There's no indication about budgets and all that. I am guessing we will have something like 40m to spend in the summer assuming we win the Scudetto (or at worst make top 4).
Thus far we have locked Onana (3-3.5 net, ~4.5m gross).
I don't buy the Dybala stuff, we're not going to be a priority for him and he'll only end up here if he completely falls out with Juventus and no one else gets involved. The 7.5m deal x 5 sounds too much but on his best day he's a top 10 player in the world. It only happens once or twice a season though, so at best he's just an improvement over Correa.
The following contracts are expiring, contract numbers are approximates and rounded:
Handanovic (6m gross)
Brozovic (6.5m gross)
Perisic (9m gross)
Vidal (8.5m gross)
Vecino (4.5m)
Kolarov (3m)
D'Ambrosio (3.5m)
Ranocchia (3.5m)
Cordaz (0.5m)
We've also gotten Eriksen off the books, at no cost. 10m gross salary.
How many of these guys will remain? The only one getting a pay raise if he stays is Brozovic.
12 months left at the end of the season, aka potentially transfer listed players:
Dzeko (9.5m gross)
Sanchez (9m gross)
Skriniar (5.5m gross)
De Vrij (7m gross)
Gagliardini (3m gross)
Dalbert (2m gross)
Valentino Lazaro's deal expires in 2024, for the record.
We should assume that Skriniar will extend his deal, De Vrij already had an agreement but we didn't follow through so I am guessing we're shopping him around.
Dzeko is unlikely to have offers we or he would be willing to listen to at the end of the season, but some desperation move by Newcastle could tempt him, if he wins a Scudetto with us. There's enough interest for Alexis but not the kind of teams he'd be listening to.
Gagliardini probably sticks around as last (!) bench option.
Salary situation:
Handanovic -2.5m gross, assuming he's staying
Brozovic +4.5m gross
Perisic -9m gross
Vidal -8.5m gross
Kolarov -3m gross
Eriksen -1m gross (canceled out by Hakan's 9m gross starting next season)
Vecino -4.5m gross
Ranocchia -1m gross (if he stays)
[Ranocchia -3.5m gross, if he leaves]
D'Ambrosio -1m gross (if he stays)
[D'Ambrosio -3.5m gross, if he leaves]
Onana +4.5m
If the two defenders stay for an extra year, we are freeing roughly 22m euros from our salary books for 4 roster spots. I'm considering that Radu is going to leave in some way and Cordaz stays if Handanovic sticks, probably with the same salary, so not going to include him in the changes.
So now we have Perisic, who may want to leave after all, but he's maybe waiting to see what kind of interest there is. He wants to play in England and/or Spain, for a team that has high targets. Wouldn't be surprised if Ragnick picks him up and I know Tuchel also likes him. Klopp dislikes his guts and the feeling is mutual. Maybe it's sour grapes gone soft, but I don't see Liverpool being there. I don't see him staying unless it's for family reasons.
There's still a chance he remains, but at what cost? He'd want Brozovic money for sure.
Our roster at the moment has the following players:
GK: Handanovic -> stays with reduced salary
GK: Radu -> probably leaves, replaced by Andre Onana
GK: Cordaz -> stays
DF: Skriniar
DF: De Vrij -> uncertain, we may want to sell and Matthias Ginter is an option to replace him, or even Acerbi if he's cheaper
DF: Bastoni
DF: Ranocchia -> stays
DF: D'Ambrosio -> stays
DF: Kolarov -> leaves // replacement should be Bremer (30m transfer fee, over 4m gross salary)
DF: Darmian
DF: Dumfries
DF: Dimarco
MF: Barella
MF: Brozovic -> stays
MF: Vidal -> leaves // no replacement in sight*
MF: Vecino -> leaves // no replacement in sight*
MF: Gagliardini
MF: Hakan Calhanoglu
MF: Sensi -> could leave // no replacement in sight*
MF: Perisic -> uncertain // replacement could be Filip Kostic [15m transfer fee, ~4m gross salary]
FW: Dzeko -> could leave
FW: Martinez.
FW: Sanchez -> could leave
FW: Correa
There is an extra roster spot here. Bold includes club trained, which I think should include Bastoni by now.
There's also Valentino Lazaro (2024), Dalbert (2023), Andrea Pinamonti (2024) and Gabriel Brazao (2024). Not sure if Brazao becomes club trained at the end of the season. I think UEFA says they just have to be in the books and Serie A that they have to be registered with the club, or vice versa. Either way, it's something to consider going forward, because we're going to end up with 5 goalkeepers to occupy these slots.
For this reason, I think Pinamonti may stick around next season as 5th striker, provided we sell/release at least one forward.
* We do have some targets, but the scenery will change in the summer. We may end up with a winter deal that's an obligation or an option that goes right for once. For the time being we're monitoring guys like Frattesi, Maggiore, Kessie, Tolisso and of course our beloved Nandez. Pretty sure the actual list is three times as long.
But you can imagine that if we can get a loan+ deal for Donny Van de Beek or Georginio Wijnaldum [randomly naming them] in the next couple of weeks, our summer mercato will look different if we end up signing one of these guys. The only guy we genuinely approached that I am aware of is Roma's Villar.
And since Dimarco is considered a Bastoni backup now with Kolarov kind of discarded, we also have Ramy Bensebaini in mind as a WBL and/or DLC alternative, if he's available for a cheap loan. Doubt a permanent move will take place but you never know.
We also want Scamacca up front, whether or not Dzeko stays. If he leaves, I think he becomes our obvious choice. Unless of course we can reach a deal for Vlahovic.
Raspadori would be more of a Sanchez replacement, but we seem to prioritize on Scamacca at the moment. But that's the profiles we're looking at. If we can afford Dybala, then he becomes the Sanchez replacement, Sanchez probably is forced out and we still may go for Scamacca if Sassuolo is reasonable. If Dzeko also leaves, that means we're freeing 18m so perhaps we could make a push for a better striker, ie Dusan Vlahovic.
Very early to discuss the forwards department, but that's our situation at the moment. Martinez should be untouchable but a big offer in this summer may see him move (it's the summer of Mbappe, Haaland, Vlahovic and possibly Lewandowski) and Correa will complete his move next summer but we've seen players leave after that anyway, so cannot rule anything out.
Would just want to add that as much of an embarrassment as a person Luis Suarez is, if we cannot get a top player at a good age, he's a player I'd welcome for a season as a Lautaro reliever.
Other relatively affordable free agents would include Andrea Belotti, Edinson Cavani and hopefully not, Alex Lacazette.
The RWB situation may also be reviewed, if Dumfries is not considered good enough to start, we'll be going for someone else and I can assume Inzaghi rates Manuel Lazzari highly.
CL progress will also affect our summer budget. At the moment we have 15m we did not expect to have and we may use it if we decide. If not, theoretically it moves to the summer budget. Unless our debt is so disastrous, we are expecting positive cash flow from Lukaku's transfers (we receive something like 25m annually iirc, we send back to England 15m) and also Hakimi (15m in, 10m out, should be something like that since there was a bigger down payment iirc), we will lower our salary costs and potentially reduce it even further if we manage to sell the attacking veterans and Perisic doesn't renew, since we're not really going for a replacement that would command 10m net.
If we reach CL semis for example, I'm expecting another 15m going towards the budget. Should take us to 70m if we assume 40m is the standard + 15m from CL groups and + 15m from CL last 16, 8 and 4. It's daydreaming, but whatever, let me do it, worse teams than us have even won the damn thing!