Leeds - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Written 17th July 2026 · Everything here very much subject to change, subscribe to the podcast/YouTube channel for all the latest.
This blog is part of Draft FC's Team-by-Team 2026/27 early pre-season series — see all 20 previews in one place here
Job done, now the hard part
Comfortable survival in 14th on 47 points, an FA Cup semi-final for good measure and year 1 back in the PL with mission accomplished. Farke stays - a new contract has been on the table since spring - and the club is backing him properly: the reported shopping list runs to 4 or 5 new players, including a striker, a winger and a centre-back (which are 100% needed if they are going to cement their spot in the PL). As I said in our season review pod - it's my opinion the back 5 shape that saw them improve was adopted completely by fluke after an excellent display vs Man City in the autumn. The question for 26/27 is will Farke stick with this system (which I know is not his preferred way) or if we see him try to revert to a possession-dominating back 4 shape? I suspect the latter.
The business so far
In: Harry Wilson on a free from Fulham, and I fully expect him to walk straight into the XI (and would suit a RW spot in a back 4 shape). Also they've just added Tarik Muharemović from Sassuolo, as a left-footed centre back option to replace Struijk.
Out: Struijk sold to Brighton for £18m - a savvy signing for Brighton at that price and this was a departure that could have easily happened last summer so no surprises there. Also gone: Meslier to Arsenal as backup and Firpo on a free.
How many draftable Leeds players are there?
First up, Calvert-Lewin - 14 league goals, 142 points, a monster season seemingly out of nowhere. And I'm still not thrilled about drafting him. The injury history hasn't gone anywhere, the club is actively shopping for a new number 9 and out-of-nowhere seasons at 29 are exactly what regression to the mean was invented for (à la Chris Wood). If he falls to the right pick, fine, but I won't be the one reaching.
One of the eye-test standouts last season was Stach and a player I would personally be far more interested in. 137 points, 5 goals, 6 assists, 20 defcon points - a proper all-rounder who spent far too many weeks sitting in waiver piles last season while people chased shinier names. Whoever Leeds add this summer, he's a player I like. The kind opening fixtures I think also cement him as a late draft option. Ampadu was a surprise performer in his own right; not an all-rounder exactly, but one of the more reliable bankers in the league for a couple of bonus defcon points most weeks - 38 on the season. Wilson will hope to bring his streaky magic across from Fulham, 10 goals and 9 assists last season, and while I'm fairly sure he can't do that again, a mid-round pick on a team that creates for its wide men is decent business. Okafor was feast or famine all year - 8 goals in roughly 1,568 minutes - a fun bench stash rather than a starter you trust, though interestingly has the highest FPL points per 90 at 6.3 and grew into the season.
The opening run
Quietly useful and worth planning around: Forest away, Brentford at home, Brighton away - 3 favourable games on the spin - before Newcastle at home, Palace at home and Arsenal away in GW6. Leeds are exactly the kind of team the opening-run rule was written for, a mid-table squad with only modest season-long appeal whose first 3 weeks make their average players genuinely worth a late draft pick. Wilson, Stach, even Okafor - snap one up late, harvest the soft start and make the hold-or-drop call with a clear head when the fixtures turn. If the new striker is in and settled by GW1, the same logic applies to him.
Early verdict
Too early to predict season fortunes until I see how their squad shapes up. Stach and Ampadu remain strong, Wilson would have been risky for me anyway so the fact he's moved means I'm unlikely to pick him up and Calvert-Lewin the name-brand regression trap. Check back once the window shuts, because Leeds might field one of the most changed or unchanged XIs in the league by September.
Stay shook,
Draft FC Mitch
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As I said, these previews are just some of my notes and early thoughts, my complete top 240 rankings live within our members area. The Top 20 reveal stays free so keep your eyes peeled for that episode in early August. The rest though, plus all our other member benefits, sit inside a Draft FC membership and if you want to find out more about that, head here.
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