The Premier League kicks off on August 15
It’s that time of year again, as Fantasy Football players across the globe begin to pick their sides ahead of the 2025/26 Premier League season.
With over 11m players, talk of drafts, picks and tactics will ramp up over the coming week, ahead of the top flight kicking off with champions Liverpool against Bournemouth on Friday August 15.
With a week to go, one Irish player in particular features in the top five of all players chosen so far.
Having made the move to Brentford this summer from Liverpool, goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher is the most-picked goalkeeper overall so far, miles ahead of the next most-popular, and the fifth highest overall.
At a price of just 4.5m, Kelleher has been selected by 31.8% of players so far, ahead of Arsenal’s David Raya (18.1%).
He’s fifth in the overall standings, behind Mo Salah (57.3%), Cole Palmer (53.4%), Joao Pedro (52.1%) and Florian Wirtz (33.1%).
Top five Irish players on FPL so far
Caoimhin Kelleher – selected by 31.8%
Nathan Collins – 1.7%
Jake O’Brien – 0.4%
Mark Travers – 0.2%
Matt Doherty – 0.2%
Kelleher is also miles ahead of the next most-popular Irishman. Brentford team-mate Nathan Collins is 147th with 1.7% of selections so far, followed by Everton pair Jake O’Brien (0.4%) and Mark Travers (0.2%), and Wolves’ Matt Doherty (0.2%).
Kelleher will be playing under fellow countryman Keith Andrews at Brentford this season, after the former Republic of Ireland midfielder replaced Thomas Frank.
“I’m buzzing, I’m really happy to be here,” Kelleher said in June upoin joining. “I don’t think it was very difficult for me to leave [Liverpool]. I felt for my own career that the time was right for me to go, to be a no.1 and to play every week.
“I heard of some interest a number of weeks ago. Once I knew Brentford was in for me, it was definitely one I was really excited about and wanted to do as quickly as possible.”
