Jarrod Bowen is now a forward, Omar Marmoush and Matheus Cunha midfielders and Myles Lewis-Skelly a defender!

Yes, it’s the annual Fantasy Premier League (FPL) positional switcheroo, in which certain players are reclassified.

There are 11 in total ahead of the 2025/26 campaign – and here they are.

Players who have changed position for FPL 2025/26

WHY THESE PLAYERS HAVE CHANGED POSITION

Much of the content below came from this speculative piece last month but it bears repeating as it’s effectively the rationale behind their reclassification.

MYLES LEWIS-SKELLY (ARSENAL): MIDFIELDER TO DEFENDER

Lewis-Skelly pretty much exclusively featured at left-back in 2024/25.

It started off as an enforced experiment in mid-December. Arsenal were without the likes of Riccardo Calafiori, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ben White for the UEFA Champions League tie against Monaco, leaving the Gunners short in the full-back department.

Lewis-Skelly excelled in the role, however, keeping his place for the Gameweek 16 clash with Everton a few days later.

The youngster never looked back, starting 15 of the Gunners’ 23 final league matches. Don’t forget that there was domestic rotation around the European fixtures, too: he was the left-back in all six Champions League knockout round ties.

Even with a reclassification, the England international isn’t massively appealing as a Fantasy asset – price dependent, of course. He managed just one attacking return in 2024/25, registering just three shots and nine chances created in over 1,300 minutes of pitch-time.

KEANE LEWIS-POTTER (BRENTFORD): MIDFIELDER TO DEFENDER

For a player who had never (so far as we can tell) started a senior match as an orthodox left-back before the start of 2024/25, Lewis-Potter didn’t do a half-bad job for Brentford last season.

He was an ever-present in the matchday squad, starting 36 of those games.

Left-back had been a problem position in the (almost) season-long absence of Rico Henry. Lewis-Potter wasn’t even the first band-aid: Kristoffer Ajer, Vitaly Janelt and Sepp van den Berg had all been trialled there in the opening 10 Gameweeks, to not much success.

Lewis-Potter, primarily a left-winger by trade, was then switched to the back four in Gameweek 11. And that was pretty much that for the rest of the campaign.

The £5.0m ‘midfielder’ delivered six attacking returns in 2024/25 – although three of those came in the first 10 Gameweeks when he was playing further up the flank.

Next season will be an interesting watch now that Henry is back fit again. Could we see Lewis-Potter as an ‘out-of-position’ left-winger at some point, now that he is reclassified by FPL? 

ILIMAN NDIAYE (EVERTON): FORWARD TO MIDFIELDER

The Toffees had contrasting fortunes under Sean Dyche and David Moyes but the two Everton bosses were united in one belief: that Ndiaye is not a centre-forward.

The Senegalese attacker played almost the entire season as a left-winger. There was the occasional appearance in the ’10’ role and the opposite flank, too, but not up top.

Just as an aside, no Premier League outfielder kept more clean sheets (15) than Ndiaye last season. He’s now eligible for clean sheet points.

MATHEUS CUNHA (MANCHESTER UNITED): FORWARD TO MIDFIELDER

Cunha looks set to take up the same role (left-sided 10) at United as he chiefly operated under Vitor Pereira.

Even before Gary O’Neil’s dismissal, the Brazilian had been plying his trade mostly in the attacking midfield positions, rather than leading the line.

That was seen as enough for Cunha to be reclassified as a midfielder.

By our calculations, he would have gained 22 points as a midfielder through goals/clean sheets in 2024/25. Ten, however, would have been lost through bonus.

That still would have seen him finish as the fourth-highest scoring midfielder in the game.

CODY GAKPO (LIVERPOOL): FORWARD TO MIDFIELDER

The Dutchman spent the vast majority of the season on the left flank.

In fact, not one of his Premier League starts came as a centre-forward.

As is the case elsewhere, life as a midfielder is more lucrative, Fantasy-wise. Gakpo would have been better off with a change (+10 goal points, +5 clean sheet points, -8 bonus points).

MATHEUS NUNES (MANCHESTER CITY): MIDFIELDER TO DEFENDER
NICO O’REILLY (MANCHESTER CITY): MIDFIELDER TO DEFENDER

One of the features of Pep Guardiola’s line-ups in the second half of 2024/25 was the use of FPL midfielders O’Reilly and Nunes in defence.

All six of O’Reilly’s Premier League starts came at full-back, as did 14 of Nunes’ 19 line-up appearances. The Portugal international hasn’t featured in midfield since December.

Nunes would have been better off to the tune of – by our rough calculations – 25 points had he been an FPL defender in 2024/25.

Seven assists was also a total that only one defender, Antonee Robinson, could better, although it’s worth pointing out that three of Nunes’ seven came when he was playing further up the pitch.

OMAR MARMOUSH (FORWARD TO MIDFIELDER)

There was certainly a case to change Marmoush to a midfielder: only five of his 16 league appearances came as a centre-forward.

We still weren’t sure whether FPL would recategorise him, having cast our minds back 12 months to a similar question over Julian Alvarez.

Alvarez played in an ‘8/10’ hybrid role for a big chunk of 2023/24, with less than a third of his 36 league appearances coming as a line-leading striker.

But Alvarez remained a forward before he moved to Atletico Madrid. Perhaps FPL Towers’ view was that City would only be an Erling Haaland injury away from Alvarez getting a string of starts as the league champions’ central striker.

The same applies to Marmoush this season – but FPL have reclassified him regardless.

RYAN SESSEGNON (DEFENDER TO MIDFIELDER)

No ‘out of position’ run-outs for Ryan Sessegnon on the wing this season.

He made three starts as a left-back/wing-back in 2024/25, four as a winger.

Given that he logged only 574 minutes of pitch-time, was there really enough evidence for a positional reclassification?

FPL have done it anyway, and he’s now a midfielder.

JARROD BOWEN (MIDFIELDER TO FORWARD)

Probably the most interesting reclassification is that of Jarrod Bowen.

His 2024/25 league starts were split almost equally between winger/attacking midfield (18) and striker (16).

But under Graham Potter, they came mostly as part of a two-man attack in a 3-5-2.

FPL had seen enough to rebadge him as a forward – which does dent his appeal somewhat.

RODRIGO GOMES (MIDFIELDER TO DEFENDER)

On the surface, probably the change that will least affect FPL managers.

However, Rayan Ait-Nouri‘s departure does leave a void at left wing-back at Wolves.

And wing-back is where Rodrigo Gomes was used in six of his seven league starts, as well many of his substitute appearances, last season.

Could he be the one to plug the gap left by Ait-Nouri, who delivered 11 attacking returns in 2024/25?