Last season we had cancelo too and we all assumed gomez would be an adequate zinchenko replacement which he isn't and i suspect he won't play a single minute that matters at the back for us this season, him playing pre-season as a winger along with a change in formation I think shows pep doesn't see him as an option at the back other than to rest players in already won games.
We started the season with 7 options and then bought akanji last minute as we didn't think it was enough. Then even with akanji, we had a few injuries early in the season with walker, stones, dias and laporte missing a lot of games before the world cup which saw a substantial drop in form and forced pep into bringing in Rico Lewis from nowhere as a 9th option.
We can't go into the season with 7 defenders again and rely on finding a second Rico Lewis from the academy or playing rodri there again if we have a similar, not uncommon number of injuries at any period in the season.
It's an incredibly thin squad as is, not replacing any player we lose now is just asking for problems.
If we keep THB around then fair enough that could be the solution but him not even joining the pre-season tour probably indicates he isn't going to be integrated in.
