QUALITY usually comes at a cost in Dream Team.
The likes of Erling Haaland (£7.7m), Mohamed Salah (£6.6m) and Bukayo Saka (£5.8m) provide boat-loads of points but backing them puts a strain on a gaffer’s finances.
With that in mind, let’s run through the players currently available for cheaper than £3.5million who have racked up the most points in 2023/24.
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Miguel Almiron
The Paraguay international was one of the stories of the season in 2022/23 and he’s performed admirably again this time around but without the same end product.
Having scored five goals and provided four assists, he’s just Newcastle’s third-best midfielder at this stage of the campaign in terms of total points – both Bruno Guimaraes (£4.4m) and Anthony Gordon (£3.9m) are double centurions.
Almiron’s tally of 162 shouldn’t be underestimated though as it puts him above the likes of Moussa Diaby (£2.9m), Jeremy Doku (£3.5m) and Kai Havertz (£3.4m) in the rankings.
An industrious winger, he gets through plenty of tackles.
Andre Onana
Manchester United’s goalkeeper remains the leading performer in his position, 28 points clear of his closest rival.
The Cameroon custodian has been forced to make 143 saves in all competitions, the most among all keepers in the game.
Only two of his peers, James Trafford (£1.6m) and Wes Foderingham (£1.6m), have conceded more goals than Onana but the latter has quietly accumulated 12 clean sheets.
The ex-Inter man has copped more than his fair share of criticism this season but his points tally is undeniable.
Tomas Soucek
It’s a measure of the success West Ham midfielders have enjoyed this season that the Czech international, despite outperforming Gabriel Martinelli (£3.9m), Ross Barkley (£3.6m) and Dominik Szoboszlai (£4.2m), is only the fourth-best asset in his position among the Hammers’ squad.
Lucas Paqueta (£4.1m), Mohammed Kudus (£5m) and Jarrod Bowen (£5m) are all above Soucek in the rankings.
The 29-year-old has scored nine goals this term and he enjoyed a fruitful spell when he was briefly deployed as a box-crashing advanced midfielder but he’s dropped deeper in recent weeks.
David Moyes’ side have the advantage of three consecutive double Gameweeks coming up but Kudus and/or Bowen really are worth the extra budget.
William Saliba
The Arsenal centre-back is one of the most-popular players in Dream Team and with good reason.
Saliba has contributed to 15 clean sheets already this season, the outright highest tally among all defenders and goalkeepers.
The Frenchman doesn’t provide as much creative output as Ben White (£3.9m) or as much of a goal threat from set-pieces as Gabriel (£4.1m) but he’s a guaranteed starter for the Premier League’s best defence.
£3.4m is a steal.
Antonee Robinson
Amazingly, after a 14-point haul last time out, Fulham’s left-back is just eight points shy of Virgil van Dijk (£4.2m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.1m) in the rankings!
The 26-year-old is a particularly enticing option ahead of Gameweek 29 because he’s due to face Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, two teams currently in the relegation zone.
Robinson has earned 37 bonus points in 2023/24 – only Ezri Konsa (£3m) and Kieran Trippier (£4.3m) have more to their name among defenders.
Add in seven assists and a whopping 93 tackles (second most among defenders) and the USA international offers several routes to healthy returns.
Leon Bailey
Aston Villa’s No31 has scored ten goals and registered 12 assists this season having struck up a productive partnership with Ollie Watkins (£4.9m).
And it may be a smart time to back Bailey with the Villains set to fulfil seven fixtures across the next four Gameweeks by virtue of two Europa Conference League quarter-final legs against Lille.
The Jamaica international rarely plays a full 90 minutes but his attacking output has been mightily efficient in recent months.
James Garner
Top of the pile is a firmly underrated Dream Team asset.
The hardworking Everton midfielder has somehow amassed 178 points despite fact he’s scored just two goals this season.
Only two players, Joao Palhinha (£3.4m) and Vinicius Souza (£2.3m), have made more tackles than Garner (99) this campaign and just seven midfielders have earned more bonus points (37).
Truly a hidden gem.
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