We don't have any £100m defenders. Gvardiol cost 77 or so, and is about 77 times better than Rico. He is probably our player of the season all things considered, despite some subpar performances every now and again.You can say the same thing for the 100M pound defender opposite him, or any defender this season.
Pep can play Rico all he wants, but just accept we won't be challenging for anything other than mediocrity with him in the side. He is not the only problem, but if he plays more minutes than 90% of our squad, that's very concerning. He is the sort of player you put on at 3-0 to hold the ball and pass ot sideways/backwards. That's all.