5 Players Whose EPL Draft Prospects Have Worsened in 25/26

In the EPL Draft Fantasy Football game, it's a sad day when we're on the brink of a new season and several previously solid fantasy assets have lost their luster. This happens far more than we'd care to admit and for many different reasons. The continuation of the five-subs rule, crowded and complicated dressing rooms, dips in player performances, and new transfers can all lead to fewer minutes and fewer opportunities for many key players. In this article, we'll discuss 5 Players whose EPL Draft prospects have worsened before the 25/26 season. Click here for details on how you can access our both our 25/26 Draft Kit and our Pricing Plans.

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5 Players Whose EPL Draft Prospects Have Worsened as Real-Life Realities Set In

The Premier League is flush with cash these days. We've seen financial injections from American billionaires, hedge fund managers, sovereign wealth funds, and something called a Public Investment Fund. There's no getting around the fact that the Premier League has been allowed to become a pay-to-play league. This, of course, leads to some mind-blowing transfer fees. But a trend we've seen more recently is teams paying exorbitant fees to sign elite talent merely to add depth to their overall squad or to provide motivation to their starters. We must be cognizant of these situations as fantasy managers, as once-great fantasy assets make moves to congested squads and likely see a sharp drop in EPL playtime. But, this can also be an unfortunate side-effect of European competitions and poor player form. Below, we'll discuss players who fall into all of these categories.

Bryan Mbeumo

A move to Manchester United or Tottenham appears imminent, and all indications are that Mbeumo prefers United. With a move to a higher profile team with presumably better players on the books, some may wonder why Mbeumo appears on this list. The answer, unfortunately, is fairly simple. Looking at it from purely an opportunistic lens would be enough, though there are plenty of other reasons to downgrade Mbeumo, which we’ll get into. Brentford had the 6th highest goals per match ratio at 1.74, including the 3rd-highest home split (2.11). By this same metric, Manchester United ranked 16th (1.16 GPM). Then, we need to go ahead and subtract the 5 made penalties from his expected fantasy points total for 25/26. To further complicate matters, we should also chalk off his 3 assists from free kicks. This, of course, fails to account for additional lost fantasy points garnered from set piece key passes (a stat that is much harder to nail down). The cumulative impact of these regressions could result in a near 100 point deficit. Ironically, this would still place him as a top 5 fantasy asset on the season.