How do free transfers and points hits work?

The rule, exactly

Before the first deadline of the season transfers are unlimited and free — rebuild as often as you like. From Gameweek 2 you get one free transfer per gameweek. Unused, it rolls over, banking to a maximum of five. Every transfer beyond your free ones costs −4 points, deducted from that gameweek's score.

Transfers are like for like — a midfielder out means a midfielder in — and the squad must stay inside £100m and the three-per-club limit.

Is a four-point hit ever worth it?

A hit pays when the incoming player outscores the outgoing one by more than four points over the time you will own him — not just this week. Swapping a blanked player for one with a double gameweek clears that bar easily; chasing last week's goalscorer rarely does.

The bank matters more than most managers think: five stored transfers is a free mini-wildcard, and it is the cheapest insurance in the game against an injury falling on a Friday morning.

Selling price — the rule that surprises people

When you sell a player who has risen, you keep half the profit, rounded down to £0.1m: bought at £5.0m, now £5.4m, he sells for £5.2m. When you sell one who has fallen, you take the whole loss. The asymmetry is deliberate — it is the brake that stops early managers' team values snowballing away from anyone who joins later.