Before Wednesday's Europa League final, Manchester United would have had a Plan A and a Plan B for this summer. The binmen in Bilbao might find the more expressive shopping list discarded somewhere in the days to come.
[United](https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/all-about/manchester-united-fc) have sought to downplay the impact the loss of that cash will have on their summer transfer plans, and they continue to press ahead with attempts to sign Matheus Cunha and Liam Delap. But for a club that has sacked 400 members of its workforce and made a series of penny-pinching measures, it's pretty obvious the financial effect of defeat to Tottenham will be seismic.
But those two plans should cover [departures as well as arrivals](https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/all-about/manchester-united-transfer-news), and with no European football next season, Ineos can now take a bludgeon to this squad. United could have 31 first-team squad members when players return for pre-season and in a campaign that could be as short as 40 games, that is wildly excessive.
United will play 38 Premier League fixtures, almost all of them on weekends. They will enter the Carabao Cup in the second round in August and the FA Cup in the third round in January. A cup run could push them towards 45 or 50 games, but they played 60 games this season and 62 in 2022/23, so the workload will decrease considerably.
A 25-man squad for next season would be fine, but only if that included some of the club's promising youngsters who are on the fringes of the first team. Any bigger, and there will be senior players barely getting a kick, and the dynamic at training will be difficult to manage for Ruben Amorim, who is desperate to make the most of those free weeks at Carrington.
Some of the departures are straightforward. Jonny Evans, Victor Lindelof and Christian Eriksen are out of contract and will leave next month. Tyrell Malacia, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Antony are all out on loan and will be sold in the summer. That is seven players going already.
Then are the potential sales. Change looks certain in the goalkeeping department, and Altay Bayindir should be sold for an upgrade to offer more competition to Andre Onana.
The departures of Evans and Lindelof free up space in defence for Ayden Heaven, and no further sales are really required here, although the wing-back situation is one to monitor. Diogo Dalot needs competition on the right, and having Patrick Dorgu and Harry Amass on the left looks light, but there might be no other option.
Sales should be considered in midfield. The failure to qualify for the Champions League makes Casemiro's role redundant next season. He is a European specialist who has struggled in the Premier League, and Ineos desperately need shot of the club's highest earner. Manuel Ugarte doesn't look up to the job yet, but will get another season. Toby Collyer turns 22 in January and either needs more games or to be sold as well, as there are a crop of promising midfielders in the academy waiting for their chance.
In attack, selling or at least loaning one of Joshua Zirkzee or Rasmus Hojlund looks essential. Neither are up to the job, but Zirkzee has probably shown more promise. He is less of a natural fit as a No. 9 for Amorim, but his versatility to play behind a striker is beneficial. If Amorim keeps Chido Obi in the first-team picture, he is another option at centre-forward.
Then there are the two most controversial possible departures. Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho would have both been frustrated at their roles in the Europa League final and it's clear Amorim is yet to fully trust either. As academy graduates, they represent pure profit in the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR) and are sellable assets.
A departure for either would go down badly amongst supporters, but neither is in Amorim's strongest team, and it would be a major financial boost. Without the guarantee of what would have been at least 10 extra fixtures in the Champions League, keeping both of them happy might be a challenge as well.
That is the context with which United must approach this summer. Defeat in Bilbao means they have to be ruthless when it comes to trimming the size of this squad.