Ranking the greatest all-time fantasy football icons — SkimNews
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- Cole Palmer tops the ranking for his 2023-24 Chelsea season at a £5m starting price, having left Manchester City for more gametime and ending the campaign as the greatest bargain in FPL's 25-year history.
- Mohamed Salah is ranked second for his record-breaking 2024-25 Liverpool campaign that produced 344 points, and is the only player ever to top 300 points in a season, having done so twice; across the game's history he has reached 200 points in a single season eight times.
- Riyad Mahrez takes third for Leicester's 2015-16 title-winning run, finishing as that season's top FPL scorer with 240 points at a £5.5m starting price after a 15-point week-one haul against Sunderland rewarded the 5.9% of managers who started with him.
- Michu is ranked the biggest one-season wonder in FPL history for Swansea's 2012-13 season, where he bagged 190 points and 18 goals after being misclassified as a midfielder at £6.5m, having scored 15 La Liga goals the prior campaign.
- John Lundstram earned legendary status at £4m for Sheffield United in 2019-20, misclassified as a defender but playing as a box-to-box midfielder, returning 144 points with five goals, four assists and clean sheets that freed budget elsewhere in FPL teams.
- Harry Kane rounds out the top 10 for Tottenham's 2014-15 season, rising from £5m to £6.4m and racking up 191 points with 21 league goals including a 77-point, eight-match run from gameweek 18 to 25 that included nine goals, four assists and 16 bonus points.
- Charlie Adam at Blackpool in 2010-11 at £5m posted 192 points on penalties, free-kicks and corners, the highest score by a promoted player at the time and second only to Manchester United's Nani that season.
Why it matters: Cole Palmer's 2023-24 selection as the greatest FPL icon at just £5m redefines what 'bargain' means in the game's modern era, where premium assets like Salah cost 2.5x as much — the piece argues pure value, not raw points, defines icon status, and Salah's 344-point 2024-25 season is now the benchmark every future campaign will be measured against.
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