Thing is, as weird of an opinion as it is to hold, I don't think I'd mind missing out on top 4. In my view, the performances some of our lads were turning in before Solskjaer got sacked do not warrant a place in the CL, a lot of them simply don't deserve to be playing at that level and neither do we as a team based off our form this season. We only really got out of the group because we have the best Champions League player ever. As a fan we lose out on playing against the best teams, but maybe the players should've thought of that before getting spanked by fecking Leicester and Watford. The players who are leaving are going to leave regardless of whether or not we get CL football.
I get that, & I'm a similar opinion for us regarding a top 4 finish this season. It's obviously of huge financial benefit, but I don't think the team / squad we have is really a Champions League team, it's young & inexperienced in the main, & I think a season of Europa League football might be beneficial to giving more young guys games like Saliba, Balogun even starting to introduce young Patino to help make the squad stronger as a whole over the next 3 or 4 years.
However, I'm also aware that the more you are out the top 4, the more difficult it is to get back in generally. Plus, if you are up against world class managers such as Pep, Klopp, Tuchel & Conte, if you give them momentum & the means to build a squad in their eyes, then invariably they become very difficult to reel in.