Bent is much better than Wickham
Welbeck is better than Ji-Dong Won (probably)
Mensah is better than Brown
Onuoha and O' Shea I'd class as equal, same with Vaughan and Muntari. Not really sure about Westwood, they're all so meh.
The only improvement is Gardner over Henderson (and maybe Larsson over Zenden).
Their starting 11 are definitely weaker, whilst their squad is stronger. But their massive wage bill has inflated even more, so its a risk. A dull, uninspiring risk.