Fantasy Premier League has moved eleven players between positions for 2026/27. Eight of them are the same event written down twice: four defenders have become midfielders, four midfielders have become defenders, and seven of the eight belong on the edge of a back line the game can no longer categorise. The exception is Lamare Bogarde at Aston Villa, a defensive midfielder used both at centre-back and at right-back.

Here is the list. Myles Lewis-Skelly at Arsenal, Bogarde, Keane Lewis-Potter at Brentford and Patrick Dorgu at Manchester United now count as midfielders. Mats Wieffer at Brighton, Rio Cardines at Crystal Palace, Ryan Sessegnon at Fulham and Eric Moreira at Nottingham Forest now count as defenders. Wieffer is nominally a number six, but the Premier League justifies the switch by pointing out that he played right-back in 2025/26. Beyond those eight, Junior Kroupi at Bournemouth has gone from forward to midfielder, while Georginio Rutter at Brighton and Omar Marmoush at Manchester City have gone from midfielder to forward.

What does a label cost? FPL's own rule set for the season gives an exact answer. A goal by a defender is worth 6 points, by a midfielder 5, by a forward 4. A clean sheet is worth 4 points to defenders and goalkeepers, 1 to midfielders and 0 to forwards. Dorgu therefore loses a point per goal and three per clean sheet. Wieffer gains as much on exactly those two lines, but the two are not mirror images, because the threshold for defensive contribution points follows the position too.

Kroupi is the most profitable of the three remaining switches. He scored 13 goals in 33 appearances last season from a number ten role behind Evanilson, and the Premier League puts his average at 134.0 minutes per goal. Antoine Semenyo, the fastest among regular starters in midfield, was at 188.2. Kroupi was producing midfield returns in a forward's body, and now he gets paid like a midfielder: five points a goal instead of four, plus a point every time Bournemouth keep a clean sheet.

The Dorgu case shows how late the bookkeeping arrives. Under Michael Carrick from Gameweek 22 the Dane was given only three starts, but he played left wing in all of them and scored in all of them. His 33.2 minutes per shot was the quickest of himself, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, and he created as many big chances as Cunha in over 800 fewer minutes. The information was in the minutes back in February. The position change arrived in July.

The strange part is that FPL has simultaneously made the label less clear-cut. Defensive contribution points are set at 2 points for defenders, midfielders and forwards alike, the same amount regardless of position, while the threshold for reaching them differs. A defender moved up into midfield therefore does not only swap goals and clean sheets for worse paid goals and clean sheets. He also swaps the terms on which the defensive work he actually does gets counted. One label prices three things at once, and none of them describes where he stands.

The reclassifications are not admissions that last year's labels were wrong when they were set. They are admissions that the roles got there first. Carrick moved Dorgu out to the wing in February, Guardiola put Marmoush up front, and FPL entered it into the ledger in July. Any manager who reads where a player stands this season, rather than where the game says he stood last season, has half a year before the bookkeeping catches up.

Fantasy Premier League has moved eleven players between positions for 2026/27. Eight of them are the same event written down twice: four defenders have become midfielders, four midfielders have become defenders, and seven of the eight belong on the edge of a back line the game can no longer categorise. The exception is Lamare Bogarde at Aston Villa, a defensive midfielder used both at centre-back and at right-back.

Here is the list. Myles Lewis-Skelly at Arsenal, Bogarde, Keane Lewis-Potter at Brentford and Patrick Dorgu at Manchester United now count as midfielders. Mats Wieffer at Brighton, Rio Cardines at Crystal Palace, Ryan Sessegnon at Fulham and Eric Moreira at Nottingham Forest now count as defenders. Wieffer is nominally a number six, but the Premier League justifies the switch by pointing out that he played right-back in 2025/26. Beyond those eight, Junior Kroupi at Bournemouth has gone from forward to midfielder, while Georginio Rutter at Brighton and Omar Marmoush at Manchester City have gone from midfielder to forward.

What does a label cost? FPL's own rule set for the season gives an exact answer. A goal by a defender is worth 6 points, by a midfielder 5, by a forward 4. A clean sheet is worth 4 points to defenders and goalkeepers, 1 to midfielders and 0 to forwards. Dorgu therefore loses a point per goal and three per clean sheet. Wieffer gains as much on exactly those two lines, but the two are not mirror images, because the threshold for defensive contribution points follows the position too.

Kroupi is the most profitable of the three remaining switches. He scored 13 goals in 33 appearances last season from a number ten role behind Evanilson, and the Premier League puts his average at 134.0 minutes per goal. Antoine Semenyo, the fastest among regular starters in midfield, was at 188.2. Kroupi was producing midfield returns in a forward's body, and now he gets paid like a midfielder: five points a goal instead of four, plus a point every time Bournemouth keep a clean sheet.

The Dorgu case shows how late the bookkeeping arrives. Under Michael Carrick from Gameweek 22 the Dane was given only three starts, but he played left wing in all of them and scored in all of them. His 33.2 minutes per shot was the quickest of himself, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, and he created as many big chances as Cunha in over 800 fewer minutes. The information was in the minutes back in February. The position change arrived in July.

The strange part is that FPL has simultaneously made the label less clear-cut. Defensive contribution points are set at 2 points for defenders, midfielders and forwards alike, the same amount regardless of position, while the threshold for reaching them differs. A defender moved up into midfield therefore does not only swap goals and clean sheets for worse paid goals and clean sheets. He also swaps the terms on which the defensive work he actually does gets counted. One label prices three things at once, and none of them describes where he stands.

The reclassifications are not admissions that last year's labels were wrong when they were set. They are admissions that the roles got there first. Carrick moved Dorgu out to the wing in February, Guardiola put Marmoush up front, and FPL entered it into the ledger in July. Any manager who reads where a player stands this season, rather than where the game says he stood last season, has half a year before the bookkeeping catches up.