Maxence Lacroix: Chelsea's Fantasy Premier League Asset
Xabi Alonso has barely walked through the doors at Stamford Bridge, yet one of his first big calls in 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League is already staring managers in the face. Is Maxence Lacroix really worth £6.0m? Or is that premium price a step too far for a Chelsea defender in a new era?
The answer may lie less in the badge on his shirt and more in what he has quietly built over the last two seasons at Crystal Palace.
A centre-back built for modern Fantasy
Lacroix arrives in west London with numbers that demand attention. Stationed in the middle of a back three in a 3-4-2-1 at Palace, the Frenchman became one of the most reliable defensive assets in the game.
Last season he delivered 154 points, seventh among all defenders. One goal, two assists, 11 clean sheets and a hefty 40 defensive contribution (DC) points formed the backbone of that total. It wasn’t a fluke year either; his DC work has been elite over both campaigns.
Run the 2024/25 data back through the new DC metric and Lacroix would have scored 34 DC points, a figure bettered by only four defenders. He shared that 34-point mark with Dara O’Shea, while the likes of James Tarkowski, Jan Bednarek, Dean Huijsen, Murillo and Wout Faes populated the very top of that list.
Fast forward to 2025/26, the first official season of DC in Fantasy, and Lacroix went up a level again. Only Marcos Senesi (50) and Tarkowski (44) beat his 40 DC points. Tarkowski and Lacroix stand alone as the only defenders to rank in the top five for DC in both of the last two seasons. That is the profile of a specialist, not a one-season wonder.
If Alonso leans into a three-man defence at Chelsea, he is inheriting one of the best DC machines in the league.
The hidden menace at set-pieces
Look only at the headline attacking returns – one goal and two assists in each of his two Palace seasons – and Lacroix appears steady but unspectacular in the final third.
Look deeper and the story changes.
His set-piece numbers are those of a player on the verge of a breakout. Last season he produced 15 headed shots from set-pieces and 23 total shots from dead-ball situations. Both figures sat inside the top 10 among defenders. They also mirrored Arsenal defender Gabriel, who turned similar volume into three goals and five assists.
Go back to 2024/25 and the picture becomes even clearer. Lacroix led all defenders for shots from set-pieces with 27. Twenty of those were headed efforts, again the best in his position. Only Nikola Milenkovic and Virgil van Dijk could match that 20-headed-shot tally, and they converted their chances into five and three goals respectively.
The raw data is blunt: Lacroix gets on the end of a lot of set-pieces. The returns have not yet fully caught up with the volume.
Why Chelsea need exactly this profile
Chelsea’s own numbers at dead balls underline why they have moved for him.
Last season, only two Chelsea defenders managed more than three headed shots from set-pieces: Trevoh Chalobah with nine and Wesley Fofana with six. Chalobah’s 12 total set-piece shots topped the club’s defensive ranks, but that still fell well short of Lacroix’s 23 for Palace.
The rest of the Blues’ backline offered far less aerial threat. Fofana had eight shots from set-plays, Axel Disasi Acheampong three, Tosin Adarabioyo two. Reece James produced 10 shots from set-pieces but none of them were headers. Malo Gusto had three.
Now factor in the context. Chalobah is being linked with a move away. Fofana is sidelined until September. The path opens up for Lacroix to walk straight into a back three, potentially flanked by James and Levi Colwill.
Chelsea needed a dominant aerial presence to attack deliveries. Lacroix brings exactly that.
Colwill comparison: the numbers behind the choice
Colwill will also tempt managers at £5.0m, especially if Alonso opts for a back four and the England international nails down a regular role.
His best attacking sample came in 2024/25, when he made 35 starts and produced 14 shots from set-pieces, nine of them headers. Respectable numbers for a young defender still finding his feet.
Now lay those figures against Lacroix over the same period.
In 2024/25, Lacroix had 27 shots from set-pieces, 20 with his head, across 35 starts. In 2025/26 he followed up with 23 set-piece shots, 15 of them headers, again from 35 starts. Across those two campaigns he averaged 17.5 headed shots from set-pieces per season. Colwill’s best season as a regular gave him nine.
Even allowing for style and service, Lacroix is operating at almost double Colwill’s aerial volume.
Colwill’s 2025/26 campaign, limited to just two starts and no set-piece shots, can almost be written off. Lacroix, by contrast, has built a solid two-year body of work as a constant target in the box.
The Alonso factor and Fantasy risk
Everything now swings on Alonso’s blueprint.
At Bayer Leverkusen he showed he is comfortable with a wing-back system, and that naturally favours a central defender like Lacroix in a back three. The Frenchman’s DC pedigree and set-piece profile look tailor-made for a side that wants to squeeze territory, pin opponents back and bombard the box with quality deliveries.
Chelsea’s pre-season will be the first real glimpse of how Alonso wants to structure his defence. A three-man back line with Lacroix as the central pillar would immediately push him into the conversation as a “set and forget” Fantasy asset for those willing to invest heavily at the back.
If Alonso goes with a back four, the picture shifts. Colwill at £5.0m suddenly becomes a more attractive route into the defence for managers looking to spend big in attack instead. James at £5.5m will always carry upside, but his injury history lingers. The hope around both James and Colwill is that a season without European football can ease the physical burden and cut down the risk of repeat setbacks.
Is £6.0m too much – or not enough?
That is the real decision. For managers planning to lock in premium defensive assets and chase value higher up the pitch, Lacroix has almost every ingredient you want.
He ranks among the elite for DC. He is one of the most consistent aerial threats in the league. He joins a Chelsea side that desperately needed exactly his strengths at both ends of the pitch. If Alonso gives him a stable role in a back three, the platform is there for those underlying numbers finally to explode into goals and bonus-laden hauls.
The price tag is hefty. The upside, if Chelsea click under Alonso, might be even bigger.
