4 Budget-Friendly Alternatives to Free Up Funds in your Fantrax EPL Auction Draft

Figuring out where to spend big and where to look for value picks is essential to getting the most out of your auction draft. With the best players likely to command hefty sums, you may need to make a few concessions on other upper- to mid-tier fantasy assets if you want to secure their services on your roster. We've selected a handful of potential bargains who could offer you a path to spending more on your top targets. Look for more insight into auction drafts and other fantasy advice in our 23/24 Draft Kit. Pricing plan details here.

Check out our 23/24 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need. We've got a Live Draft Aide, Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Cheat Sheets, Strategy Articles, Draft 101. Dominate your draft!

Potential Bargains for your Fantrax EPL Auction Drafts

As I mentioned in my article highlighting essential strategies you should use to maximize your auction drafts, I'm a strong proponent of making a premium asset a priority for your fantasy roster, and also practicing patience to let some high-potential players slip through the cracks until the late stages of the draft when at least a few of your fellow managers will have exhausted their budgets. Taking the opposite strategy and building a balanced squad of not-quite-elite but also not bottom-of-the-barrel punts is a completely viable strategy as well, but in keeping with the "Draft for first or last, not mid-table" mantra, I think the more top-end potential you can add to your squad, the better. In order to do that and not hamstring your squad by filling it with a bunch low-value or extremely high-risk players, you'll need to be savvy with holding onto your remaining funds and spending them on the right types of players who have the potential to exceed expectations.

While the concept of a "Sleeper" pick doesn't really exist in an auction draft since players can be nominated at any time, there are definitely players who could offer much greater value than what the winning bid for them will be. The following recommendations are by no means intended to be viewed as like-for-like replacements of the players they're compared to but represent opportunities to pursue similar situations to their teammates or other players with similar profiles who are expected to require a greater outlay of your auction budget to capture. This list is also by no means exhaustive, nor are these players guaranteed to remain in the player pool until the late stages, so hopefully you can apply this same logic to other players as you progress through your draft (tip: highlight who they are on your player value cheat sheet).

Bernardo Silva

The Portuguese midfielder has had an inconsistent career with Manchester City. Some seasons he has been among Pep Guardiola's first choices for the team sheet, and others he's been a peripheral figure. He's been linked with multiple moves away, but as of right now he's still with the team as they prepare for the upcoming campaign and they're doing their best to keep him. With Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez both departing the club, there is ample opportunity for Silva to reclaim a regular starting role, either in central midfield or on the right wing. He had a down year last season, particularly in the latter half of the campaign (dropping from 11.3 PPS before the World Cup to a paltry 5.3 after), but still managed to finish 63rd overall. He also played a good portion of his minutes in a deeper lying role than where he's expected to play this season. With more minutes available for him to fight for, Silva could offer an inexpensive way into the Manchester City midfield in the event you're not able to secure the much more popular Phil Foden, Jack Grealish or Kevin De Bruyne. He's shown in seasons past that he's capable of keeping within touching distance of them (he outscored Foden and Grealish in 21/22 and was only about 100 points shy of top-5 overall scorer KDB).

Matty Cash

Unai Emery has been the subject of well-deserved praise after he came in and cleaned up the mess that Steven Gerrard left behind. Aston Villa rocketed up the table after the Spaniard came in and pretty much all their fantasy assets benefited, earning them a sizable jump up in fantasy managers' rankings as a result. One player who hasn't seen his stocks rise too much is Cash, who missed a significant portion of Emery's tenure last season through injury. With Ashley Young moving on, the Polish fullback should be first-choice on the right as long as he remains fit. The excitement around Villa assets have meant attackers and offensively minded players like Alex Moreno are in high demand. Especially given the injury that's set to keep the Spanish left back sidelined for the beginning of the campaign, there's a real possibility that Cash could be the best of the bunch for fantasy purposes in the opening weeks of the season, and potentially beyond. He's never been a top-tier fantasy asset but has on occasion delivered scores in the 15-20 point range to go along with a decent floor of ghost points. That's the kind of upside you should be looking for with your last few dollars.

Yoane Wissa

If you followed along with my Sleepers XI posts last season, you will no doubt be surprised by my inclusion of Wissa in this list. The Congolese forward weaseled his way into my selections on multiple occasions and let me down every time. He continued to tempt me, though, by scoring goals during the weeks when I didn't select him. With Ivan Toney's ban set to keep him out until after the new year, there's been a lot of attention placed on Bryan Mbeumo, and rightly so. The Frenchman's fantasy output improved in the absence of his strike partner and he's on set pieces, including penalties. Wissa won't have the benefit of dead-ball situations to help build his fantasy point floor but he has been called upon to lead the line in pre-season and has looked dangerous in the process. Wissa has historically been very boom-or-bust (returns of 19, 22.5 and 1 in his last three starts in 22/23 underscore this fact), but if he can make the striker role his own he can be a great third or fourth forward for your roster. He'll potentially have to contend with Kevin Schade for that spot, but the two of them could also line up together (with the German on the left wing) when Thomas Frank plays the 4-3-3 system typically used in matches against non top-6 opponents. Toney's eventual return means Wissa won't be a season-long play, but you're unlikely to find too many players who can offer long-term value at a cut-rate price. Half a season for less than half the price of his teammates and potentially some other more in-demand strikers could provide you with the extra couple bucks/quid to win a bidding war for a top target.

Tom Lockyer / Anel Ahmedhodzic

Promoted sides almost always offer up a few undervalued gems for fantasy purposes, as predicting how their respective teams will do in a more difficult division is always a challenge. Unless they've been in the Premier League before, we also don't have a 1:1 reference for how those players have performed from a fantasy perspective. Defenders, and center backs in particular, are a little less fashionable for EPL Draft Fantasy these days as the league moves toward a more possession-based style that reduces the number of aerial duels on offer, but there's still decent value to be found through consistent performers like James Tarkowski, Felipe, Dan Burn and Ben Mee. If you're not feeling great about their prospects, or if they end up on the high-end or above what you're willing to spend, both Lockyer and Ahmedhodzic are players who profile similarly in terms of their potential fantasy output. They may concede more than their counterparts, so the risk is obviously there for them to be far less attractive fantasy options, but you could also easily find yourself with a player who equals or even betters those more sought-after players for a fraction of the cost due to their high-volume defending.

Honorable Mention

Curtis Jones - The midfield rebuild at Liverpool has been completed, with a huge clear out and the arrival of a few high-profile transfers in Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai. With Fabinho on his way out of the club, Bajcetic out injured to start the season, and their rumored replacement, 19-year-old Romeo Lavia, not yet at the club, we could see a situation where Mac Allister is utilized in a deeper role at the base of midfield and Jones stepping into the more advanced LCM role he flourished in to end the 22/23 season. The England youngster may not be a nailed-on starter long-term but could provide some real value while he is in the first team.

Harry Wilson - With Willian rejoining the club over the summer and Callum Hudson-Odoi linked with a move as well, the Welsh winger may find himself in a battle for a starting role for Fulham yet again this season. However, CHO has yet to follow through on his immense potential and Willian is another year older. The uncertainty around minutes makes it more likely Wilson will be able to be added to your roster for a small bid, but he offers very similar upside to his teammates in those wide areas and could surpass both if he can nail down a starting role under Marco Silva.

Check out our 23/24 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need. We've got a Live Draft Aide, Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Cheat Sheets, Strategy Articles, Draft 101, plus so much more. Dominate your draft!

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