Except that it was a largely even affair before the floodgates opened, and it was a few jaded senior players who opened (and left open) the floodgates. Regardless, I know a lot of money's on offer these days, and clubs can run out and spend £25m+ on players like Memphis, but it doesn't stop people like Rashford from popping up and completely surpassing them. Isolated example, but part of the spirit of the thread I guess -- you don't really know what anyone's worth or capable of until you let the chips fall.
I do think we would consider purchasing a lot of the academy players I listed for £10m and above (beyond Hart & Nacho). Byrne, Denayer, & Roberts for starters. But the original hypothetical was essentially "what kind of players would this bunch be with a full preseason as senior players, with Pep as their manager, after 6-8 weeks of playing against Premiership sides together as a team." I think (and it's just me being hopeful and optimistic by nature) that a few more of the players on the original list would be "£10m and above" players by league standards at the end of week 8.
As for the last question, you're right and I'm wrong -- there's more than 6 clubs I would admittedly see above us in the table. So allowing for some back-tracking, I still think that side would finish in the 7-10th section of the table. Again, some huge discrepancies in people's thoughts on this -- just offseason boredom-killing fodder in the typically civil EDS/Academy forum, not looking to pick fights.
