The more I think about it the more I genuinely believe we need just two players to come into this starting XI. That would of course mean putting our hands in our pockets for four players, given neither Zouma nor Gomes belong to us currently.
CB, CM, RB, ST
Richarlison and Bernard's flexibility with regards to their positions is a huge bonus for us, as is DCL's continued improvement this season. Seamus' return to form is great and we can hopefully count on him to perform at that level for another year yet. Sigurdsson has notched way more goals than any of us would have imagined this season, while Keane has upped his level considerably since Christmas. I'd like to see him as part of a settled back four before passing final judgement on him. Pickford, with the right coaching and a proper backup goalkeeper pushing him, should be able to get his head down and improve, too. A second CM will be needed if Gueye moves on. Give Baines a new one-year deal; he's more than capable of filling in at left back.
Goalkeepers
Pickford / New GK / Virginia = 3
Full backs
Digne / New starting RB or Coleman / Baines / Kenny = 4
Centre backs
Mina / Keane / Zouma / Holgate if he returns / Whoever our best prospect from the u23s is - Freeney? = 5
Centre midfield
Gomes / Gueye or a replacement / New CM / Davies / Besic as he's as bad as McCarthy/Schneiderlin and costs us far less = 5
Wingers
Bernard / Richarlison / Lookman / Onyekuru / Walcott (he won't be sold and can be effective from the bench) = 5
#10
Sigurdsson / Vlasic = 2
Striker
DCL / New ST (and not forgetting our flexibility to play Richarlison up there) = 2
That's a squad size of 26 players. More than enough for a domestic-only season, and also enough depth to cover us for anything other than a full-blown injury crisis. Compared to what we've had available this season, we'd be improving at right back, central midfield with more quality in there, and, most importantly, up front.
We can sell, loan out of give away all of Schneiderlin, McCarthy, Mirallas, Bolasie, Sandro, Tosun, Niasse, Stekelenberg, Williams, Jagielka, Martina, Pennington, Galloway and Garbutt.
