The first international break of the 2024-2025 season is now behind us, but perhaps more importantly, so is the summer transfer window. The action heated up in the final days and hours, with plenty of ramifications for fantasy managers as well. Gameweek 3 kicked off on Saturday, August 30th, which meant that the transfer window was open for another couple of days before closing in the evening of September 1st. Some of the most notable transfers on the final days, from an FPL point of view at least, included:
| PLAYER | FROM | TO | DEAL |
| A. Isak (for) | Newcastle | Liverpool | £ 125 million |
| H. Elliott (mid) | Liverpool | Aston Villa | Loan |
| S. Lammens (goa) | Antwerp FC | Manchester United | £ 18.1 million |
| Y. Wissa (for) | Brentford | Newcastle | £ 55 million |
| B. Brobbey (for) | Ajax | Sunderland | £ 21.6 million |
| R. Kolo Muani (for) | PSG | Spurs | Loan |
| S. Chukwueze (mid) | AC Milan | Fulham | Loan |
| N. Jackson (for) | Chelsea | Bayern Munich | Loan |
| R. Hojlund (for) | Manchester United | Napoli | Loan |
| B. Chilwell (def) | Chelsea | RC Strasbourg | Undisclosed fee |
| V. Lindelof (def) | Manchester United | Aston Villa | Free transfer |
| P. Hincapié (def) | Bayer Leverkusen | Arsenal | Loan |
| J. Sancho (mid) | Manchester United | Aston Villa | Loan |
| Kevin (mid) | Shaktar Donetsk | Fulham | £ 34.6 million |
| R. Nelson (mid) | Arsenal | Brentford | Loan |
| O. Zinchenko (def) | Arsenal | Nottingham Forest | Loan |
Don’t forget, the deadline for Gameweek 4 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, September 13th, 2025. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per September 11th, 2025)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | Sels (NFO), Sanchez (CHE), Raya (ARS) | Vicario (TOT), Raya (ARS), Dubravka (BUR) | |
| DEF | Saliba (ARS), Wan-Bissaka (WHU), Frimpong (LIV) | Guéhi (CRY), Senesi (BOU), Calafiori (ARS) | Saliba + Frimpong injury doubts, Guéhi staying at Palace |
| MID | Palmer (CHE), Cunha (MUN), Wirtz (LIV) | Grealish (EVE), Semenyo (BOU), Enzo (CHE) | Palmer injury, Cunha injury doubt, Grealish + Enzo form |
| FOR | Wood (NFO), Watkins (AST), Ekitiké (LIV) | Isak (LIV), Pedro (CHE), Ekitiké (LIV) | Isak transfer to Liverpool, Pedro form |
Premium pick
It’s probably getting boring by now and we are just three Gameweeks into the current season, but we are doing it anyway: Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) is our premium fantasy pick of the week. In Gameweek 4, Liverpool are visiting newly-promoted Burnley and the Egyptian superstar looks primed to deliver at Turf Moor. He captained his country twice over the international break in Group A of the AFCON qualifiers, once against Ethiopia at home (2-0 victory) and once against Burkina Faso away (0-0 draw). Salah got 88 minutes and a goal in the first game, and 90 minutes without an attacking return in the second. This weekend, he will be facing a Burnley defence that has conceded 6 goals in their first three league games of the season (3 at Man United and 3 at Spurs). It should be noted though, that the Clarets also played one home game so far in which they kept a clean sheet (and scored three) against Sunderland. Nonetheless, Liverpool are a whole different kind of challenge than the Black Cats and we consider this a favourable match-up for the Reds and their Egyptian talisman.
Non-premium pick
Crystal Palace went into the international break off an impressive 0-3 victory at Villa Park, their first 3-pointer of the season. One of the goals was scored by their star forward, Jean-Phillipe Mateta (£7.5m), his first goal of the season. The Eagles got a tough opening set of fixtures with a visit to Stamford Bridge, a home game against Nottingham Forest and a visit to Aston Villa, but their schedule is clearing up a little now. This weekend it’s Sunderland at home, followed by West Ham away and we can definitely see Mateta continue where he left off before the international break. Last season, the Frenchman got 14 goals and 2 assists in 33 league starts, while the season before that, he scored 16 goals and provided 7 assists in 25 league starts. The Palace forward is growing into a Premier League mainstay, which makes his current price tag more than acceptable. On top of that, after the departure of Eberechi Eze to Arsenal, he now also has penalty duties in his locker. As a result, on the short-term at least, we can see Mateta racking up a few attacking returns.
The budget enabler
Tijani Reijnders (£5.7m) got off to a flying start at Manchester City with a goal and an assist at Molineux in Gameweek 1. Like the rest of his team though, the Dutchman impressed a lot less in the two league games that followed since then, as the Cityzens went on to lose against Spurs and Brighton. He played two decent games over the international break though, as the starting number ten for The Netherlands against Poland (1-1) and Lithuania (2-3 victory). Back in Manchester, it’s derby time as City are hosting arch-rivals Manchester United on Sunday. Like City, United have gotten off to a rocky start in the Premier League this season, but we still feel that the home side has the advantage this weekend. With the number of injuries in the Man City team at the moment, manager Pep Guardiola will be counting on Reijnders more than ever to provide attacking threat in support of star striker Erling Haaland. The Dutchman is also a decent budget fantasy pick for the longer term, as City are playing Burnley at home, Brentford away and Everton at home in GW6, GW7 and GW8, respectively. Next weekend though, it’s a visit to Arsenal for Manchester City, so keep that in mind.
The differential
Our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 4 is Yoane Wissa (£7.5m), who moved from Brentford to Newcastle for around £55 million at the end of the summer transfer window. The DR Congo international was brought in to replace Alexander Isak and we expect him to slot right into manager Eddie Howe’s starting eleven when the Magpies host Wolves on Saturday. Wissa played two international games over the break: one away at South Sudan (1-4 victory, 62 minutes, 1 goal, 1 assist) and one at home versus Senegal (2-3 loss, 74 minutes, 1 goal). In the Premier League, he is facing the current red lantern in this weekend, as Wolves have failed to take a point from their first three league outings. They also boast a joint-worst defensive record with 8 conceded goals. In other words, could Wissa have wished for a better debut game as a Magpie, who currently sits in just 1.5% of all FPL squads?
The (vice-)captaincy
Our captain for Gameweek 4 is Mo Salah as Liverpool travel to Burnley on Saturday. We don’t expect the Reds to simply walk over the Clarets, but we do feel that they will be too much for the home side. Our armband is on Liverpool’s Egyptian magician this weekend.
That other super premium fantasy pick, Erling Haaland, looks like a good one for the captaincy as well, as Manchester City host Manchester United. Slightly riskier picks for the armband include Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokeres at home to a Forest side that just replaced manager Nuno Espirito Santo with former Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou, Crystal Palace’s Jean-Phillipe Mateta at home to Sunderland, and Chelsea’s Joao Pedro for their visit to Brentford.
For further discussions have a look at FISO’s FPL forum where you can also see the FPL mini-leagues and FPL side-games available.