The Best Premium Midfielders for FPL 2022/23

Premium midfielders are the backbone of every manager’s FPL team. Choosing the right one will make or break your season.

They are the stars of your team and often carry the captain’s armband, meaning the difference in performances is felt twice as strong as for other players.

We have looked closely at all the best midfielders in FPL costing £10m or more so you can set up the perfect gameweek 1 team.

Everyone who follows the Premier League knows what this man is capable of. Since joining Liverpool in the 17/18 premier league season, Salah has scored 118 goals and recorded 50 assists in 180 matches. That is almost an average of a goal or assist per game!

Mo started the 21/22 season on fire, recording 10 goals and 6 assists in the first 9 matches. However, his goal-scoring rate slowed in the back half of the season, which can be attributed to a tiresome campaign playing for Egypt in the African Nations Cup and World Cup qualification matches. However, Salah still won the Golden Boot trophy with 23 goals and the Top Playmaker award for most assists (13) which is a fantastic feat.

The rest over the World Cup break will serve him well, and could see him return to his top-scoring form. With the departure of his fellow winger Sadio Mané, Salah could take on more of the goal-scoring duties for the team. He is also expected to retain his penalty-taking responsibilities for the upcoming season.

Liverpool’s early fixtures include Fulham, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth & Everton, some great attacking fixtures for Salah and Liverpool. I would consider Salah king among the best midfielders in FPL, and he is the first choice in my team. 

Another stalwart of the premier league, Kevin De Bruyne is a joy to watch. His vision and passing range are second to none, and he plays a massive role in the success of Manchester City.

Above all Kevin De Bruyne is consistent, with 46 goals and 75 assists across 160 starts over the last six seasons. He has recorded three seasons with 16+ assists and two seasons with 13+ goals.

This season he is joined by goal merchant Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund. The link-up between the two players could make De Bruyne an even more attractive asset. Haaland scored 60 of his 62 Bundesliga goals inside the box. If De Bruyne provides the assists, he could become essential. Don’t be surprised to read “Goal: Haaland, Assist: De Bruyne” many times this season.

With early fixtures against Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace & Aston Villa, it takes a brave manager to go without the dutchman in their gameweek one team. The x-factor is how Pep utilises De Bruyne together with Haaland. Some managers might want to wait and see before tying up a big chunk of their budget on the midfielder.

Your team cannot consist only of superstars! Check out our guide to Mid-Priced Midfielders for FPL and Budget Midfielders for FPL.

Son Heung-min only seems to get better with age. The 29-year-old has scored 10+ goals for the last six consecutive seasons for Tottenham with his best tally coming last season with 23 goals (joint Golden Boot winner). A fantastic effort from the South Korean who also added 9 assists to his stats tally last season. His link-up play with Harry Kane has been on show for all to see and is expected to continue under coach Antonio Conte.

Son is also a regular over-performer underlining his world-class finishing abilities. Over the past 6 seasons, Son has scored 89 goals with an ‘expected goal’ tally of 61.3. This shows that he can score opportunities that many other players are not capable of and is a tribute to his class.

Tottenham come up against Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Fulham & Leicester in their early fixtures, teams that Tottenham could punish with devastating effect. In saying this, I believe Kane at the price of £11.5m provides better value for two reasons. One is that Kane is on penalty duties and some free-kicks, the other being that I believe there are more viable midfield options to choose from while there is historically a shortage of valuable forward options. I would recommend choosing Kane over Son. 

Raheem Sterling is the biggest wildcard of the lot when it comes to Premium Midfielders this season. At the time of writing, Sterling is looking likely to join Chelsea for an approximate £45m fee. Of course, it is essential to be wary of any player that changes team but in this case I feel there is even greater cause for caution.

For those of us who have watched the Premier League over the last 4-5 years, we have seen what Sterling at his peak can do, scoring 20 goals in the 19/20 season as an example. Sterling has taken up right and left-wing roles under Pep during his time at the club. He has provided width but also played the role of an inverted winger, tucking in and attacking the penalty area at his devastating best.

If Sterling can recreate his success in this inverted winger role at Chelsea then he could go on to become a great asset for Chelsea and your FPL team. On the other hand, Tuchel’s full-back heavy attacking style could see Reece James and Ben Chilwell occupy the space that Sterling once thrived in. Tuchel could tweak the Chelsea formation due to losing key defensive players in the off-season. I would recommend waiting and seeing how the team sets up and giving Sterling some time to gel with his new teammates (assuming he is transferred to Chelsea) before selecting him in your lineup. If he was to stay at Manchester City, I would also not recommend him for your Gameweek 1 lineup as he does not start regularly enough currently. 

Bruno Fernandes is one of the more divisive picks to start the 22/23 season. After bursting onto the scene for Manchester United midway through the 19/20 season, Bruno amassed 26 goals and 18 assists in his first season and a half (51 matches). He scored a hattrick in the opening week of last season before only scoring another 7 goals for the remainder of the season.

The downturn of Bruno as a fantasy asset can be tied to the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo has taken away some penalty duties that Bruno previously had a monopoly over. Ronaldo also plays as a spearhead of the Manchester United attack which causes Bruno to be shifted to more of a playmaking role where in the past he would be making late runs into the penalty area.

The important predictors for Bruno’s FPL success will be the future of Cristiano Ronaldo (if he chooses to leave the club) and if new coach Erik Ten Hag creates a system which supports Bruno’s abilities.

 If Ronaldo leaves and Bruno plays the number 10 position or possibly a false 9 while also being on penalty and free-kick duty, he could be a fantastic choice at £10m. However, I would highly suggest leaving him out of your initial lineup and keeping a close eye on him as the season advances.

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