Ipswich's £4.0m Defence and £4.5m Forward Insights

The final weekend of pre-season usually strips away the noise. Rotations thin out, line-ups harden, and Fantasy Premier League managers start to see where the real value lies.

For Ipswich Town and Hull City, the answers were very different.

Ipswich: clarity at the back, chaos in attack

Union Berlin 2-4 Ipswich Town

• Goals: Clarke, Emersonn, O’Shea, McAteer
• Assists: Davis, Walle Egeli x2, Mehmeti

Gary O’Neil didn’t blink. Same back four as the previous friendly, same message: this is his defence.

Dara O’Shea, Issa Diop and Jacob Greaves – all priced at £4.0m – had been locked in a “two from three” guessing game for much of the summer. That puzzle suddenly looks a lot simpler. O’Shea has shifted to right-back, Greaves and Diop have the centre-back slots, and Leif Davis holds his usual attacking brief on the left.

On paper, it’s a back four. In reality, with Davis charging high and wide, it often resembled a back three. O’Shea’s new role already produced a highlight: a curling goal to cap his afternoon. It hinted at open-play threat, but that’s not really what FPL managers are buying with £4.0m defenders. They want DefCons. They want minutes and clean sheets.

On that front, Diop looks the safest ticket. A central anchor, fewer positional doubts, and no need to rely on the odd speculative strike to justify his place.

Davis is a different conversation entirely. Also £4.0m, but playing a different sport to the other defenders. He ended pre-season with more attacking returns than any other Ipswich player – four in total – and added another assist here, a whipped cross for Jack Clarke (£5.5m) to finish. At times, Davis was so advanced that Daizen Maeda (£5.5m) tucked in behind him, the winger almost moonlighting as a covering full-back while Davis surged on.

The question isn’t whether Davis can attack. It’s whether his attacking numbers can outweigh the pure DefCon reliability of cheaper, more traditional centre-backs. Recent history says that’s a tall order. Newly promoted stoppers like Esteve and Ballard were posting DefCons in around half of their starts in 2025/26. For Davis to justify the extra risk, he’ll need to turn that forward thrust into relentless returns, not just the occasional highlight reel cross.

Behind them, there’s a small cloud. Kjell Scherpen (£4.5m) has the shirt, but he hasn’t slammed the door on any competition. Union Berlin’s two goals weren’t howlers, yet both felt like saves he might expect to make. It’s early, but he’s not screaming “set-and-forget” just yet.

Higher up the pitch, the budget story took a more exciting twist.

Sindre Walle Egeli, listed as a £4.5m forward, started and produced two assists. One for Emersonn (£5.5m), one for O’Shea, and with it he wrapped up pre-season with the fifth-most minutes in the Ipswich squad. That’s not fringe territory. That’s “firmly in the manager’s thoughts”.

There is, of course, a catch. There usually is at £4.5m.

Walle Egeli lined up on the right here, having played as a No. 10 last week. Both roles are under immediate threat. Abdul Fatawu (£5.5m) is on his way back from a knock, while Julio Enciso is expected to arrive shortly. Once they land, the Norwegian’s minutes could evaporate fast. For now, though, he’s the £4.5m forward who actually does something.

Another subplot: Jaden Philogene (£5.5m) finally emerged for his first minutes of the summer. Last season’s 12-goal winger has been heavily linked with a move away, and his late reappearance doesn’t quieten that noise. If he stays, he’s a known FPL quantity. If he goes, Ipswich’s attacking hierarchy shifts again.

Hull: rotation fears and a £4.5m keeper under siege

Hull City 0-0 Nice

A goalless draw, a cautious performance, and a manager still clearly piecing his squad together. For FPL purposes, Hull look like a minefield.

Elliot Stroud (£5.0m) went straight into the side on the left wing for his debut, while three other summer signings were eased in from the bench: Lucas Gourna-Douath (price TBA) in midfield, and centre-backs Lucas Herrington (£4.0m) and Nobel Mendy (£4.0m).

Another new face, Joe Gelhardt (£5.0m), didn’t feature at all.

“Because he had an injury. He has an injury from Leeds, three weeks already gone. I expect in two weeks he will be on the pitch with the team. Right ankle,” explained Sergej Jakirovic afterwards.

Hull’s injury list is already too long for comfort, but at least there was some positive news. John Egan (£4.0m), Jens Hjerto-Dahl (£5.0m), Paddy McNair (£4.0m) and Liam Millar (£5.0m) all returned, with Egan and Hjerto-Dahl starting.

Look at the XI, though, and it still screamed Championship. Eight of the starters were part of last season’s promotion push. The sense is of a squad mid-transition, not one settled and ready for the Premier League’s opening bell.

That’s especially true at centre-half. Egan and Semi Ajayi (£4.0m) started this final friendly, but they feel like placeholders. Herrington and Mendy – the latter a club-record signing – came on for gentle cameos. It’s hard to see Hull spending that kind of money on Mendy just to park him on the bench for long. When he steps in, someone loses their place, and FPL managers lose any illusion of security.

With Ipswich and Coventry’s £4.0m defenders offering stronger early fixtures and cleaner rotation pictures, Hull’s backline looks like one to watch, not one to buy. Especially if you’re eyeing an early Bench Boost.

The uncertainty stretches right through the spine.

Up front, Oli McBurnie (£5.5m) currently has little competition. That may not last.

“I hope also we will bring, in a few days, another option for the striker position,” said Jakirovic, underlining that even McBurnie’s apparent security has a ticking clock on it.

In midfield, two £4.5m options – Regan Slater and Matt Crooks – are just about hanging onto their places, largely because several would-be rivals are injured. Gourna-Douath’s introduction felt more like a direct threat to Hjerto-Dahl than to those two, but Hull continue to be linked with reinforcements in the engine room. Every new arrival squeezes someone.

The match itself offered little to change minds.

Most of Hull’s danger came from set pieces. Slater and Mohamed Belloumi (£5.0m) swung in testing corners, with Egan, Hjerto-Dahl and Mendy all sniffing half-chances. From open play, they were blunt. Belloumi stood out as the one player capable of conjuring something, carving out Hull’s best move and forcing a save, yet he couldn’t drag the game to life on his own.

One position, though, looks nailed: goalkeeper.

Konstantinos Tzolakis (£4.5m) was excellent. His standout moment came late in the first half, when he produced a sharp double save to keep Nice out. It felt like a preview of his season. Hull will concede shots. He will be busy. For FPL managers, that workload might translate into save points, even if clean sheets are harder to come by.

Ipswich leave pre-season with a clearer structure, a live £4.5m forward punt, and a £4.0m defensive ecosystem that actually makes sense. Hull emerge with questions, rotation risks, and a goalkeeper bracing for a long, hard campaign.

The prices are tempting. The minutes are not. Who blinks first?