When it comes to FPL budget defenders, historically the teams that finish mid-table have been packed with them. However, last season was different.
Despite being the league leaders for the majority of the season, Arsenal relied heavily on a defense composed entirely of budget defenders, while struggling Liverpool’s full-backs appeared to be overpriced.
Newcastle United also had a fair share of budget defenders in FPL.
Anyways, the ongoing season is different. We’ve got budget defenders performing both in top and mid table sides.
Our main criteria for budget defenders is a price tag of £5.5m or lower.
Currently, there are over 150 players who meet this criterion, but many of them are not worth mentioning. Some won’t even see a minute of playing time, while others are currently injured or out on loan.
After carefully filtering out those players, I have compiled a list of recommended budget defenders for the 2023/24 Fantasy Premier League season. I will keep updating the list throughout the season.
Top 6 Best Budget Defenders:
1. Pervis Estupiñán (Brighton)
- Price: £4.9m
Estupiñán started the season at a £5.0m price and became an immediate hit in FPL. His price went up to £5.3m but is now back to £4.9m due to an own goal and then missed games due to injury between game week 8 and 18.
The only thing I don’t like about him is that he is currently one of the most selected defender in FPL. I thought he was underrated, and not many would know him, but his 21.1% ownership says otherwise.
With that kind of ownership he is a must in the team because you don’t want to give any advantage to other managers.
Anyway, there’s no doubt that he is the best budget defender in FPL.
If you are considering keeping him long term, be aware that Estupiñán’s points will depend a lot on which version of Brighton shows up to the games.
At times, they can be the most exciting team in the league, as demonstrated towards the end of last season when even lesser-known players like Enciso and Ferguson showcased their abilities when given the opportunity during that phase.
In high-scoring games, Estupiñán can earn you lots of points with attacking returns. Meanwhile, in close-call games when Brighton keeps a clean sheet, he often receives bonus points.
Estupiñán actively joins the attack and is one of the best out of position players in the league.
2. Axel Disasi (Chelsea)
- £4.9m
Axel Disasi is a good budget defender, especially considering the upcoming low difficulty games of Chelsea. Personally I’ll be very quick to transfer out Chelsea players if they don’t do well in the next few games.
They were lucky to get teams like Luton, Burnley, and Fulahm early in the season but the next few games will test if Chelsea is a well gelled team or not. If they can’t play well in coming games, they are not ready to face the big guns of Premier League.
Disasi is the best option to have from Chelsea’s defense. He is not injury prone like Reece James, and can do everything which means chances of attacking returns from him are high.
Check out his skills, goals, assists, and tackles for AS Monaco in a video below:
3. William Saliba (Arsenal)
- Price: £5.8m
William Saliba has emerged as one of the top defenders in the league since last season. With a price tag of £5.6m, he is a bit expensive but totally worth it. At the start of the season that price was just £5.0m.
Arsenal last season has demonstrated their ability to keep clean sheets, and Saliba has shown potential in occasionally scoring goals.
Although his attacking threat is not much, Saliba still managed to score 2 goals and provided an assist last season and has 2 goals and 1 assist this season.
4. Fabian Schär (Newcastle United)
- Price: £5.5m
Fabian Schär is another good choice as a budget defender because he was the highest-scoring defender in his price range (£4.5m last season).
He is the second-choice free-kick taker, which can further contribute to his chances of providing attacking returns.
Also, Newcastle United’s defense is expected to produce good results in the upcoming games because they are now past the difficult early-stage fixtures, and they had a whole international break to plan and make improvements.
I believe they will perform well from this point forward, especially with favorable fixtures on the horizon.
However, if they can’t deliver, it would be wise to consider not keeping Newcastle United players on your team any longer.
5. Kyle Walker (Manchester City)
- Price: £5.4m
It’s rare to find an attacking defender like Kyle Walker at a low price of 5.4m.
The City right-back had zero attacking returns last season, but it was a season full of injuries, and that was the only season in which he didn’t provide any attacking returns.
Currently, Kyle Walker is a regular fixture in the starting lineup, making him a viable option for your team, especially considering that City’s defense doesn’t concede goals easily.
6. Conor Bradley (Liverpool)
Bradley’s start of Premier League is a flyer. His FPL numbers are staggeringly good. Debuting against Bournemouth, Bradley provided an assist and in the next game scored a fantastic goal and provided 2 assists against Chelsea.
At his current price of £4.2m he is a steal of a deal. He is already transferred in by more than 7.4% managers and won’t stay at £4m around price for too long.
Check out the best highlights of Conor Bradley for Liverpool in the ongoing season below:
Best 4.5 Defenders in FPL:
Alfie Doughty of Luton for sure looks the best 4.5 defender in FPL. He has scored a goal and provided 6 assists in the ongoing season.
Other than him you have the option of Gusto, available in 4.2m but he’ll be in playing 11 for as long as Reece James is sidelined due to injury.
Luton is an reliable team both going forward and in the defense but Alfie Doughty’s numbers are best in the league in £4.5m price range.
Conclusion:
That’s all in FPL budget defenders. Transfer in some of them and fix your team now so that you can aim for the top 5% of managers list globally. That bracket will help you win the weekly, monthly, and season-end rewards.
To be successful in FPL, you always need a strategy to balance your team and play your best 11 in a way that if someone is not playing, a player from the bench can cover things up.
And to do that, you can’t fill your team with all the top and mid-value players because the budget won’t allow it and you can’t fill the team with all the cheap players either because then it will be impossible to score any good points.
I believe that a mix of these players can help you line up a solid FPL team with budget players who are at least starting the games and capable to score big.
So besides top players of the Premier League, you will need the gems that come at mid and low prices but are great squad players plus they have the potential to become the stars themselves.
And of course, you also need budget players, that not only fill your squad but are capable to contribute from the bench.
An ideal FPL defender is one who is playing out of position, playing regularly, and has a good offensive threat. Playing a player solely for a clean sheet is never a good idea.
Wishing you the best of luck. 🙂
