Or we'll make 2-3 underwhelming signings who won't bring the creativity and goals that we need.
And if we just sign a star winger or striker, then playing an entire season with Fred and McTominay as undisputed first choice CMs is basically a guarantee of zero progress from this season. Our ball retention isn't great as it is - losing the only midfielder who is actually good at it would be a serious blow.
I think the opposite actually. If we had a great winger on the right instead of Pogba, we would've been a lot closer to City this year. The ball retention is only an issue in bigger games against high pressing teams and we have no problems defending / keeping clean sheets in those games, so I'm not too worried.
On the flip side, the draws against teams that play low blocks continues to be a big issue - Bruno's arrival improved us a bit but when he's off form, we still go to shit. Even beyond that, we just have no one who can create chaos against a set defence. Rashford / Greenwood want to get in behind, Martial used to be alright at beating people but he hardly does that anymore (esp at CF), Bruno can't really do it etc. You just really need one player who, when you isolate 1v1 against an opposition fullback, will make you a few chances a game - every single top side has this type of player but us it seems.
In fact, if you look at the stats
across the PL, in things like progressive carries, carries into final 3rd, carries into penalty area etc., the only United player that shows up consistently is Rashford. And we know how inconsistent he can be doing this - being a great dribbler is not his primary strength. I think anyone amongst the leaderboards there - Grealish, Sterling, Neto, Barnes, Mahrez, Mane, Traore, Bernardo would improve us significantly. (Some of these play on the left but just throwing some names of players out there as a general idea. They're all quite different from each other individually, but would solve the same problem functionally).