I think this is where I see the squad, for the 25/26 season. It will always evolve after that.
Venom, GAP, Austin/Keeley/Gunter
Porro, Spence
Udogie, GAP
Romero, VDV, Dragu, Phillips, Vuskovic
GAP, Biss, Bents, Sarr, Gray, Bergval
GAP, Kulu, Madds,
Sonny, Johnson, Yang, Odobert, Moore
Solanke, GAP, Lankshear/Veliz/Scarlett
The departures from this season's squad would be Forster and Davies who leave at the end of their contracts. Then it would be Whiteman, Reggie, Richi, Solomon, Gil plus Werner not being converted. That is 4 places from the active squad and 4 places from the fringe/loans.
Even if we try to fill my 5 gaps with Kelleher, Dorgu, Ederson, Eze and Delap, to use the most popular names, could we afford it? I very much doubt it. That is why we need to consider some other strategies
1) Consider that 2 out of Lanks / Scarlett and Veliz are ready to fill the backup slots to Solanke.
2) Get combinations of Devine / Donley / Abbott / Craig / Hall etc in the first team squad to supplement the midfield.
3) Start player sacrifices with our senior pros like Venom, Romero, Madds
4) Use the loan system again like we did with Werner. Anywhere through the spine could work.
Even my squad above is a little too big. We would still need to loan a couple of players e.g. Bergval to keep everyone happy and make sure players are still developing.
Personally, I've always been of the opinion that we need to focus on quality over quantity in the transfer market. We should now be at the stage where you only ever bring in 2 or 3 senior 1st teamers. Your quantity only comes from buying youngsters to keep filling the pipe. No more major squad overhauls in one summer. We're better than that now.