Think we should be looking at centre halves who play in a team with little midfield protection and excel in one on one defending. A lot of the goals we ship are when we're hit on the counter and the ball bypasses our midfielders. We were probably at our best defensively under Mancini when we had De Jong and Barry sweeping up in front of Komps, even Nastasic looked good at times in that system. But obviously two holding midfielders are out of the question under Pep's system and we should look for defenders who can hold their own when exposed and still be able to play the ball out under pressure, someone with a bit of steel to compliment Stones' velvet. Van Dijk has Oriol Romeu in front of him and Jose Fonte next to him, though I wouldn't mind seeing how he'd do with us. I wouldn't want to see us sign Lindelof but I'm only basing that on how our other centre backs from the Portuguese league performed. Laporte would've been a good option but he chose to stay at Bilbao and he's clearly comfortable there. I'd also hazard a guess at Bonucci seeing his career out at Juve. Alderweireld? Levy would rip the piss out of us if that rumoured buy-out clause turns out to be fake. That doesn't leave a lot of other ball playing centre halves and I don't really have a clue who else is realistically obtainable. Hopefully the people at the club, who know a lot more than me, have sounded out a few potential targets and we manage to get someone who ticks all the boxes.