Fantasy Premier League Transfer Insights: Tzolis, Schlager, and Hughes
The summer transfer window has started to reshape Fantasy Premier League squads, and three new names dropped into the game on Friday. All three carry intrigue. Only one looks close to essential.
Tzolis: Big Numbers, Bigger Risk
Christos Tzolis arrives at Arsenal with the sort of headline figures that make Fantasy managers sit up. Seventeen goals, 23 assists, a title with Club Brugge. Those are elite numbers for any winger, never mind one now stepping into an Arsenal side that just won the Premier League.
On paper, £6.5m for that level of end product looks like a gift.
The problem is not the player. It is Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal’s 2025/26 title charge was built on a settled spine and a constantly shuffled cast around it. Declan Rice at £7.5m and Martin Zubimendi at £5.5m were the constants in midfield, starting 35 and 34 matches respectively and regularly playing close to 80–90 minutes. Bukayo Saka, even in an injury-hit season, was the only other midfielder to start more than 21 league games, and he still came in at 25 starts and a £9.5m price tag.
Around them? Chaos for Fantasy managers.
Leandro Trossard, Eberechi Eze, Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, Mikel Merino – all talented, all rotated, all averaging under 60 minutes per appearance. Every one of those attacking midfielders and wingers is now priced at £6.5m. Tzolis joins that queue.
That tells you everything about how the game views Arsenal’s wide and attacking midfield slots: explosive when they start, maddening when they do not.
Tzolis has the profile to thrive when he gets the nod. He can score, he can create, and he presses well enough to fit Arteta’s demands without the ball. But at £6.5m, managers are not short of safer routes.
Dango Ouattara at Brentford, Ismaila Sarr at Crystal Palace and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at Everton all sit at the same price point. Crucially, they offer what Tzolis cannot yet promise: security of starts. For early-season planning, that matters more than the romantic idea of catching a breakout Arsenal asset before everyone else.
Tzolis might become a bandwagon. Right now, he looks like a luxury gamble.
Schlager v Sangare: Forest’s DC Puzzle
At Nottingham Forest, the picture is very different. Xaver Schlager’s £5.0m tag drops him straight into the conversation for defensive contribution (DC) points, a category that has quietly become a key part of the game.
Forest have signed Schlager from RB Leipzig to compete with Ibrahim Sangare, also £5.0m, for the defensive midfield role vacated by Elliot Anderson, who has moved to Manchester City for £6.5m in Fantasy terms.
Replacing Anderson’s Fantasy output will not be easy. His work off the ball underpinned a stream of DC points that made him a specialist pick. A midfielder earns two DC points for hitting 12 Clearances, Blocks, Interceptions and Recoveries (CBIRT) in a single match, and Anderson lived in that zone.
Last season he averaged 8.3 recoveries per 90 minutes alone, part of a total defensive output of 13.9 actions per 90 across clearances, blocks, interceptions, recoveries and tackles. By comparison, Sangare and Schlager combined for only 12 recoveries per 90. Their total defensive actions per 90 came in at 11.6 for Sangare and 9.0 for Schlager.
The gap is stark. Expecting Anderson-level consistency from his replacement is unrealistic.
There is, however, a subtle edge. Sangare’s numbers suggest he is closer to that DC threshold than Schlager, and with both priced identically, he currently looks the more promising Fantasy asset. He offers more defensive actions per 90, and that is the currency that matters in this specific role.
Schlager does have one card to play. He has worked with new head coach Olivier Glasner before, and that familiarity could shape Forest’s first-choice midfield. Pre-season friendlies will be crucial to understanding who Glasner trusts at the base of his side.
Until that picture clears, Sangare is the one with the stronger statistical case. At £5.0m, he could turn into a quiet bargain if Forest spend long spells under pressure.
Targett Arrives, But Hughes Steals the Spotlight
Hull City’s addition of Matt Targett on a free transfer from Newcastle United brings a familiar name back into Fantasy at £4.0m. He will compete with Ryan Giles, also £4.0m, for the left-back slot in 2026/27.
There was a time when Targett was a go-to budget defender. In 2020/21 he racked up 138 points for Aston Villa, combining clean sheets with steady attacking involvement. That season feels a long way off now, not just for the player but for the game itself.
The introduction of DC points last season has shifted the landscape. Centre-backs, not full-backs, have become the main beneficiaries, hoovering up clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles.
Hull’s best defensive option reflects that change perfectly.
Charlie Hughes, priced at the same £4.0m, stands out as the real prize. In the Championship last season, he averaged 11.8 CBIT (Clearances, Blocks, Interceptions and Tackles) per 90 minutes – more than any other defender in the promoted sides. In Fantasy terms, defenders now earn two DC points for reaching 10 CBIT in a match. Hughes was operating above that threshold as a matter of routine.
That kind of volume can turn a budget defender into a cornerstone. Clean sheets become a bonus rather than a necessity when a centre-back is consistently hitting DC triggers.
Targett and Giles will fight for minutes on the flank, and one of them may emerge as a rotation-friendly enabler. But if you are looking for Hull coverage with genuine upside, Hughes is the name that changes the structure of a squad.
Three new prices. Three different stories. The real question for managers now is simple: chase the glamour of Tzolis, the grind of Sangare, or the quiet, relentless value of Hughes?
