January on its way, what do we need?

In terms of sales, we need to get rid of that donkey fellaini (let moyes take him since he loves him so much), maybe young if we aren't using him, Carrick (not good enough anymore), Rooney potentially (if the fee is right, nowhere near good enough to warrant the wages he is on) and basically any other deadwood or overpaid player as well as any egomaniacs, no matter how talented (looking directly at Depay on this one, if he doesn't pull it together sell him)

Sell Memphis after one season... makes sense. Can't disagree with the other ones even though I still think Rooney will be of use as part of the squad and in a different setup.

LVG has pretty much cleared the 'deadwood' as far as I'm concerned, our squad is pretty thin as it is so we need to add rather than sell.

Young is the only one I don't really see a place for, he's never really been good enough as a winger for us and he's not a fullback, I'd rather give his games to Lingard/Periera. Carrick, Rooney, Fellaini etc. can be good squad players, Fellaini has his uses, Carrick and Rooney have underperformed but the former hasn't got long left as it is and Rooney will be hard to shift even if we wanted to.

I can see where Spens is coming from on Memphis but I think the penny has dropped for him, he's been working much harder and doing his bit defensively lately.
Still remains a player with huge potential and he can handle the stage, no doubt about that.

As Matt said it also depends who the manager is, if it is Mourinho for example, we can say goodbye to Mata and Rooney I doubt would be going anywhere since he tried to bring him to Chelsea.

Yeah, but a part of me thinks Rooney would get going again under someone like Mourinho. I believe Mourinho, for all his antics and provocation, can turn some players into beast. I would expect Smalling, Jones, Schneiderlin, Herrera, etc. to become amazing players in a team led by Mourinho. Not that they aren't now, but I think they would improve even further.

But as you said, players in the mould of Mata would get little chance. Mourinho likes to have powerful players, who above all offer hard work, pace, directness and that winning attitude (unlike LVG who favorises extreme tactical discipline above anything else). Mourinho wants players who will stand their ground every game, every minute, no matter if they aren't of the highest quality as long as they don't get beaten in their challenges, as long as they literally die on the pitch for the cause. That's something I respect. But I would fear for Mata, Blind, even Darmian who all look too soft as they don't quite fit the Mourinho profile and usual set up. That's why it never worked that well with Hazard who despite all his quality never showed the aggressivity Mourinho requires.

Well, no point debating too much since no one knows what will happen. But to be honest, I am not completely against Mourinho. I am well aware of all the bad things he could bring. But somehow I would fancy him to turn us into a winning machine, giving players more confidence, with a lot more directness, with a bit more of a counter-attacking profile, which imo suits the players we have much better. I was glad with the possession dimension I was sure LVG would bring in, but not at the expense of direct and aggressive attacking: LVG has lost himself in his own philosophy imo.

just the shit ones (e.g. even though Mata has been underperforming, clearly not his fault because no way Mata could possibly perform in this dour system)

At the very worst, next season he's a good backup to bring off the bench

bit much

i mean for that money, or a bit more, you could get something great