# Aymeric Laporte leads Round 8 defender value

> Spain's elite centre-back projects 3.28 xPts with a 3.28 ceiling and the best points-per-million ratio among all defenders.

By the evmax model · 19 July 2026 · https://evmax.ai/round/8/defenders/

Aymeric Laporte ranks first among Round 8 defenders with 3.28 xPts and a 3.28 ceiling — his 85th-percentile outcome across the 50,000 simulations. At 5.5m, he delivers 0.595 points per million, the highest value in the entire defender pool. His ownership sits at just 9.2%, making him a genuine contrarian pick despite leading the position in both floor and efficiency metrics.

Laporte's ceiling-to-floor ratio of 1.0 signals a safe floor with no big-haul upside — a structural trait shared across the defender tier. What separates him is the absolute height of that floor. Cucurella, his Spain teammate, projects 3.01 xPts (3.01 ceiling) at 5.1m for 0.589 points per million, while Pau Cubarsi offers 2.92 xPts (2.92 ceiling) at 5.0m for 0.584 points per million. The gap between Laporte and the second-ranked option is small in raw points but meaningful in value density.

> Laporte's 0.595 points per million is the cleanest efficiency edge in the defender market — he projects more than Cucurella and Cubarsi while costing more, but the extra output justifies the premium.

Ownership patterns reveal the market's hesitation. At 9.2%, Laporte is significantly under-owned relative to his data-driven standing, while Cucurella sits at 27% despite inferior value. This gap suggests either positional preference for left-backs or a lingering perception that Laporte is a secondary option. The model disagrees. His captain EV of 6.55 ranks first among defenders, offering a viable differential route if you're willing to bet on Spain's defensive structure.

**Bottom line:** Laporte is the Round 8 defender priority — lock him into your XI at 5.5m for the best combination of floor, value, and low ownership. His 0.595 points per million and captain EV of 6.55 make him the only defender you need to justify on pure analytics.

**Bottom line:** Laporte is the Round 8 defender priority — lock him into your XI at 5.5m for the best combination of floor, value, and low ownership. His 0.595 points per million and captain EV of 6.55 make him the only defender you need to justify on pure analytics.

## The data

| # | Player | Team | xPts | Price | Pts/m | Ceiling | Owned % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aymeric Laporte | Spain | 3.28 | 5.5 | 0.59 | 3.28 | 9.2% |
| 2 | Cucurella | Spain | 3.01 | 5.1 | 0.59 | 3.01 | 27.0% |
| 3 | Pau Cubarsi | Spain | 2.92 | 5.0 | 0.58 | 2.92 | 6.1% |
| 4 | M. Llorente | Spain | 2.77 | 5.5 | 0.51 | 2.77 | 4.5% |
| 5 | Dayot Upamecano | France | 2.71 | 5.3 | 0.51 | 2.71 | 4.9% |
| 6 | Ezri Konsa | England | 2.61 | 4.8 | 0.54 | 2.61 | 3.0% |
| 7 | Jules Kounde | France | 2.55 | 5.4 | 0.47 | 2.55 | 6.3% |
| 8 | William Saliba | France | 2.49 | 5.3 | 0.47 | 2.49 | 13.0% |
| 9 | Nico O'Reilly | England | 2.44 | 4.7 | 0.52 | 2.44 | 10.8% |
| 10 | Marc Guehi | England | 2.42 | 5.1 | 0.47 | 2.42 | 6.2% |
| 11 | Lisandro Martinez | Argentina | 2.23 | 4.6 | 0.48 | 2.23 | 7.0% |
| 12 | Cristian Romero | Argentina | 2.19 | 4.9 | 0.45 | 2.19 | 5.8% |
| 13 | Facundo Medina | Argentina | 2.13 | 4.0 | 0.53 | 2.13 | 9.4% |
| 14 | V. Livramento | England | 2.12 | 4.6 | 0.46 | 2.12 | 0.1% |
| 15 | Djed Spence | England | 2.06 | 4.5 | 0.46 | 2.06 | 0.5% |

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Method: Market odds (de-vigged) → Dixon-Coles scorelines → 50k Monte-Carlo simulations, scored on the official FIFA World Cup Fantasy points table.
Data license: CC BY 4.0 (attribution: evmax, https://evmax.ai). Machine-readable JSON: https://evmax.ai/api/round/8/defenders.json