Good post but for me because of injury records and also age ( Walker) we need another defender. Probably a FB, meaning Gvaridol/Ake or Akanji are going to be used predominantly at CB.Glad you asked :D
I will try to keep it very real, no fantasy football stuff, etc. Basically, I am operating under the assumption we are not going to lose any players (such as Nunes) and if we are, their limited squad role will be allocated to the likes of Perrone, or maybe Lewis can have more minutes. If we lose some key player (Julian, KDB) then I would look at the likes of Xavi Simmons. I don't think we need a KDB replacement per se; that's Phil (and apparently we want Oscar centrally long-term as well). I know I mentioned Wirtz and Musiala, but these would be luxury signings, so fantastic that we should always look to add these sort of players when/if they become available, but we are good nonetheless.
IN; Bruno G (or Neves), Savio - 2 players, ability (Bruno) and youth (Savio)
OUT; Cancelo, Gomez, Phillips (they essentially didn't participate anyway)
IF POSSIBLE (3rd signing if we have a space/means/were to lose Kyle); Frimpong
Starting 11 (we obviously rotate, and a lot of our players are versatile, so this is just an example):
Ederson (Ortega) - Akanji (Walker) Dias (Stones) Ake, Gvardiol - Rodri (Kova), Bruno (Lewis, Nunes), Foden (KDB), Bernardo (Savio, Bobb), Doku (Grealish), Haaland (Alvarez)
That's 6 defenders for 4 spots. If needed, we can use Rico (7th player) there as well. One way ore another, we seem alright at the back, although I wouldn't be against someone like Frimpong because Kyle is getting older, Rico is more of a midfielder IMO, Manu is necessary across the back 4, and Stonesy has fitness issues. With Frimpong in, we would be well covered here. Even without, as long as Kyle is sticking around we should be alright. I would start Manu at RB, though.
In terms of central midfield areas, we would have 7 players competing for 3 spots - Rodri, Bruno, Foden, KDB, Kova, Nunes and Rico. Bernardo (8th) plays in the middle occasionally as well, so we have more than enough here, IMO.
Moving on to the wide players, we Jack, Jeremy, Bernardo, Oscar and Savio. That's 5 players. I am sure we would sometimes see Phil (6th) on the left as well (although we all prefer him in the middle) to accommodate KDB in the starting 11. Even Nunes played on the right for us. Again, lots of options.
Strikers: Erling and Julian. No further explanation needed.
Anyway, that's 23 players (including Scott). I am not counting Perrone or Echeverri as well.
Summer 2025: See what Kevin does, see what Bernardo does. Then we can reevaluate, see who is available etc.
John Stones injuries are an issue and Ake has more than his share.