Looking at the squad I genuinely think there are 20players to go and 10 signings to be made. Of course we arent doing that over one window, but this isnt what we do in the summer or spend..its what we need. Of coruse some of the signings could well come from our youth squad.
But what we need, priority wise after a manager is bought in is:
a) Nobody bar DeGea has performed consistently over the last two seasons, so nobody who is out of contract or wants to go should be kept
Grant, Mata, Pogba, Lingard, Cavani, Chong can all go, significant wages saved from contracts ending
Henderson, Bailly, Tuanzabe, Pereira, VDB, Martial all want to go - good sell them even on cut price deals if wages are a problem, still £75m worth of sales there being conservative
Thats 12 players gone, we have a squad of about 26 players still.
There are a further 10players out of contract the following summer, only DeGea should be offered a new one until they prove themselves
b) Get rid of problem or star players with value and take advantage of the free transfer market
We have a few star/expensive players who have been dreadful this season, we should be looking to cash in on some, they can be replaced for free in most cases:
Maguire out - Romagnoli Free
Matic out (age) - Kamara Free
Rashford/Greenwood - Dembele Free
With the possible exception of Greenwood, we have sold beign conservative £60m in transfers (should be far more) and replaced them with players just as godo if not better, for nothing bar wages and signing on fees, covered by players leaving out of contract anyway.
c) Upgrade the first eleven
RB - Bissaka I like personally but he has regressed which isnt good, Dalot for me offers little, no mor ethan WIlliams. Id sell Bissaka and Dalot cut price as his contract is ending in a year and promote Laird/Williams to squad options and buy a quality right back
Livaramento £30m
CB - Jones contract expires in a year so we may as well madly keep in until it does.Leaves us wth Romagnoli and Lindelof as good bacjk up to Varane, but we need a real quality first choice pairing for Varane
Araujo £40m
CM - We are left with Kamara, McFred and Fernandes for three spots. I would promote Hannibal but I still think we need another two
Tchouameni £50 Caqueret £25m
WIng -Sancho, Elanga and Dembele are all good options but I think Amad and Pellstri still need better loans. There is for me a potential superstar I feel we shouldnt miss out on even if it means SAncho on the right to compete with Dembele (who may have ongoing inury concerns, and thats
Sulemana £40m
CF - Ronaldo is a tough one as will he want to be second fiddle, we we are not going to go and sign two strikers, so I would keep him until his contract goes down and sign another think is a potential superstar giving him a year to settle in and compete
Giouri £40m
d) Squad signings
We only have Heaton so either a free signing or ideally for me, a more modern keeper that is young and can give us a differnt option and provide competition to DeGea
Vadervordt £10m
Left back is still a worry as though I lovethe desire of Telles, he cant defend. Shaw I wouldnt offer a new contract until he proves himself again. But I would leave that for a season and we then have a good squad
Sales £135-225m
Purchases £235m
DeGea
Livaramento Varane Araujo Shaw
Tchouameni
Caqueret Fernandes
Dembele Sancho
Ronaldo
Vandervordt
Laird Lindelof Romagnoli Telles
Kamara
McTominay Fred
Elanga Sulemana
Giouri
Rest of Squad - Heaton, Jones, Williams, Garner
Loan - Mengi, Amad, Pellesti, Shoetire
Obviously not happening in window and the names can all be different, but 20 out and 10 in is somewhere near what we need in my opinion and it doesnt have to be much of a net spend either