buy a starter a season, chance it with bench, dont play it 'safe'
This is actually the first mercato where we haven't bought multiple starters.
Last year was Tevez/Llorente.
Year before was Asamoah/Pogba.
Year before was Vidal/Lichtsteiner/Pirlo.
I'll wager when we look back at this mercato our starters will be Morata and Coman, and next year it will be Berardi and someone else. But like always, it's not exactly evident at the time.
The thing with bench players and youngsters is that A. They can actually become starters and B. You're guaranteed to make the CL every year:
Because missing the CL is so much more punitive than making the CL semis is rewarding. If you just make it out of the groups every year, you will have a chance to grow as a team. If you make the semis, you can grow a bit faster. If you miss the CL, you're fucked completely. That's why management will never go into a season with a thin bench.
Primavera players on the bench is how you risk missing the CL. Barzagli and Vidal are already hurt. This is why we're going for Luisao. Luisao is literally the safest option for the money that you can find. You make the CL again and keep turning your wheels. If you leave it up to Caceres or Rugani and they're disasters, then we could miss the CL and then Vidal and Pogba get sold.
Another thing with buying high-priced starters and putting current starters on the bench is the wage structure of the team. We can't have 3M-4M wages on the bench at every position like some of these teams do.
You have to buy the likes of Pereyra who can be on the bench or starting for half the season but he's on 1-2M wages for 10 years. Lichtsteiner has been on 2M wages until now, he's 31.