Well you've raised a good point about the tactical systems being used by the respective managers impacting how effective the players would be. You're probably right that Gabriel wouldn't be as effective as Akanji in a Pep system but then again under Arteta he basically acts firstly as a Gandalf figure at the back ('you shall not pass') and secondly as an offensive weapon at set pieces. Whether Akanji would be as effective under that system I guess we'll never find out.Why would Gabriel displace Akanji? If your centre halves played the average positions on the pitch that City do, they look a hell of a lot less secure than they do playing Arteta’s way, and conversely, Akanji and Dias would look much more secure playing Arteta’s way. Sometimes Akanji’s average position is in the opposition half, Gabriel’s is often below the centre circle.
Could either of Gabriel or Saliba play in central midfield like Stones does? If we needed any centre half from both teams to do that role against a certain team, Stones is by far the most suited of all of them. There’s no way either of your two centre halves would get MOTM in the CL final playing in centre mid.
Raya makes more mistakes leading to goals than Ederson (when he was younger, Ederson was quite bad for this but now it hardly every happens), and he can’t do what Ederson can with the ball at his fe
What's for sure is Haaland, KDB and Foden would be the best player in their positions in either system - I reckon Saka would ironically be even more effective under Pep's system as he'd not have to track back so much.