If we lose Kova
these are the acceptable (to us, us being my wife and myself) replacements (and no, these are not AMF's as that is Barkley/RLC to me, OR (huge statement of intent ) Kai Havertz, who atm I would take instantly over Bailey if we could only have ONE Bayer Leverkusen player). We also think Sandro Tonali (Neves will be too pricey) is an absolute must , MUST MUST buy in the Jorginho role, as his backup and hopefully eventually replacement.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic will be too expensive, (as would Saul and Koke and Marco Verratti), so
Frenkie de Jong Ajax
Tanguy Ndombélé Lyon
Adrien Rabiot PSG
Piotr Zielinski Poison Dwarves
Miralem Pjanic (lower down, as he turns 29 in February, and not thrilled with buying 30 (or soon to be) something players, he also is not a true box to box'er, but my dog would he be crazy good i Sarriball (Juve are probably NOT going to sell him anyway, so put this in pipe-dream, along with Thiago Alcantara from Bayern)
Corentin Tolisso Bayern Munich (they will never sell him though, not for under 70,80, 90 million euros, same for Leon Goreztka)
Bryan Cristante Roma
Nicolò Barella Cagliari
Donny van de Beek Ajax
Amadou Haidara RB Salzbug
Marcelo Brozovic Inter Milan
Houssem Aouar Lyon
Franck Kessié AC Milan
Roberto Gagliardini Inter Milan
Rolando Mandragora Udinese
Matías Vecino Inter Milan (he is far better player than I have seen in the past, I so see what Sarri liked in him)
Giovani Lo Celso (on loan to Real Betis from PSG)
Rodrigo Bentancur Juventus
Lorenzo Pellegrini Roma
Fabián Ruiz Poison Dwarves
Jordan Veretout Fiorentina
Rafinha Barcelona
Geoffrey Kondogbia Valencia
Maximilian Eggestein Werder Bremen
Youri Tielemans Monaco
Dani Ceballos Real Madrid (I hope he IS the player who they consider keeping and using over Kovacic)
Manu Trigueros Villarreal
Mattéo Guendouzi Arse (no way they would sell him to us though)
Karol Linetty Sampdoria
Antonin Barak Udinese
Christopher Nkunku PSG
Weston McKennie Schalke
On a free, I would accept, after much thought, Aaron Ramsey from the Goonas, he is a hell of a player and is homegrown. He would be high on the list.
Also, we need to make a move for the best 16yo (yes 16, lol) MF on the planet atm, Ryan Gravenberch from Ajax, and get him into our academy