I think you're not taking into consideration the amount of inflation that's been going on. 50m for Ben White isn't an anomaly.
I recently saw both Stengs and Kluivert go for 15m euros to Nice. Stengs has 7 goals in 30 games in the Eredivsie, Kluivert 3 goals in 19 matches in the bundesliga. Meaning, they're shit. James is homegrown and has performed to a reasonable level in the EPL.
When we sell a player it's not like they instantly transfer 15m to Utd's bank account. There's a lot of ways to spread it out. Plenty of teams are spending 15m on one player, even with Covid. Go to the transfer tweets thread and see for yourself.
I don't disagree with selling James and keeping some of the kids, but 10m is underselling to the point that we might as well keep or loan him and get 15m in the next window.
Right, but let's take a look at Arsenal and Ben White. As much as it's true that Arsenal have fallen pretty far they're still a big club and can spend 50m for what they regard as a key piece to fill out their puzzle. Arsenal are a club that employ Aubemayang, Partey and Leno...pretty serious big name players who would slot right in at Old Trafford. True, they have some players who have disappointed them, but overall you'd have to say that Arsenal still aspire to be a Top 6 club.
It's hard to imagine any of City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Leicester, Arsenal or even Everton being interested in Dan James. You could see Leeds having a serious look, but I doubt James would go straight into the starting XI over what they've already got and if we're right about that it's hard to see Leeds spent 15m on a squad player. Maybe, but I would think they'd offer closer to 10m. We'd probably ask 15m and maybe we settle for 12m, but I don't think Leeds are yet at the place in their evolution where they're prepared to spend 10m+ for a squad man. But I could be wrong.
Aston Villa could be interesting. Villa have unlimited cash in the vault apparently and with with Grealish seemingly inevitably on his way to City perhaps Villa would be interested and might happily part with 15m for James.