Because we would end up using them, the season is long, and we are in EL, it's hardly pushing it to say the players we haven't replaced - Sanchez, Herrera, & Lukaku, wouldn't have come in handy there, and a player like Smalling wouldn't end up getting an extended run in the team.
I'm all for clearing them out, but let's get a couple more replacements in first, it if not at least get the worst players out first - Rojo, Darmian, Mata, etc, or we'll just end up playing them when the going gets tough.
To me a lot of people are expecting all this kids to be top class straight away, so all will be good.
But keeping players on bloated wages in the squad because 'we'll end up using them' isnt a good enough reason to keep them. For the wages these players are/were on they should be bonafide starters week in and week out, not options to use in an emergency.
All they do is block the younger players coming through, who may end up being shite, but without the opportunities to get some game time we will never know.
Sanchez scored 1 league goal last season. I am sure that between Greenwood, Chong, Pereira, they will be at least able to match his contribution. Daniel James has already scored double what Sanchez managed last season.
Lukaku got 12 goals in 32 games as striker. Martial got 10 in 27 from the left wing. So thats not all doom and gloom either if Martial was matching his goal output despite playing further away from the goal. I'd imagine his goals per game will increase now he plays closer to the goal, and we wont have to worry about having 200k p/w sat on the bench acting like a snowflake, sending tweets about how he is actually the best and being mistreated.
Smalling was a nightmare. One of the main reasons why we ended up playing such a low defensive line, and why the midfield had to play so deep to collect the ball. And while i agree that Rojo etc need to go as well, we cant pick and choose what order we get rid of players, just be glad they are going at all. I doubt Tuanzebe will be as bad in defence as any of the rest have been. And if he does make a mistake, at least he is young enough to learn from them and make improvements.
I think a lot of realistic fans think this will be a fun season, with some frustrating games as we are transitioning. But for the first time the transition has a target.
But there are also a lot of fans who are heaping pressure onto the kids, purely because they are replacing the fantasy football manager type squad they had built in their heads. These fans will inevitably end up disappointed, because we arent signing Dybala/Fernandes etc, despite these types of signings going completely tits up for us for years.
As has always been said, United dont buy stars, we make them