100 million quid might look like quite a lot (wouldn't turn it down as a Lottery win!!), but.... it's really NOT. Picking that first squad at the beginning of the football year is a real challange.
I like to start a new season (and returning managers might like to try this too) by reassembling my players from the end of last year. (all those that haven't transferred out of the League), and seeing how much they are over budget now. Since I've usually grown my squad value to at least 105 million by the end of the year, and since I have all good players, who often jump up in price by at least 0.5 or 1.0 million... it's usually somewhere in the 110-115 million range, occasionally even more.
Here's another fun little exercise you can try, just to hammer home how limiting this budget cap is. Don't look at the individual player prices, just quickly pick a full squad of 15 - all the players you instinctively feel are likely to be the best for the season. See how much that costs. It's quite likely to be at least 120 million, maybe even 130 million.
Suitably chastened? Right, now you can get started on the selection process properly.....
This year the big price change is Cole Palmer's record-shattering one-season increase from 5.0 to 10.5 million.
Though perhaps even more momentous is Erling's Haaland's 1-million pound bump up to 15 million, which, although it's a much more modest percentage increase, may shift him over a crucial threshold where - for many FPL managers - it just won't seem viable to have him any more.
However, two big price increases on the most popular players might not mean that much in isolation. You have to consider pricing in its global context - how much everyone else is priced at this time. Foden has also seen a big price rise. And, unlike last year, almost none of the other 'big name' players have seen a drop. Moreover, there are as yet very few likely starters at the extreme low end of the price scale (but that may yet change: be patient).
So, the initial budget is quite squeezed this year - in a way it hasn't really been for about the last three seasons or so. Hence, the initial squad selection is likely to be quite a disorienting ordeal even for some of the more experienced Fantasy managers; for first-timers just joining the game, it could be an especially daunting prospect. Have courage: the conundrums are soluble.
Actually, I am for once quite favourably impressed with the faceless FPL gnomes who sort out all this stuff. The aim of the overall pricing structure should be to make the first squad selection difficult-but-not-impossible, it should force you to make some really tough choices. They haven't really managed that so well in recent years. But this year. I think they have.
'To Haaland, or not to Haaland...' is the big question right now (and I'll probably address it in detail in a week or two). It is looking very difficult to include him along with more than one or two of the other most coveted, high-priced players... without leaving the rest of the squad extremely weak.
I would suggest making two initial drafts, one centred on Haaland and one omitting him. Then compare the two, and go with the one that looks strongest. (And if you really can't choose, flip A COIN!!)
But it's not just Haaland. Look at all the other players who are premium-priced. If they're at 10 million or above (6 million for defenders or goalkeepers), we might consider them super-premium. Write out a list. They might all be players that you'd really want in an ideal world. This isn't that world; this is a mean, cruel world - where you have to make tough choices.
See if there are any you can dismiss from consideration right away, as not being absolutely essential. Then assign a running-order of desirability to the others... the order in which you'll have to let them go, one by one, if the budget won't stretch.
Accept the necessity of making these sacrifices. It might be some of your favourite players, perhaps players who've served you very well in the last few years of Fantasy. Hard luck - they might have to go! It might be very vexing, frustrating, upsetting... but you've got to do it.
If you've got the list down to 4 or 5 players, you could stick them all in your provisional squad. But be warned, once you've juggled with the less expensive options elsewhere, you might find yourself still needing to consider letting one or two more of them go.
This is the dance. Get used to it.
