FPL General: Haaland team v no-Haaland team

With Fantasy Premier League (FPL) live for 2024/25, we’re welcoming back our team of Hall of Famers and guest writers. Here, FPL General provides his latest draft for both Erling Haaland (£15.0m) scenarios – either going with or without the Manchester City superstar.

Is it worth paying £15.0m for the most expensive FPL player of all time or should the cash be spread around the squad instead? This is a dilemma I’ve been wrestling with over the past few days and it’s likely to go down to the wire.

THE HAALAND TEAM

Here, the front seven looks great but it’s a worrying defence and a weak bench. Daniel Munoz (£5.0m) and Pedro Porro (£5.5m) would be regular starters.

Meanwhile, if Valentin Barco (£4.0m) looks like starting the first few Brighton and Hove Albion games, he’s a great enabler. There’d be an attractive fixture rotation with Fulham’s Antonee Robinson (£4.5m) – Everton (a), Leicester City (h), Ipswich Town (a), Ipswich Town (h), Nottingham Forest (h), Nottingham Forest (a) – as the Cottagers top our Season Ticker for the first six Gameweeks. But the big question is whether we can rely on Barco for minutes.

Several of these players are very likely to be in my Gameweek 1 team regardless of the Haaland decision. There’s talk that Sam Johnstone (£4.5m) could leave Crystal Palace, which would cement Dean Henderson as my £4.5m goalkeeper. Munoz and team-mate Eberechi Eze (£7.0m) have been in every draft, as has Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak (£8.5m). He could even get the captain’s armband for the opening weekend, at home to Southampton. 

Rodrigo Muniz (£6.0m) has also been in most drafts but a couple of tweaks could help beef up this defence. For example, going for Joao Pedro (£5.5m) or Adam Armstrong (£5.5m) instead of Muniz and downgrading Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) to Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) would enable Josko Gvardiol (£6.0m) taking Robinson’s place.

Due to Liverpool’s fixtures and Mohamed Salah’s (£12.5m) FPL history, he’s very likely to make my Gameweek 1 line-up.

So if I opt for a Haaland and Salah squad, Chelsea’s Christopher Nkunku (£6.5m) is likely to be there too. He’s underpriced and could quickly become a must-have asset, so I think it’s worth taking a gamble on him. His pre-season minutes have been encouraging and, although the opener against Man City isn’t ideal, there’ll then be a great run between Gameweeks 2 and 7. 

THE NO-HAALAND TEAM

Happy tinkering, folks.

Make sure to check out General’s Orders on the Scout YouTube channel and the 59th Minute Podcast on all podcast platforms.

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