to bring in both players, sparking both excitement and confusion among the fantasy football community. Under FPL rules, users are only allowed to pick a maximum of three players from one team.

But as Isak and Guehi were not officially Liverpool players yesterday afternoon, it looked as though ambitious managers would be able to bring in five Liverpool players. As their next game is against newly promoted Burnley, some users were tempted to use the free hit to stack their teams with Liverpool players.

The new fantasy football rules mean players receive two free hits each season, which allow managers to make unlimited changes for one gameweek.

Liverpool's new striker Alexander Isak. Image: Nikki Dyer - LFC / Contributor via Getty

How did fantasy football fans react?

Within the fantasy football community, there was wild speculation about how deadline day would impact the game.

A Facebook post by Fantasy Football Scout said: "If you play your Free Hit now, you could have FIVE Liverpool players facing Burnley in FPL GW4."

Although the Guehi deal collapsed, users could still field four Liverpool players in a free hit team to play Burnley

However, Isak skipped Newcastle's pre-season, meaning he will take time to build up his match fitness.

With Hugo Ekitike's already impressing in his first games for Liverpool, Arne Slot will not be forced to rush the Swedish striker back into action prematurely.

One user was confident Isak would start the next game anyway.

Huge Ekitike. Image: Liverpool FC / Contributor via Getty

Martin Leckie said: "Isak starts, he’s got the international break to train with Liverpool, and he’s been keeping himself fit and at £120m-plus he’s goes straight in the team even if he last 45/60 minutes."

Ben Lee added: "And yet two of them will likely not start."

Not everyone believed that the rules would allow users to stack Liverpool players within their squads.

Steve Moore wrote: "You can't have that as it would automatically tell you to remove two players."

Nick Fink added: "You CANT - as soon as the Liverpool shirts are on you will have to transfer out , maybe for a hit."

The rules state that the move would in fact have worked, to have three Liverpool players and have transferred in Isak before the move (same with Guehi if it had not fallen through), but you would have to transfer them out to make any future transfers given the obvious rule break. So it might have worked but there's little room for manoeuvre should you have done it.