I think the point is that all mentioned were very useful squad players whereas James is not good enough even for that role. He plugged some holes in the meantime before we developed Greenwood but even comparing him to Lingard, Lingard is Robben to him, works hard, can press much better and has a knack for goals and some great ones too, James very, very very weak finisher and for an attacking player of United quality, doesn't matter if squad quality, he should be sold. He's just a headless chicken on and of the ball, losing duels to almost every player, being physically underdeveloped. If we want to start winning things we certainly need to raise the bar for squad players as well.
Elanga has a much higher ceiling if he stays injury free, he could take Lingard's, Mata's James's spot - that's for this year. But hten next year we have Amad and Facundo back, with Pellistri being already very similar player in terms of workrate just obviously with higher ability..
I think people are also a bit pissed James palying because it's so obvious he will never be good enough for us and takes a lot of gametime of other players who deserve a shot..
Wherever DJ goes I wish him well, my bet is that he could start for some of bottom 5 in the EPL but be a rotation option for for the better part of the bottom half teams. The top 10 is already very strong equipped, would struggle for gametime there. let's see maybe he can step up with regular playing time..