# Jordan Pickford leads the efficiency chart in Round 8

> England's goalkeeper delivers the highest points per million in the dataset, with best-value picks across all three price tiers identified.

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

Jordan Pickford is the Round 8 efficiency leader, posting 0.691 points per million — the highest value in the dataset. At 4.8m, the England goalkeeper projects a nailed-on 3.32 xPts with a safe floor and no ceiling (his 85th-percentile sim is identical to his floor, as is structural for goalkeepers). He sits at 15.9% ownership, meaning most squads have already locked him in, but the numbers justify the consensus: he's the most efficient unit available.

Across the three price tiers, the value hierarchy is clear. In the Budget bracket (under 5.5m), Unai Simon (Spain) leads with 0.777 points per million at 5.0m, projecting 3.89 xPts with no big-haul upside. In the Mid tier (5.5m–8.0m), Aymeric Laporte (Spain) tops the chart at 0.595 points per million, priced at 5.5m and projecting 3.28 xPts. In the Premium bracket (over 8.0m), Oyarzabal (Spain) edges ahead with 0.505 points per million at 8.1m, projecting a floor of 4.09 xPts with a ceiling of 7.44 — his 85th-percentile sim — a 1.819x upside ratio that represents the widest gap in the dataset.

> The efficiency gap between Pickford and the rest is narrow, but his price point makes him the obvious first move for any squad architecture.

Oyarzabal's ceiling story is worth isolating: he offers the only meaningful volatility in the Premium tier, with a realistic best-case outcome nearly double his floor. Lionel Messi (10.0m) and Kane (10.5m) both carry higher ownership (40.4% and 40.6% respectively) and lower value (0.48 and 0.478 points per million), making them consensus plays rather than efficiency edges. Laporte, meanwhile, offers a clean-sheet defender's stability at a mid-price point where most readers will be hunting for forward upside.

**Bottom line:** Build around Pickford (4.8m, 0.691 value) as your efficiency anchor, pair him with Unai Simon (5.0m, 0.777 value) in Budget, Aymeric Laporte (5.5m, 0.595 value) in Mid, and Oyarzabal (8.1m, 0.505 value) in Premium to lock in the highest points per million across all three price brackets.

**Bottom line:** Build around Pickford (4.8m, 0.691 value) as your efficiency anchor, pair him with Unai Simon (5.0m, 0.777 value) in Budget, Aymeric Laporte (5.5m, 0.595 value) in Mid, and Oyarzabal (8.1m, 0.505 value) in Premium to lock in the highest points per million across all three price brackets.

## The data

| # | Player | Team | Pts/m | xPts | Price | Captain EV | Owned % | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unai Simon | Spain | 0.78 | 3.89 | 5.0 | 7.77 | 8.5% | 3.89 |
| 2 | Jordan Pickford | England | 0.69 | 3.32 | 4.8 | 6.63 | 15.9% | 3.32 |
| 3 | Emiliano Martinez | Argentina | 0.67 | 3.36 | 5.0 | 6.72 | 30.0% | 3.36 |
| 4 | Mike Maignan | France | 0.66 | 3.30 | 5.0 | 6.59 | 8.9% | 3.30 |
| 5 | Aymeric Laporte | Spain | 0.59 | 3.28 | 5.5 | 6.55 | 9.2% | 3.28 |
| 6 | Cucurella | Spain | 0.59 | 3.01 | 5.1 | 6.01 | 27.0% | 3.01 |
| 7 | Pau Cubarsi | Spain | 0.58 | 2.92 | 5.0 | 5.84 | 6.1% | 2.92 |
| 8 | Ezri Konsa | England | 0.54 | 2.61 | 4.8 | 5.22 | 3.0% | 2.61 |
| 9 | Facundo Medina | Argentina | 0.53 | 2.13 | 4.0 | 4.27 | 9.4% | 2.13 |
| 10 | Noni Madueke | England | 0.53 | 3.22 | 6.1 | 6.45 | 0.3% | 3.22 |
| 11 | Nico O'Reilly | England | 0.52 | 2.44 | 4.7 | 4.88 | 10.8% | 2.44 |
| 12 | Dayot Upamecano | France | 0.51 | 2.71 | 5.3 | 5.42 | 4.9% | 2.71 |
| 13 | Oyarzabal | Spain | 0.51 | 4.09 | 8.1 | 8.18 | 10.8% | 7.44 |
| 14 | M. Llorente | Spain | 0.51 | 2.77 | 5.5 | 5.55 | 4.5% | 2.77 |
| 15 | Alex Baena | Spain | 0.50 | 2.99 | 6.0 | 5.98 | 0.2% | 2.99 |
| 16 | Lisandro Martinez | Argentina | 0.48 | 2.23 | 4.6 | 4.46 | 7.0% | 2.23 |
| 17 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 0.48 | 4.80 | 10.0 | 9.59 | 40.4% | 7.79 |
| 18 | Kane | England | 0.48 | 5.02 | 10.5 | 10.05 | 40.6% | 7.78 |
| 19 | Marc Guehi | England | 0.47 | 2.42 | 5.1 | 4.85 | 6.2% | 2.42 |
| 20 | Jules Kounde | France | 0.47 | 2.55 | 5.4 | 5.10 | 6.3% | 2.55 |

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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/efficiency.json