And I’m sure they did.
But, if you think about it, the transfer market is such a transitional thing that it changes almost week to week.
For example:
Karl has just seen the squad do a weeks training in Portugal. So his targets might have changed, ie ‘Sam Long has come back fitter, more experienced and confident - we definitely don’t need a starting right back. Or, (for fairness) ‘Sam Long hasn’t really kicked on as I’d wish, Fosu absolutely destroyed him, so a RB is now top of my list (but Whyte can really play well as a striker, so that’s less important) etc. Couldn’t have made those decisions fully at the end of last season.
Also, day by day, players sign new contracts, sign for other teams, or decide to leave clubs. It’s a constantly shifting market, so information needs to be regularly reassessed.
Plus, someone like Mark Sykes could come back from international duty and say ‘I was chatting to my new roommate and he was saying he’s looking for more minutes at another club, give him a call’ etc - this has happened before. That player might not have been on anyone’s radar before, but it will still need to be looked at, and assessed for affordability etc.
Basically, to suggest that they should have had a numbered list of targets at the end of last season which they just go down one by one is ridiculous. It’s also bad business - I’d much rather they were agile, open to new opportunities and keeping in touch with what’s going on.