Have a glance at the first team section of the Manchester United website and their biggest problems are buried at the bottom of the pile. Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, names without squad numbers, are the last two players on the list. Above them are Alejandro Garnacho and Antony. There are a whopping 33 players on that page. We can omit the aforementioned quartet and Tyrell Malacia from the actual senior squad. Dan Gore and Ethan Wheatley cannot be considered first-teamers and it is premature to assign Tyler Fredricson that status, despite his recent squad number upgrade. Diego Leon's profile has been uploaded to the first team page but the 18-year-old's first year is expected to be akin to Sekou Kone's. One of acclimatisation with scant opportunities at senior level. So the number is whittled down to a lean 24 players, an ideal size for a season without European nights on the calendar. Yet sellable assets cannot just be written off. Rashford, Antony, Sancho and Garnacho collectively rake in £825,000-a-week. They are all still on United's books and the chances are they all still will be going into August. It is improbable that United will sell all four. Garnacho has takers and Sancho cannot command that high a fee after four feckless years and with a year remaining on his contract. Antony has created a market but his profitability and sustainability-calculated value (£32.58m) is unlikely to be coughed up by a buying club. Antony may have to embark on a season-long loan with a fixed fee to be paid at the end of it, minus a Sancho-style loophole. Rashford's salary, the three years left on his contract and pickiness over a change of scenery make a loan inevitable. Rashford did a four-hour gym session on Monday morning. His Instagram posts over the summer have consisted almost entirely of fitness videos. He has also conducted individual sessions at Carrington. He is trying to catch the eye. The chances are United will still be footing some of the bill for two prominent forwards heading into next season. Then they have two strikers they have invested £108.5million in, a high-profile teenage striker promoted to the first team nearly six months ago and five players who can operate as a No.10. They are more stockpiled than an Ikea warehouse. Any speculation that United are about to promptly recruit a striker is unrealistic when their attacking department is so bloated and expensive. Liam Delap was a convenient option as he had a low release clause and played for a relegated club more enthusiastic about promoting Ed Sheeran concerts than remaining in the Premier League. Sources say United's new director of football, Jason Wilcox, is well liked by staff members and widely respected. Sir Jim Ratcliffe said Wilcox possesses the "best eyes in football". He did not look far for Delap, a player he watched in the Manchester City academy when he was director there. United are still burnt from the £72m package they agreed with Atalanta for Rasmus Hojlund, bought for an up-front fee of £64m two years ago. Whilst United were in negotiations with Atalanta, one of the coaching staff members admitted they would not be able to spend £60m on another striker the following summer. When United needed another striker last year, they had to compromise and paid a release clause for Joshua Zirkzee, who cost roughly half the price that Hojlund did at £36.5m. It then turned out Zirkzee is not a specialist striker. United have been linked with Viktor Gyokeres and Hugo Ekitike but there was nothing concrete. Both players are now seemingly bound for Arsenal and Newcastle United, Premier League clubs that qualified for the Champions League. United informed Christopher Nkunku's representatives they are nowhere near as keen as his parent club, Chelsea, claimed. Expect the Google search interest for Benjamin Sesko to spike this week now he is the last high-profile and attainable striker waiting in the wings. Sesko rejected United in 2022 to sign for RB Leipzig but his agent has since paid multiple visits to Old Trafford and Carrington. Sesko, under contract until 2029, would command at least double the fee United were prepared to pay for Delap. United have eight senior out-and-out forwards and the majority are on six-figure weekly salaries. The numbers, for a club that confessed their struggles to comply with PSR to a supporters' group, do not add up. Guaranteed sales are all the more pressing now the price of a No.9 has gone up. Reinventing Matheus Cunha or Bryan Mbeumo (if he ever arrives) as an out-and-out striker would be a complete cop-out. Persevering with Hojlund would be blind faith. Senior figures at United spoke critically of Hojlund last season, anticipating a possible departure this summer. Inter Milan enquired about the Dane in June. The wait for a striker will likely stretch towards the transfer deadline of September 1. United's priority purchase is often one of the last through the door (Manuel Ugarte in 2024, Hojlund in 2023, Casemiro in 2022 and Harry Maguire in 2019). United finished the last two seasons with a minus goal difference. It was literally ten times worse in 2024-25 than the previous campaign. The nock of the arrow has to be sharpened. But there are problems at the bottom of the pile to address first.