Mike Maignan leads Round 5 efficiency rankings
France's goalkeeper dominates value metrics. Here's the best pick in every price bracket.
Mike Maignan stands alone at the top of Round 5's efficiency table, delivering 1.007 points per million—the highest value marker in the dataset. The France goalkeeper projects 5.03 xPts at a 5.0m price tag, offering a safe floor with no big-haul upside, as is structural for the position. At just 8.9% ownership, he represents genuine contrarian capital in a round where most managers will chase the obvious plays.
For those building on a Budget tier, Chadi Riad (Morocco, DEF) is the single best-value pick outside Maignan, posting 1.004 points per million—nearly identical efficiency—on 3.92 xPts at 3.9m. His 1.4% ownership suggests the market has overlooked a defender projecting clean-sheet upside with a ceiling of 3.75. In the Mid tier, Achraf Hakimi (Morocco, DEF) leads with 0.832 points per million, though his 28% ownership and 0.812 ceiling ratio (indicating limited upside) make him a crowded consensus rather than a true edge.
The efficiency gap between Maignan and the field is stark enough to justify him as a captain platform, not merely a bench enabler.
Giovanni Reyna (United States, MID) is the highest-value Premium option in this dataset at 0.751 points per million, priced at 5.5m with 4.13 xPts and a 2.158 ceiling ratio—genuine big-haul potential. His 0.4% ownership reflects either market blindness or fixture concern, but the numbers alone justify investigation. Ismael Saibari (Morocco, MID) sits just behind at 0.821 points per million with a 1.634 ceiling ratio, though his 14.9% ownership suggests some recognition of his upside.
Bottom line: Maignan is the efficiency leader and a legitimate captain option at 5.0m; in Budget, pair him with Chadi Riad (3.9m) for maximum value density. If you're spending into Mid or Premium, Reyna's 0.4% ownership and 2.158 ceiling ratio make him the contrarian move worth the capital.
The data
| # | Player | Pts/m | xPts | Price | Captain EV | Owned % | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chadi Riad MoroccoBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 1.04 | 4.05 | 3.9 | 8.09 | 1.4% | 4.05 |
| 2 | Mike Maignan FranceBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 1.01 | 5.06 | 5.0 | 10.13 | 8.9% | 5.06 |
| 3 | Emiliano Martinez ArgentinaBudgetSafe floor | 0.96 | 4.82 | 5.0 | 9.64 | 30.0% | 4.82 |
| 4 | Dayot Upamecano FranceBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.95 | 5.02 | 5.3 | 10.03 | 4.9% | 5.02 |
| 5 | Yassine 'Bono' Bounou MoroccoBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.93 | 4.36 | 4.7 | 8.73 | 5.7% | 4.36 |
| 6 | Facundo Medina ArgentinaBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.91 | 3.64 | 4.0 | 7.28 | 9.4% | 3.64 |
| 7 | Jules Kounde FranceBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.88 | 4.74 | 5.4 | 9.47 | 6.3% | 4.74 |
| 8 | William Saliba FranceBudgetSafe floor | 0.87 | 4.62 | 5.3 | 9.24 | 13.0% | 4.62 |
| 9 | Noussair Mazraoui MoroccoBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.85 | 3.76 | 4.4 | 7.52 | 3.6% | 3.76 |
| 10 | Achraf Hakimi MoroccoMidSafe floor | 0.85 | 5.08 | 6.0 | 10.17 | 28.0% | 5.08 |
| 11 | Jhon Lucumi ColombiaBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.81 | 3.47 | 4.3 | 6.94 | 0.2% | 3.47 |
| 12 | Lisandro Martinez ArgentinaBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.80 | 3.70 | 4.6 | 7.39 | 7.0% | 3.70 |
| 13 | Ismael Saibari MoroccoMid | 0.80 | 5.41 | 6.8 | 10.82 | 14.9% | 8.92 |
| 14 | Jordan Pickford EnglandBudgetSafe floor | 0.79 | 3.80 | 4.8 | 7.59 | 15.9% | 3.80 |
| 15 | Vargas ColombiaBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.79 | 3.38 | 4.3 | 6.76 | 2.5% | 3.38 |
| 16 | Rangel MexicoBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.78 | 3.03 | 3.9 | 6.06 | 6.7% | 3.03 |
| 17 | Cristian Romero ArgentinaBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.77 | 3.75 | 4.9 | 7.51 | 5.8% | 3.75 |
| 18 | Douglas Santos BrazilBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.77 | 3.29 | 4.3 | 6.58 | 2.4% | 3.29 |
| 19 | Lionel Messi ArgentinaPremium | 0.76 | 7.57 | 10.0 | 15.15 | 40.4% | 13.57 |
| 20 | Alisson Becker BrazilBudgetDifferentialSafe floor | 0.75 | 3.75 | 5.0 | 7.49 | 7.4% | 3.75 |
Bottom line
Maignan is the efficiency leader and a legitimate captain option at 5.0m; in Budget, pair him with Chadi Riad (3.9m) for maximum value density. If you're spending into Mid or Premium, Reyna's 0.4% ownership and 2.158 ceiling ratio make him the contrarian move worth the capital.
Get the next round the moment odds drop
50,000 simulations per matchday — captains, EV and match predictions in your inbox before lock.
Double opt-in. No spam, no tracking. Unsubscribe anytime.
How we get these numbers. Market odds (de-vigged) → Dixon-Coles scorelines → 50k Monte-Carlo simulations, scored on the official FIFA World Cup Fantasy points table. Ceiling = the 85th-percentile outcome across our 50,000 simulations — the score when a player's best realistic game happens, not a fantasy cap. Every figure here is machine-readable at /api/round/5/efficiency.json.