The least amount of signings I can see since the 5 or 6 we need is probably unrealistic is 4 and Ten Hag putting everything on Timber (height hasn't killed us generally) as a backup at RCB, RB and DM and then a #9 a #8 and a keeper. So let's say this:
----------------------------------------------Striker(Rashford, Martial/Weghorst)------------------------------------
Rashford(Garnacho, Sancho)-------Bruno(Eriksen, Sancho)-------Antony(Sancho, Amad/Pellistri, Bruno)
--------------------#8(Eriksen, Fred, Mainoo)-------Casemiro(Timber, McTominay, Mainoo)
Shaw(Malacia)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dalot(Timber, AWB)
--------------------------Lisandro(Shaw, Lindelof)----Varane(Timber, Lindelof, McTominay)-------
-----------------------------------------------------De Gea/Keeper-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some funky stuff in there like McTominay being the new guy who "comes on for 5 minutes to head the ball at CB in a 3 instead of Maguire" but he is tall and again I'm thinking primarily here of Ten Hag wanting to just keep as much continuity as possible and then in theory Fred, McTominay, Martial/Weghorst and AWB are all upgraded on in the summer of 2024, maybe even one in January if the right deal comes up, with Sancho and then some mystery player whose form drops being the big question marks to sell or not, the Sancho thing will also depend on if Pellistri or Amad has their breakout season, whether here or on loan somewhere.
That's 9 defenders if you include a McTominay conversion (it's not that I rate him there for Scotland, just feels like a small role, Maguire is on pace for like 800 Prem minutes and you give all of those that aren't about aerial play to Timber anyways), 10 midfielders (if you count Timber, McTominay and Sancho), 6 wide options (counting Bruno and Sancho in this group too) and 3 striker options including Rashford.
23 outfield players, so probably add Elanga, maybe Iqbal doesn't go on loan and a defender gets a chance in pre-season to join the first squad. 26 is about right before goalkeepers?
Sales are:
-Maguire, who I just don't buy being comfortable with this kind of squad role when he could presumably go start for a big Serie A Team (Roma, even Milan would make some sense since they have pace but not depth at CB and could use him when they need size) or Villa or Newcastle or maybe Conte or Simeone wants him or another manager playing really deep.
-Telles, done here
-Martial (or Weghorst, not a sale obviously), Martial is the upside choice, Weghorst the stable one. Martial will still be a question mark even if he had a big year, so my guess is Weghorst is the choice
-Van de Beek, might be a loan with option to buy