Doesn't make sense to me also.
Angelino and Cancelo brought in, both very attacking fullbacks in style, yet we were playing with inverted fullbacks in Walker and Zinchenko.
Was the intention for the long term plan to play wide fullbacks? We have almost never seen this, with only Mendy doing that, and not as often as I'd thought.
It's all very strange because I think our recruitment in terms of midfielders or forwards is basically perfect, I can't think of a player we brought in who didn't adapt or play a role in our system. Yet defensively I'm baffled, maybe the club should save some money here because they haven't been that smart and try some youth. Would love to see Tosin given a chance next season with Otamendi gone, and see Eric and Harwood-Bellis given back up roles.
I don't know if the academy is producing any fullbacks of talent, but the perfect Pep inverted fullback is extremely hard to find, you want a player who is:
1) Fast like Walker (or almost as fast)
2) Can control and pass the ball like Zinchenko (or almost as good)
3) But can defend like... well a decent defender (which apparently Cancelo and Angelino aren't good enough for)
Neither Walker or Zinchenko are perfect inverted fullbacks but do well enough. At Bayern, Lahm and Alaba fit this so perfectly.