There is a big difference between what ideally needs to happen on the transfer front and what is actually likely to happen. Ideally we need a better CF, 2 CBs, a RW and a CDM, maybe even a no.10 if we abandon the 3 in midfield.
Now we all know we need a better CF than Lukaku if we are to win the league, but there are 2 problems with that. One that the club made a massive investment on him less than 2 years ago and to sell him for a loss (can't see anyone paying more than 75 million for him) will not go down well with the board I think. You couple that with the fact that Lukaku seems happy here and won't be chomping at bits to leave. This makes the acquisition of a new CF tricky and this is even before we get into the question of who can we get that will provide us the quality we need. Timo Werner is one name that ticks plenty of the requisite boxes but will Leipzig sell him? The likes of Icardi or Higuain are not what we need as we need and their having never played in the PL is a big negative. Lewandowski might be available next summer but do we buy a CF who's arguably on the decline, top class though he has been for all these years.
Of our current CBs ideally Rojo, Jones and Bailly should be offloaded and replaced with 2 quality CBs and promoting one or both of TFM and Tuanzebe. Selling Rojo is probably the easiest and should be easily achieved, but Jones and Baillly both present different questions. Will the club let go of an English CB in this market for free? And if we give him a new contract then we may end up in a situation where nobody wants to pay what we will demand we end up stuck with him. Bailly was touted as our future star CB when he was bought, but barring a few impressive performances he's been disappointing. He's not gonna develop much without playing so will the club take a hit on another big investment and let him go? As far as their replacements are concerned ideally we should be buying an experienced top CB in the 27-30 age range and another who's already well established but still got years in front of him, in the 23-26 age range. Alderweireld and Skrinar are 2 names that fit the bill but there's no guarantee we can persuade Spurs or Inter to sell. Signing a well established CB isn't going to be easy given the dearth of top quality CBs these days and signing the likes of De Ligt or Milenkovic doesn't really solve our immediate need of an experienced leader at the back.
We have all been crying for a RW for years and though there are a number of young prospects available like Chiesa, Pulisic, Bailey etc we would first need to make space in our squad for a forward player. We currently have 6 forwards for 3 positions, having 7 would be overkill. Of the players who can play on the wings Rashford and Lingard are unlikely to be sold given their connection to the club, we would be mad to sell Martial and provided he wants to stay here its a no brainer. That leaves Sanchez and Mata, the latter of who's contract expires in the summer. But Jose has already spoken of how he would like the club to give Mata a new contract, how he's a fantastic individual to have at the club and in fairness he has been on of our decent performers this season. Sanchez has been hugely disappointing and there have been a few rumblings of his leaving lately but seriously how are we going to shift him at these wages?
In midfield its a common consensus we need a CDM who's much more mobile and quick at linking attacks than Matic. The likes of De Jong and Neves are 2 top prospects and we really ought to be trying to get one of them, Neves is probably more attainable out of the 2.
Then there is the question of the manager. If Jose is still here next season will he want 3 of his signings in Lukaku, Bailly and Matic sold? Especially Lukaku and Matic whom he trusts immensely and usually plays whenever possible.
Its easy to say we need this or that player but in reality the situation, taking into consideration our business model of profit based growth and the improbability of us letting multiple players leave for free or on a massive loss, the situation is quite complicated.
