The summer window opened on 15 June and closes on 1 September at 23:00 BST — a week after Gameweek 2’s deadline. That means the first two gameweeks of 2026/27 will be played against a moving backdrop: squads still assembling, systems still settling, and at least one giant of the FPL board — Mohamed Salah — still without a club.
We’ve pulled the official FPL API snapshot of 5 August, matched every confirmed Premier League move of the window to its new price, and worked out what it changes. Prices and ownership below are live FPL values; fees are as reported by the clubs and the major wires.
The window in one table
The moves that move the needle — every player already priced into the official game:
| Player | From → To | Fee (reported) | FPL price | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandro Tonali | Newcastle → Tottenham | £92.5m | £5.5m MID | 4.0% |
| Mateus Fernandes | West Ham → Tottenham | £85m | £6.0m MID | 3.6% |
| Jan Paul van Hecke | Brighton → Tottenham | £52m | £5.0m DEF | 8.3% |
| Marcos Senesi | Bournemouth → Tottenham | Free | £6.0m DEF | 10.9% |
| Morgan Rogers | Aston Villa → Chelsea | Undisclosed | £7.5m MID | 30.4% |
| Maxence Lacroix | Crystal Palace → Chelsea | Undisclosed | £6.0m DEF | 12.0% |
| Marco Palestra | Atalanta → Chelsea | £43m | £5.5m DEF | 1.5% |
| Danny Welbeck | Brighton → Chelsea | Free | £6.0m FWD | 2.8% |
| Andrey Santos | Chelsea → Man Utd | £48m | £5.0m MID | 1.4% |
| Youri Tielemans | Aston Villa → Man Utd | £35m | £6.0m MID | 0.9% |
| Karl Darlow | Leeds → Man Utd | Free | £4.5m GK | 0.1% |
| Rasmus Højlund | Man Utd → Napoli | £43.2m | — | — |
| Marc Cucurella | Chelsea → Real Madrid | £51.8m | — | — |
| Alejandro Garnacho | Chelsea → Aston Villa | Loan | £6.0m MID | 1.1% |
| Luka Vuskovic | Tottenham → Brighton | £50m | £5.0m DEF | 3.0% |
| Tyrique George | Chelsea → Everton | £24m | £5.5m MID | 0.1% |
| Merlin Röhl | Freiburg → Everton | £17.3m | £5.0m MID | 0.1% |
| Bazoumana Touré | Hoffenheim → Newcastle | £42m | £6.0m MID | 0.2% |
| Issa Diop | Fulham → Ipswich | £8.5m | £4.0m DEF | 19.8% |
| Daizen Maeda | Celtic → Ipswich | £10m | £5.5m MID | 0.4% |
And the move that isn’t on the board at all: Mohamed Salah left Liverpool on a free and, as of this snapshot, remains without a club after talks with Besiktas collapsed. The most reliable premium midfielder of the past decade is, for now, not an FPL asset.
Tottenham — the £200m spine under De Zerbi
No club has reshaped its identity more aggressively. Tonali (£5.5m) is the engine the club has lacked since Modrić left — a ball-winning, box-crashing midfielder at a bargain price. Mateus Fernandes (£6.0m) is the creator, van Hecke (£5.0m) the ball-playing centre-back Brighton built their build-up around, and Senesi (£6.0m, free from Bournemouth) arrives with last season’s quiet set-piece monster profile — 6.22 xGI from centre-back. Four signings, all between £5.0m and £6.0m. Roberto De Zerbi’s high-risk, high-possession system is exactly the kind of environment where this defence and Tonali’s late arrivals earn bonus and attacking returns. Kinsky (£4.5m GK, 18.7% owned) remains the budget keeper play, and Solanke (£6.0m FWD, 2.5%) — now third-fiddle to no one — is this season’s forgotten differential.
Chelsea — the Xabi Alonso reload
Tenth place, new manager, new identity. The attack now runs through Morgan Rogers (£7.5m, 30.4%) — England’s World Cup midfielder, already the summer’s most-bought new signing. João Pedro (£7.5m FWD, 54.6%) remains the single most-owned striker in the game, and with Welbeck (free), Emegha and N. Jackson around him, there is no shortage of bodies — the question is which system Xabi Alonso settles on. Defensively it’s a full reset: Cucurella is gone to Real Madrid (£51.8m), Lacroix (£6.0m DEF, 12.0%) and Palestra (£5.5m) arrive, and Garnacho was loaned to Aston Villa. Chelsea’s early fixtures (Fulham away, Brighton home, Arsenal away) are the window’s least friendly, which is exactly why Rogers’ 30% ownership is a bet on the system rather than the schedule. Watch pre-season.
Manchester United — the attack is the rebuild
United spent the window confirming what the xG ledger already suspected: the cutting edge matters more than the goalkeeper. Mbeumo (£8.0m, 17.4%), Cunha (£8.0m, 14.3%) and Šeško (£7.0m) — over £200m of firepower — join B.Fernandes (£12.0m, 48.7%), still the league’s most expensive midfielder now that Salah is gone. Højlund is at Napoli, Onana is on another Trabzonspor loan, and the gloves now belong to Senne Lammens (£5.0m GK, 20.3%) — a first-choice keeper at a mid-range price in a defence that opens with Hull away, Ipswich home and Everton away. The midfield depth is real too: Andrey Santos (£5.0m) and Tielemans (£6.0m, listed doubtful) give Amorim the control he lacked. United’s GW1-3 run is the friendliest of any big six club.
Aston Villa — the cost of the Chelsea raid
Villa sold their two best creators in one window: Rogers to Chelsea and Tielemans to United. Watkins (£8.0m, 12.4%) now leads an attack whose supply line is being rebuilt around Garnacho (loan, £6.0m MID) — direct, explosive, but a winger rather than a chance-manufacturer. The fixture data is unkind early (Coventry home aside), and with Rogers’ 30.4% ownership now living at Stamford Bridge, Villa’s assets are wait-and-see until the new shape appears.
Newcastle — life after Tonali
The £92.5m departure of Tonali leaves Bruno Guimarães (£7.0m MID, 8.7%) as the undisputed engine — set-piece, penalty and transition responsibility all flow through him now. The replacements are wide rather than central: Touré (£6.0m) and Bamba (£5.0m) add the pace the xG article flagged Newcastle lacked. Bruno G. was already the club’s pick; he’s now the club’s only pick.
Elsewhere on the board
- Man City: Rodri (back surgery) is listed injured — the midfield pivot is out of the opening weeks, which is a knock to City’s control, not to Haaland (£15.5m, 74.9%). The Norwegian remains the single most efficient asset in the game, and Bournemouth at home in GW1 is the season’s most predictable captaincy.
- Brighton: sold van Hecke (£52m) and lost Welbeck (free) while buying Vuskovic (£5.0m DEF) — a genuine top-four-profile centre-back at 19. Brighton’s attack is now Minteh and Mitoma’s to carry.
- Liverpool: Salah is gone and Ekitiké (£7.5m FWD) is listed injured — the Reds’ FPL story is wait-and-see until the new manager’s front line is legible.
- Everton: Tyrique George (£5.5m) and Röhl (£5.0m) are young, cheap and exciting, but Ndiaye (£6.0m, 16.7%) remains the pick of the budget mids.
- Promoted trio: Diop (£4.0m DEF, 19.8%) is this season’s bench-fodder king at Ipswich, and Maeda (£5.5m MID) — 79 goals in 212 games for Celtic — is the cheap differential if Kieran McKenna’s shape suits him.
The best course of action
- Lock the anchor spine. Haaland (£15.5m), B.Fernandes (£12.0m) and one of João Pedro/Saka/Gyökeres. The Salah era is over; these are the new non-negotiables, and their combined ownership is the market’s verdict.
- Buy the new systems at value. Tonali (£5.5m), Senesi (£6.0m) and van Hecke (£5.0m) are all priced below where a De Zerbi-side premium normally lands. Rogers (£7.5m) is the one Chelsea bet worth taking early — but wait for pre-season confirmation of the Alonso XI before committing a second Chelsea slot.
- Do not draft the injured. Rodri, Saliba, Ekitiké (all listed injured) and the doubtfuls — Tielemans, Šeško, Darlow, Joelinton, Emegha — are traps until the status flags clear.
- Hold your second transfer and £0.5-1.0m in the bank. The window closes 1 September, after GW2. Salah’s destination, Arsenal’s reported interest in Vinícius Jr, and the late-loan market can all reshuffle the premium tier while your squad is live.
- Captaincy through GW1-3: Haaland (Bournemouth H, Palace A, Coventry H) is the season’s easiest start. The only reason to deviate is contrarianism, and contrarianism doesn’t outscore a 74.9%-owned striker three times in a row.
The window isn’t shut, the squads aren’t final, and the systems aren’t proven. But the board has been redrawn — Salah gone, Spurs spending like a title contender, United’s attack stacked, and Chelsea betting on Xabi’s rebuild. Buy the spine, ride the value, keep powder dry for 1 September. That’s the way the commentary desk calls it.
Methodology & credit: All prices, positions, ownership percentages and injury statuses are from the official FPL API bootstrap-static snapshot of 5 August 2026. Transfer fees are as reported by BBC Sport, Sky Sports, ESPN and the clubs’ official announcements; figures marked “reported” may differ between sources. Prior-season xG/xA references draw on the FPL Core Insights dataset (github.com/olbauday/FPL-Core-Insights), which sources expected-stats from the official FPL API (Opta model). The transfer window closes 1 September 2026 at 23:00 BST; Gameweek 1 begins Friday 21 August.