One thing we have working in our favor is the versatility of our players. Most of our squad can play at least 2-3 roles in the current team, which allows for greater depth, but also creates headaches when doing squad planning.
Just in the attacking line, we have Martinelli and Madueke who have spent time on both the left and the right. Saka has started to play more in the midfield recently, while we know that Dowman and Nwaneri are similar archetypes where they came up as midfielders but can also play on the wing. Trossard is the same and while we haven't seen Eze on the wing much, he can also play both. Kai can play striker or midfield and Jesus can play across the frontline. If we truly want to raise our ceiling, I think we will need to prioritize either upgrading these versatile players or replacing 1-2 of them with more specialists.
I will preface this by saying that I don't think there will be the type of movement in the market in a World Cup summer that allows us to make sweeping changes to the squad. But in a perfect summer, I think we move Jesus, Trossard and (maybe) Martinelli. I would then replace them with Julian Alvarez and Anthony Gordon. I love Alvarez and think he would be perfect for us both out of possession and in possession with his pressing, technical ability and playmaking and then his ELITE skill, ball striking. Gordon is pretty similar to Martinelli but in watching him recently, he definitely feels more dynamic on the ball than Gabi is and can beat players himself, while also making great runs outside to in off the ball and working just as hard as Gabi does. I'd be fine with other wingers but the fact he's a known quantity in the league and won't have to adjust to much is a big bonus for me.
Looking at the midfield, I likely wouldn't want to sell anyone unless MLS or Nwaneri pushed their way out. I think we could work Nwaneri back into the fold as an option for Odegaard's spot but also see Saka moving inside more as he matures. I still think we are light one body when it comes to backing up Zubimendi and Rice and I'd love Bouaddi.
I'm fine with just rolling our defense back for another year but if White is going to leave like is rumored, I'd be very interested in the dutch RB Read, the Italian RB Palestra or Kayode from Brentford to backup Timber. So overall, we would sell Jesus, Trossard, Martinelli and bring in Alvarez, Gordon and Bouaddi, with RB being a one in, one out scenario.
