Squad building for 2024-2025

Why would we assume no European football when we're two wins away from a Europa League spot?

OUT:
Bayindir
Varane, Lindelof, Evans
Shaw/Malacia
Amrabat, Casemiro, Eriksen, Hannibal, Donny
Pellistri, Sancho?, Antony, Martial, Greenwood

That is 15 out, a bit unrealistic...

Keep.
Onana, Dalot, Maguire, Mainoo, Bruno, Garnacho, Hojlund, Amad, Martinez, Shaw.

Pellistri, Donny, Greenwood, Eriksen, Sancho and Casemiro all need to go for various reasons. All the rest are depending on the offers we receive and the players we'll be able to recruit.

I wouldn't expect a major overhaul this summer if I am honest, I think they are going to bring in maybe 3. Shift whatever dead weight they can but without the full football structure in place I can envision a situation whereby they give ten Hag the last year of his deal with what he has largely put in place. Before starting serious moves next summer.

Stobzilla said:

I wouldn't expect a major overhaul this summer if I am honest, I think they are going to bring in maybe 3. Shift whatever dead weight they can but without the full football structure in place I can envision a situation whereby they give ten Hag the last year of his deal with what he has largely put in place. Before starting serious moves next summer.

Click to expand...

We're not operating on Glazer / Woodward time now, we have an experienced team of operators working beneath a man who knows that time is money.

I believe (hope) the days of us fixating on one transfer all Summer are long gone. I expect us to move much more decisively and swiftly from herein out.

Also, the manager is irrelevant in all of that. It doesn't matter whether we stick with EtH or make a change, Ashworth and the team will have plans

Stobzilla said:

I wouldn't expect a major overhaul this summer if I am honest, I think they are going to bring in maybe 3. Shift whatever dead weight they can but without the full football structure in place I can envision a situation whereby they give ten Hag the last year of his deal with what he has largely put in place. Before starting serious moves next summer.

Click to expand...

I expect more than 3, just from the fact Varane, Martial and Amrabat leaving at the end of the season. That doesn't take into account that Greenwood and Sancho will leave too.

Lash said:

I expect more than 3, just from the fact Varane, Martial and Amrabat leaving at the end of the season. That doesn't take into account that Greenwood and Sancho will leave too.

Click to expand...

I don't disagree, I am just stating what I think WILL happen rather than what I expect/want to happen. I think the pair of Greenwood and Sancho will be moved on as you say.

I think Erik, as part of INEOS determining his suitability for a new contract will be asked to do more with less. He has ideal enough conditions to manage fitness with no Europe next season so the need for a bigger squad is probably reduced in the eyes of INEOS.

Leaves us with the following going into the season (Prospective Youth Team candidates for a spot in brackets where I can think of one right now), a couple of these may be sold, obviously big question marks remain over Rashford but right now I think he will be asked to work with:

Andre Onana
Altay Bayindir
Radek Vitek or Tom Heaton
(Ely Harrison)
------------------------------------------------
Diogo Dalot
Aaron Wan Bissaka
(Ogunneye)
------------------------------------------------
Harry Maguire
Lisandro Martinez
Victor Lindelof
New Signing 1
Johnny Evans - I think he will be given another year or perhaps be our signing primarily for the reserves ala Tom Huddlestone
(Willy Kambwala)
------------------------------------------------
Luke Shaw
Tyrell Malacia
(Harry Amass)
------------------------------------------------
Kobbie Mainoo
Casemiro
Christian Eriksen
Scott Mctominay
New Signing 2
(Toby Collyer)
------------------------------------------------
Amad Diallo
Anthony
(Omari Forson)
------------------------------------------------
Bruno Fernandes
Mason Mount
(James Scanlon)
------------------------------------------------
Alejandro Garnacho
Marcus Rashford
(Ethan Williams)
------------------------------------------------
Rasmus Hojlund
New Signing 3
(Ethan Wheatley)

Stobzilla said:

I don't disagree, I am just stating what I think WILL happen rather than what I expect/want to happen. I think the pair of Greenwood and Sancho will be moved on as you say.

I think Erik, as part of INEOS determining his suitability for a new contract will be asked to do more with less. He has ideal enough conditions to manage fitness with no Europe next season so the need for a bigger squad is probably reduced in the eyes of INEOS.

Leaves us with the following going into the season (Prospective Youth Team candidates for a spot in brackets where I can think of one right now), a couple of these may be sold, obviously big question marks remain over Rashford but right now I think he will be asked to work with:

Andre Onana
Altay Bayindir
Radek Vitek or Tom Heaton
(Ely Harrison)
------------------------------------------------
Diogo Dalot
Aaron Wan Bissaka
(Ogunneye)
------------------------------------------------
Harry Maguire
Lisandro Martinez
Victor Lindelof
New Signing 1
Johnny Evans - I think he will be given another year or perhaps be our signing primarily for the reserves ala Tom Huddlestone
(Willy Kambwala)
------------------------------------------------
Luke Shaw
Tyrell Malacia
(Harry Amass)
------------------------------------------------
Kobbie Mainoo
Casemiro
Christian Eriksen
Scott Mctominay
New Signing 2
(Toby Collyer)
------------------------------------------------
Amad Diallo
Anthony
(Omari Forson)
------------------------------------------------
Bruno Fernandes
Mason Mount
(James Scanlon)
------------------------------------------------
Alejandro Garnacho
Marcus Rashford
(Ethan Williams)
------------------------------------------------
Rasmus Hojlund
New Signing 3
(Ethan Wheatley)

Click to expand...

Thank for the squad breakdown, very helpful for discussion.

I do actually agree with the general premise of what you're saying but for me I think there are few more obvious candidates that will leave:


Andre Onana
Altay Bayindir/New signing 1 (No. 6 priority) - very questionable whether he stays
Radek Vitek or Tom Heaton
(Ely Harrison)
------------------------------------------------
Diogo Dalot
Aaron Wan Bissaka/New signing 2 (No. 5 priority) - I think he's gone, likely replaced with someone cheap but attacking in nature (I would suggest Dumfries).
(Ogunneye)
------------------------------------------------
Harry Maguire
Lisandro Martinez
Victor Lindelof
New Signing 3 (No 1. priority) - We can't go into the season without a new CB.
Johnny Evans - I think it is possible he will be given another year, but I doubt it. I don't think we'll need more than 4 CBs if we're not in Europe though.
(Willy Kambwala)
------------------------------------------------
Luke Shaw
Tyrell Malacia
New signing 4 (No. 2 Priority) - I don't there's a chance in hell we don't sign a LB in the summer based on what's happened this season. I probably expect Malacia to potentially get a loan in a less physically demanding league.
(Harry Amass)
------------------------------------------------
Kobbie Mainoo
Casemiro
Christian Eriksen - I can't see him staying with his bit part role
Scott Mctominay
New Signing 5 (No. 4 Priority) - As much as people will hate that it's so low on priority, comparatively, it just is.
(Toby Collyer)
------------------------------------------------
Amad Diallo
Anthony
(Omari Forson)
------------------------------------------------
Bruno Fernandes
Mason Mount
(James Scanlon)
------------------------------------------------
Alejandro Garnacho
Marcus Rashford
(Ethan Williams)
------------------------------------------------
Rasmus Hojlund
New Signing 6 (No. 3 priority) - Simply have to replace Martial and let Hojlund have a rotation option.
(Ethan Wheatley)

I think you could switch a few of the youth players around, but that's just splitting hairs. I genuinely see 6 new signings based on priority of the squad and situations of players.

I'm pretty firm in my belief that you never need more than 2 players per position and the rest of the squad should be just youth players. And even of those 2 players per position, if you have some guys like Bruno who don't get injured or don't need rotating really, then their backups don't have to be a high level. You gotta be smart with your wages, and you gotta keep morale high with players getting the right amount of minutes relative to expectations and quality.

Look at City's squad even. They have 16 senior outfield players, and then a couple like Bobb and Rico Lewis filling in. You don't need a massive squad, you need a smaller but reliable squad. And that's if you have European football. No European football, the squad we need is tiny. It's a great chance to shed dead weight and go lean, before adding the right depth next year when we get back in.

• GK - Onana, Altay, Heaton - fine
• RB - Dalot, Wan Bissaka - nothing wrong at all, shouldn't be touched
• CB - Martinez, Kambwala as 2 of the 4. Get in a 1st choice RCB and a 3rd choice CB who are both reliable and a high level, and then when we get Europe bring one more in. Shaw can cover in there in the meantime
• LB - Shaw and Malacia should be fine, but both are dead apparently so we need to chop and change it. Neither are reliable, so we need to buy a younger new LB who can start or rotate, and then next summer move on one of Shaw of Malacia since they can't be trusted. Ideally you want similar to our RB situation
• Midfield - Mainoo and Bruno 2 of the 3 starters. Mount and McTominay the 2 squad players. No Europe and Bruno fitness means we just need 1 reliable DM added. Or also sell Mount and replace him with a squad deep playmaker as Mount isn't the right profile to rotate in there IMO, even ignoring his fitness. But don't need more than 5 senior players between that midfield 3 regardless, just if you have Europe you want 5 players who stay fit
• Garnacho, Rashford are 2 of the main 3 wingers, Amad the 4th winger in a normal European season. With no Europe, the 4th choice winger will barely play and Amads development will be stunted, without a doubt in my mind. So if no Europe, it'd be s after IMO to keep Antony as 4th choice, make Amad 3rd and let him develop the year. Next summer see where the main 3 are at, then move on Antony and get better depth and competition with European football.
• CF - absolutely need 1 more. Depends where we see Hojlund. An older guy like Toney makes sense where they can rotate, compete for the same spot, but also be reliable depth to cover for injuries or be impact subs is perfect in either scenario of Europe or no Europe.

So a list of signings would be:
CF - can start or rotate, older
DM - starting
Deep playmaker - depth (replacing Mount)
LB - starting/competition
CB - starting
CB - 3rd in the depth chart after new signing and Martinez

And list of outgoings would be:

• Maguire - age, fitness, wages
• Lindelof - age, fitness
• Varane - age fitness, wages
• Evans - age, fitness
• Malacia - fitness
• Van de Beek - quality
• Eriksen - age, quality
• Amrabat - age, quality
• Mount - fitness, wrong profile for role, wages
• Casemiro - age, fitness, quality declining, wages
• Sancho - wrong type of player for league/mentality
• Greenwood - twat
• Martial - fitness

Then leave the squad as is for next season with no Europe, and then see what's needed the year after (mainly wing). I still feel like with no Europe players will be unhappy about their game time, as you just get fewer injuries so rotate less. But it would give us a squad of like 19 senior outfield players, not counting Kambwala as one of those. Which is still a bigger squad than City, and we'll play 20 games fewer.

If no European football then this a very good opportunity to trim the squad drastically and get rid of some so called "squad players" who year in year out somehow scam their into the side.

I think we will see a lot of outgoings but very few incomings.

This is going to be a tough one. I think we have only 3 useful players for the 6 positions in defense and midfield. Besides Dalot, Martinez & Mainoo all of them are disposable as far as I am concerned. Though, can't see us buying 6 defenders and 3 midfielders in a single window when we also need a versatile winger and a striker. No European football gives us an opportunity to keep a smallish squad. Though, I don't know how will that work given so many of our players are injury prone.

Anyway, I'll keep a squad of around 20 players and trust our youth system for the rest.


My Squad:

Still we need to buy a minimum 6 players, imo: RB, RCB, LCB, CM, CM, RW.

- Would give Wheatley a chance to become a back-up to Hojlund.
- Keep Gore as the 4th option for Central midfield.
- Mount will be an additional option at CM.

If we get Europa by beating City this Sunday, then I would keep Casemiro & Maguire one more season and also prioritize buying another striker.

It's the hope that kills. Seems all of us are hoping missing Europe could be a blessing in disguise and we can finally have the fire sale a lot of us have wanted for years.

My main optimism is the players knowing their won't be as much rotation with the lack of Europe so hopefully they are more willing to leave, otherwise we're going to struggle justifying bringing many in with such a bloated squad and mainly 1 game a week

Onana
Bayindir
Heaton/Some other old man

New Left Back
Amass
Martinez
New Centre Back x3
Kambwala
Dalot
New Right Back

New DM
New Backup DM
Mainoo
New Backup to Mainoo
Bruno
Mount

New Left Sided Forward
Garnacho
New Right Sided Forward
Amad

Højlund
New Striker

Of course such an overhaul won't happen, but it's needed.

I just don't foresee a situation with so much up in the air about ten Hag's future that we go out and spend £X00,000,000 on the squad for players that a new manager may not potentially fancy (again) and until we have a proper recruitment structure in place, which it isn't yet, then we are still left buying players that the Head Coach is saying will work. I am, in all seriousness, emotionally ready for a summer of just 1 purchase (striker).

It isn’t unrealistic to think we could move on Bayindir, AWB, Varane, Lindelof, Evans, Williams, Fernandez, Casemiro, Eriksen, Hannibal, VDB, Sancho, Pellestri, Greenwood and Martial which is 15 players.

I think the maximum amount of games we can play next season with no European football (I’m not going to think about the FA Cup route) is 50 games if we were to reach the FA Cup final and League Cup final added to the league season.

With our wage bill being massively slashed next season added to funds being brought in for players we’d have finished paying off their transfer fee or academy players there’s a lot of potential room to play with and Berrada and Wilcox will have had time to work whilst I don’t believe Ashworth isn’t working behind the scenes unofficially.

There’s free transfers out there like Adarabiyio, Kelly, Guido and Rabiot whilst bargains and players with a year left on their contracts like Simon, Todibo, Gutierrez, Locko, Davies, Thuram, Fofana, Kimmich, Gomes, Olise, Dovbyk and David.

At Benfica there’s Silva and Neves or Diomande and Hjulmand at Sporting then at Porto there’s Varela so there’s lots of potentially world class players out there who could just need coaching right to fulfil that potential, there’s so much we could do this summer with our squad building that sets us up long term.

Personally I think 5 first team signings are a bare minimum requirement, especially when you consider just how many players could/should be leaving.
When you pick through our squad, you can easily count 16 players or more that should be moved on.
Obviously there's no way, that number will go, but there should still be 8 departures minimum.
I think that there are 6 that will go on FREE transfers alone, never mind even trying to selling a few.


In Midfield, Casemiro, Eriksen, Amrabat, Donny & Hannibal should all be going, so we'd need 2 coming into the Midfield group, at the very least.
Even with 2 newbies, that would still only give us 6 senior MFs, including McTominay, and I'm already considering Mainoo to be Senior...!

Varane is off, probably Evans too, so unless we are going to also get rid of Maguire or Lindelof, that's at least 1 CB needed, possibly 2, but I cannot see us moving out another CB who will also need to be replaced.

Then you also have LB, RW & ST too...

I honestly don't know where they are going to find the time & money, especially with the the Euros smack in the middle of the Summer window too..!!

INEOS need some very smart & clever recruitment, being able to bring in top quality younger players for under £40m, and they need to get stuck into the market damn pretty quickly..!!

Leave at the end of the season :

Heaton : I extend him for another year
Varane
Evans : I extend him for another year
Williams
Alvaro
Amrabat
Forson
Martial

Remain one year on their contract: 80M€

Maguire : I try to sell him for 30M€
Lindelof : I would sell him for 20M€
Mc Tominay : I try to sell him 20M€
Wan Bissaka : I would keep him
Eriksen : I keep him
Pellistri : I try to sell him 5M€
Van De Beek : I try to sell him 2M€
Hannibal : I try to sell him 2M€

Should leave : 110M

Casemiro : 30M to Saudi would be great
Greenwood : 30M would also be a good business
Sancho : 50M€ would be great for him.
Malacia : I would loan him out for a season.

In :

Todibo : 50M€
Palhinha : 60M€
Olise : 50M€
Morris : 10M€
Doughty : 10M€
Adarabioyo : Free agent
Rabiot : Free agent

So basically, we should take care of all of these players first, in order to rebuild the team and buy.

First task is to replace in terms of numbers the ones that are leaving this summer.

Then, we should take a decision of whether to cash in now on some players, risking losing them free next summer.

Thirdly, we should negotiate correctly with the 3 players with “high” sale values, to be able to reinvest correctly.

And only at this time, we should be able to buy.

So my guess for next season, without Europe at all, we should have a 25 man squad maximum.

---------------------------------------------------Onana------------------------------------------------------
Dalot---------------------------Todibo------------------------Lisandro-----------------------Shaw
----------------------------------Mainoo ----------------------Palhinha---------------------------------
Olise---------------------------------------------Bruno-----------------------Rashford/Garnacho
----------------------------------------------------Hojlund------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------Morris-------------------------------------------------------
Rashford/Garnacho ---------------------------Mount---------------------------Antony/Amad
----------------------------------Rabiot-------------------------Eriksen---------------------------------------
Doughty-----------------Evans/Kambwala----------------Adarabioyo-------Wan Bissaka
-----------------------------------------------Bayindir/Heaton------------------------------------------------

So basically, not a really strong team, but with a good run, we can aim for top 4

davidmichael said:

It isn’t unrealistic to think we could move on Bayindir, AWB, Varane, Lindelof, Evans, Williams, Fernandez, Casemiro, Eriksen, Hannibal, VDB, Sancho, Pellestri, Greenwood and Martial which is 15 players.

I think the maximum amount of games we can play next season with no European football (I’m not going to think about the FA Cup route) is 50 games if we were to reach the FA Cup final and League Cup final added to the league season.

With our wage bill being massively slashed next season added to funds being brought in for players we’d have finished paying off their transfer fee or academy players there’s a lot of potential room to play with and Berrada and Wilcox will have had time to work whilst I don’t believe Ashworth isn’t working behind the scenes unofficially.

There’s free transfers out there like Adarabiyio, Kelly, Guido and Rabiot whilst bargains and players with a year left on their contracts like Simon, Todibo, Gutierrez, Locko, Davies, Thuram, Fofana, Kimmich, Gomes, Olise, Dovbyk and David.

At Benfica there’s Silva and Neves or Diomande and Hjulmand at Sporting then at Porto there’s Varela so there’s lots of potentially world class players out there who could just need coaching right to fulfil that potential, there’s so much we could do this summer with our squad building that sets us up long term.

Click to expand...

Isn't it? 15 players would be considerable churn, only 3/5 of which have an expiring contract this year. A further 7 of them expire next year, so they would all need to be sold by a club that's struggled to shift players due to high wages and players on the down turn for over a decade.



Gone Anyway
Varane, Martial, Evans(might go again for lulz), Fernandez + Williams (If buyout is triggered)

2025
Lindelof, Eriksen, AWB, Greenwood, VDB, Hannibal, Pellestri (Not listed but Also expiring Maguire, McTominay+1, Diallo+1)

>2026 Need Sold
Bayindir (why?), Casemiro, Sancho

that's more than a team's worth of players lost, whilst I'm not over bothered about losing any/all of them, they can't possibly be reasonably replaced in 1 year they will be naturally staggered over 2.

Lastwolf said:

Isn't it? 15 players would be considerable churn, only 3/5 of which have an expiring contract this year. A further 7 of them expire next year, so they would all need to be sold by a club that's struggled to shift players due to high wages and players on the down turn for over a decade.



Gone Anyway
Varane, Martial, Evans(might go again for lulz), Fernandez + Williams (If buyout is triggered)

2025
Lindelof, Eriksen, AWB, Greenwood, VDB, Hannibal, Pellestri (Not listed but Also expiring Maguire, McTominay+1, Diallo+1)

>2026 Need Sold
Bayindir (why?), Casemiro, Sancho

that's more than a team's worth of players lost, whilst I'm not over bothered about losing any/all of them, they can't possibly be reasonably replaced in 1 year they will be naturally staggered over 2.

Click to expand...

Varane and Martial are definitely gone, Evans is meant to be retiring and becoming a coach, Greenwood is gone for obvious reasons, Sancho will be sold as his value has gone back up, Williams and Pellestri have been loaned out to increase their value and didn’t get games when here and it’s the same for Hannibal and VDB, Eriksen and Casemiro are both done and are on high wages and Lindelof will go before Maguire so I’d say it’s realistic based on all of that and the fact we’ve got bare minimum game wise next season.

We’ve brought Garnacho, Mainoo and Kambwala through in the last 18 months whilst Jackson, Amass, Fitzgerald, Mcallister, the Fletcher’s, Lacey and Ibragimov are all coming through and in some cases ready for first team minutes in my opinion.

A working squad of Onana, Heaton, Dalot, maybe AWB, Maguire, Kambwala, Martinez, Shaw, Malacia, McTominay, Mainoo, Fernandes, Mount, Antony, Rashford, Garnacho and Hojlund with say 8 additions is 24 players not including the under 21’s and under 18’s so if we brought in say 2 centre backs, a left back, three midfielders, a right winger and a striker that’s balanced.

I don’t believe for a second Ashworth isn’t working unofficially behind the scenes, I don’t believe for a second Berrada and Wilcox haven’t been working together on this and I don’t believe for a second that Ineos won’t have been thinking about this summer since they officially got in at United so there’s 100% a plan but it’s a long term one that’ll see lots of outgoings this summer to slash the wage bill and and gut the squad then see a few free transfers and young players with massive potential come in.

Rashford has big wages. Is that why he is missing from most of the "out" posts here?
He's embarassing.

I think from our current position things have to be looked at as at least a two-year project.

This summer I'd focus on:

-Clearing out Martial, Sancho, Greenwood, Eriksen, Casemiro, Donny, Varane, Evans, and Wan-Bissaka.
-Bringing in a striker, a defensive midfielder, a right center back, and maybe a young right back and a backup midfielder

That'd leave the depth chart looking something like this (not including a few of the kids who might be around)

-----------------------------New------------------------------
---------------------------Hojlund---------------------------
Rashford-----------------------------------------Antony
Nacho-----------------------------------------------Amad
-----------------------------Bruno----------------------------
-------------------------McTominay-----------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------New--------------Mainoo-----------------
-----------------New---------------Mount------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Shaw---------------------------------------------------Dalot
Malacia------------------------------------------------New
------------------Martinez-----New------------------------
-------------------Lindelof-----Maguire-------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------Onana------------------------------
---------------------------------?-----------------------------------

And then you hope that Rashford and Antony perform much better next season, and that kids like Hannibal and Willy show that they've got the quality to be part of the big picture.

Then the following summer, you probably look to replace both Lindelof and Maguire, and maybe Rashford and Antony depending on how things have turned out.

One thing is for certain, if there isn't a fair amount of turnover this summer it's going to be a bad sign that SJR isn't really in it to win it. He needs to come out of the gate strong and send a message that the standard is being re-set immediately.

Stobzilla said:

I don't disagree, I am just stating what I think WILL happen rather than what I expect/want to happen. I think the pair of Greenwood and Sancho will be moved on as you say.

I think Erik, as part of INEOS determining his suitability for a new contract will be asked to do more with less. He has ideal enough conditions to manage fitness with no Europe next season so the need for a bigger squad is probably reduced in the eyes of INEOS.

Leaves us with the following going into the season (Prospective Youth Team candidates for a spot in brackets where I can think of one right now), a couple of these may be sold, obviously big question marks remain over Rashford but right now I think he will be asked to work with:

Andre Onana
Altay Bayindir
Radek Vitek or Tom Heaton
(Ely Harrison)
------------------------------------------------
Diogo Dalot
Aaron Wan Bissaka
(Ogunneye)
------------------------------------------------
Harry Maguire
Lisandro Martinez
Victor Lindelof
New Signing 1
Johnny Evans - I think he will be given another year or perhaps be our signing primarily for the reserves ala Tom Huddlestone
(Willy Kambwala)
------------------------------------------------
Luke Shaw
Tyrell Malacia
(Harry Amass)
------------------------------------------------
Kobbie Mainoo
Casemiro
Christian Eriksen
Scott Mctominay
New Signing 2
(Toby Collyer)
------------------------------------------------
Amad Diallo
Anthony
(Omari Forson)
------------------------------------------------
Bruno Fernandes
Mason Mount
(James Scanlon)
------------------------------------------------
Alejandro Garnacho
Marcus Rashford
(Ethan Williams)
------------------------------------------------
Rasmus Hojlund
New Signing 3
(Ethan Wheatley)

Click to expand...

There's 0 chance that all of Casemiro/Antony/Eriksen/Wan Bissaka/Maguire/Lindelof/Evans are still in the squad next season.

If that's the case we are truly fecked

This represent a huge challenge for United but also a great opportunity as well. Zero European football mean a huge drop on our transfer kitty but also a huge drop on salaries. On top of that this is a rebuild which means it will take us 2-3 years to get back on top. Those who are at the upper end of the salary bill or/and want to win stuff immediately will probably want out if the right opportunity comes along. I won't be surprised if the likes of Rashford and Bruno might want to leave. If we can get decent money out of them then quite frankly I'd let them go.

Reputation wise we need to shrug off the tag that we're horrible on the transfer market. That means that players on 1 year left of their contract must leave. Many sees this as a challenge and they are, of course, right. However this pose as an opportunity as well. Less football, means more drilling into tactics and more leeway in building the side we want.

I think this summer will be huge. There is a huge amount of players leaving, INEOS in place, possibly a new manager so now is the time to rebuild.

Outs hopefully - Jones (has he already gone?), Heaton (Free), Amrabat (Free), Evans (Free), Williams (5m), Hannibal (10M), Pellistri (15M), DVB (5M), Sancho (50M), Varane (Free), Casemiro (40M), Greenwood (20M), Rashford (70M), Lindelof (15M), Malacia (10M), Anthony (15M), Martial (Free) Approx 240Million + a tonne of wages..... Lets say 200Million worst case.

Ins (Hopefully) - Olise (60M), Branthwaite (50M), Adarabioyo (Free), Joao Neves (100M), Toney (70M) = 280Million

That's 17 players leaving (Only 5-6 are first team options realistically) with about 5 coming in.

Squad

Keepers - Onana, Bayindir, Youth keepers
RB - Dalot, AWB
CB - Martinez, Branthwaite, Adarabioyo, Maguire, Kambwala
LB - Shaw, Dalot, Alvaro Fernandez
CDM - Neves, Mainoo, Eriksen
CM/CAM - Mount, Fernandes, Mctominay
Wingers - Garnacho, Olise, Amad
Strikers - Hojlund, Toney

I'd also like another winger / another CDM option but I'd be more than happy if the above happened.

Not to be a dink, but you guys are really thinking you're getting 30-40M for Casemiro?

Red&Black said:

Not to be a dink, but you guys are really thinking you're getting 30-40M for Casemiro?

Click to expand...

I think Saudi would pay close to that for a big name like his

This season's injury patterns feed thought and I wonder to what degree they should.

Goalkeepers doesn't seem a priority with Onana being good enough, and possibly improving with a more stable backline in front of him.

• no changes here

Central defense saw us lose Varane (define 'lose' but yeah) and a direct replacement to have a strong partnership with Licha would be ideal.
-> BUT, Licha was hella injured also. Shaw was a decent back up... a season before. One of them in LCB offered a pretty decent coverage to anti press and general build-up options from the back... especially with Malacia a cover to Shaw on the left... a season before.
-> But then to their right at least they had... exactly. A mix of bad luck and and the classic something-needs-to-change.
-> Varane gone covers one change: replace him. Maguire did a job this season, Lindelof is ready, but you want at least five options for the worst case scenarios.
-> Honestly could keep both Maguire and Lindelof, and even Evans (and Kambwala) as options, but if you want more secured cover for Licha besided a more talented and rapid RCB, it might be best to accept the best offer for either Maguire or Lindelof, and only keep one as 3rd/4th choice CB. Maguire is better, but Lindelof can cover more areas in the craziest of scenarios, so if a starter RCB can be found and a Licha-cover too, I'd honestly prefer to keep Lindelof.

• OUT:
  Varane, Maguire
• STAY:
  Licha, Lindelof, Evans, Kambwala
• IN:
  RCB1, LCB2

Rolling down along that snowball gets is to the fullbacks. Where in the heavens were they? AWB was injured for so long after his resurgence last year, and didn't get into full shift until possibly the very final game. Dalot did more than anyone expected of him, I assume, and is here to stay in either position.
In theory with Dalot, AWB, Shaw, Malacia you have excellent cover for a team still rebuilding, but not if three of them missed out of most of this season. It's best to get a new fullback to either cover one side excellently, or that can cover both sides. Especially if Malacia will be loaned out a new left back could be good, too.
-> I shyly assume this season won't copy the last so if any of Frimpong or... I forgot other options... comes in I'd be happy, with Dalot showing he can play both sides if necessary.
-> How to best deal with the Shaw and Malacia both being out situation again? Honestly I'd say loan out Malacia for a season and get a decent LB in, but only if Malacia actually leaves. Who's in the market and ready to be second choice to an injury prone Shaw?

• OUT:
  Malacia (loan)
• STAY:
  Dalot, Shaw, AWB
• IN:
  Frimpong, LB2

Defensive and central midfield saw us grow an option that negated a lot of people's wishes for a Frenkie type in Mainoo. It also saw it become clear Casemiro is done for and Amrabat is not a first choice option. McTominay can do a job in a more aggressive and more forward midfield role, but is not reliable cover for other midfielders as he just doesn't seem to have the composure and skills needed by this team to actually start controlling play and show patterns of play, too. But as a third midfielder, like in the final few games, why not? Just make sure he won't ever have to hold the Casemiro position ever again. So, new DM needed.
-> Eriksen and Mount don't seem capable of a DM role either, at least not to start the season with... not even considering Mount's injuries. Eriksen as a fifth CM... okay, but don't think he wants that. Maybe fourth since tonight I am not creative enough to think of an affordable replacement.
-> I chose to keep Amrabat as cover, but ideally just as cover to someone more reliable on a consistent basis.
-> Might be good to have a fifth midfielder, but I don't know who's ready to step up behind them. A creative DM could help to cover Mainoo better and have us rely less on Eriksen as a direct replacement.

• OUT:
  Casemiro
• STAY:
  Mainoo, Amrabat, Eriksen
• IN:
  DM1, (DM3)

In offensive midfield Bruno seems to have won back more faith at the end of the season. Mount could still deserve a chance and Eriksen and McTominay are pretty much extra cover. Perhaps someone like Eze could come in to cover more area, but in theory that would need a departure I think. In case Antony leaves, and/or Rashford, it could be good to have a player like Amad who can cover either a wing position or the 10 position, perhaps even an 8 position in extraordinary circumstances. For now I pick Eze. Olise gets more calls, but for some reason I think Eze's left side cover could help us more. Maybe because I like Amad. Time to count our losses on Sancho?
To distinguish a bit more between creating wingers and finishing wingers I'll put some of the creating ones in here. Whatever it means in reality is whatever.

• OUT:
  Sancho
• STAY:
  Bruno, Mount, McTominay, Amad
• IN:
  Eze

And then the forwards is a bit more clearly picked. I saw mention of Zirkzee earlier as an affordable option, and while I think there's other options and Zirkzee is allegedly staying in Italy (Milan or Motta's Juve), I think it is a good 'type' to consider. Zirkzee FC could be a thing, but at the least him and Hojlund can both fight it out and even play together (on paper). It might leave more room for experience... but for now I focus on this option. For now I let Rashford stay and Antony go. What the actual options are for the technical board... idk.
-> With Sancho and Antony gone, and even though I'd have Eze come in, I think an extra RW could be good, too. Maybe luxury, maybe there's already a good talent, but an either proven or experienced winger to cover could be good to look at. Perhaps that means Olise either way? I don't know how FFP works clearly.
-> An extra experienced striker could be useful, too, but with Rashford an option there, and the late season option of Bruno/McTominay might diminish that as anything more than a luxury.

• OUT:
  Antony
• STAY:
  Hojlund, Garnacho, Rashford
• IN:
  Zirkzee, RW3

I probably forgot some players, and some Donnys and such hopefully see certain departures, as I don't think it would help any of us to have them stay.
Although I counted Sancho in the OUTs, that would make 2 'extra' players, and would leave us with something like this, with new players in italics:

• GK:
  Onana
  Bayindir
  Heaton (?)
• RB:
  Wan-Bissaka
  Dalot (+LB)
  Frimpong (+RW)
• RCB:
  RCB1
  Lindelof
  Evans
• LCB:
  Lisandro Martinez
  LCB2
  Kambwala
• LB:
  Shaw
  LB2/Malacia
• DM:
  DM1
  Amrabat
  DM3 (+CM)
• CM:
  Mainoo
  Eriksen (+AM)
• AM:
  Bruno
  Mount
  McTominay
• RW:
  Garnacho (+LW)
  Amad (+AM)
  RW3
• CF:
  Hojlund
  Zirkzee
• LW:
  Rashford
  Eze

That would make for a squad consisting of 28 players. One more than a Euro Cup squad. Perhaps a trim to 24-25 would be best, but it would depend on possible departures. I don't see Mount or McTominay leaving per se, and I'd prefer not to cut in the forwards. But if McTominay'd leave, I wouldn't get an extra replacement. DM3 and one of the CBs or FBs could be left out, though, but because of last seasons I'd check if Evans would be willing to be so behind in the picking order. Same for Lindelof. RW3 could be left out if someone like Frimpong is the new FB, as he can also cover RW clearly.

Squad building actually might be a challenge. But I am surprised that there's already some talent in the team, pretty much just waiting for a final few additions and injury cover that makes the team at least more reliable, and at most much more of a force to be reckoned with.

Or I play too much on my PS5