The most important element first: Pogba wants to leave and should leave. Obvious that he does not want to be here, and the things Raiola has said over the last months has been on PP behalf (acting as the bad guy to get his player a move). Don't see a point in hard balling this as it would likely detract potential star players from coming here. Especially players from France. Despite this, it should be said that on his day or is in the right situation, he is almost unplayable and our best player. Sadly, the combination of our status and ability as a team and PPs abilities have so far shown to be a mismatch. Get what we can (+ £100m) from either Juventus or Real Madrid.
Our current two starting midfielders in Fred and McT are not good enough on the ball as a pair in games where we are playing against a deep sitting team. They are both, arguably, better as disruptive players, i.e. when the team is not on the ball. Matic can perform somewhat in both situations, but should not play many games over a short period based on the last few seasons and his sudden drop in form after an intensive schedule.
Dependent on what is available on the market, I would consider buying two midfielders that are more comfortable on the ball.
The options we should look at are Partey, Tonali, Zakaria and Phillips. In my opinion, these four are better players than our current options for central or defensive midfielders, especially in games where we play against a deep sitting team.
1. Partey is the safest and best option. Only question should be if he is willing to join us. If he is, then we should activate his clause.
2. Tonali is the best passer (his range and ability to spot opportunities from deep is impressive), and can operate in a number of midfield roles.
3. Zakaria is the most dynamic player(difficult to evaluate non-holding type of midfielders in the Bundesliga due to how intensive and gung-hoo the league has been the last two seasons). Potential high upside, but also some uncertainty on how he would suit the league.
4. Phillips is extremely good at playing through the first line of pressing, but if Leeds gets promoted he will stay.
If we sell PP, we should aim to get two midfielders. Partey should be on top of that list together with Tonali.
The obvious, at least to me, main target for this summer should be Sancho. buying him would also mean that there is less pressure on our midfielders to act as creative players, but they should still be able to transition the ball into areas where Bruno and hopefully Sancho operates.
Dependent on money spent and available we should also consider improving our left-back (Telles or Grimaldo?) and central defender (Ake).
Outgoings:
1. Sanchez. Pay him off if needed.
2. Lingard. Same.
3. Jones. £10m?
4. PP. +£100m.
5. Pereira. £10m?
6. Smalling. £20m to Roma.
(DDG could be sold, dependent on Henderson and what we can get for him.)
In:
1. Sancho. + £100m
2. Partey. £40m clause. (Phillips)
3. Tonali. Brescia going down to Serie B.(Zakaria)
LB(Grimaldo/Telles), CB(Ake) and striker(Ighalo?) and some performing championship player(Eze or Benrahma) should be dependent on what we can afford and availability/cost of the player.
Starting 11(Additional potential changes):
DDG (Henderson)
AWB - Maguire - Lindelof(Ake) - Shaw(Telles/Grimaldo)
Tonali - Partey
Sancho - Bruno - Rashford
Martial