© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
It’s that time of the football season. Ahead of a new Premier League campaign, fans around the world would be furiously selecting, un-selecting, re-selecting their virtual squads in a game that has become almost synonymous with the English top flight. The Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is as much a part of following the Premier League these days as it is to be a fan of a particular club. And Mohamed Salah, the game’s record-breaking point-scorer, had a request for the powers that be.
Salah (£14.5m) and Erling Haaland (£14.0m) are the two most expensive players in 2025/26 FPL, where hundreds of thousands of Premier League fans compete in mini-leagues by selecting players with a virtual budget of £100.0 million. But he wanted it to be lower.
“First of all I want you guys to put my price down so everybody can have me in the team. I said that… before, I’m telling you in a video. Put my price down and that’s it. Now I am the highest. No! Put the strikers the highest. (Erling) Haaland should be the highest. (Alexander) Isak should be the highest. So not a winger has to be the highest.”
Salah’s price in the game is the highest-ever opening cost for a midfielder in FPL, the previous record was held at £14.0m by former Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008/09. Salah, while guilding Liverpool to the title with a stunning campaign, had smashed the record for the most FPL points in a season last time around. The Egyptian finished on 344 points for the season (players are given points every match for goals scored, assists, minutes played and so on). His tally was more than 100 ahead of his nearest challenger Bryan Mbeumo of Brentford who had scored 234 points.
It’s not the first time that Salah has asked for his price to be lower in the game.
“Why they should pick me? I give them good points, guaranteed points,” he added.
He has joked about it in the past as well. “It’s too expensive for everyone to buy me,” he had noted last season. In a January video, he quipped: “Please don’t put my price up, keep (Erling) Haaland more expensive.” The Egyptian was in the middle of another extraordinary season for Liverpool while Haaland didn’t quite live up to his high standards as Manchester City had their worst season under Pep Guardiola.
