I think Saúl has a lot of things going for him.
He can play CB, 6, 8 and even LB so as a squad player he'd be very useful to fill any holes as they pop up.
At his best, he's world class and has shown it on the biggest stage.
I think we miss a box-to-box midfielder in our squad, and we end up making KDB do too much running to compensate for Gundogan and Rodri being relatively stationary (Gundogan isn't stationary but he occupies a small area of the pitch), and that's one of the reasons Bernardo and Foden's constant running makes such a big difference in the side.
Against Chelsea in the last 2 games, and more widely against 3/5 at the back formations over the last 2 years we have really missed a runner getting forward and making late runs into the box to help out the forwards and stop the 3 CB's having a numbers advantage, so whether it's Saúl or someone else, we need one - our record against these teams is awful over 2+ seasons.
I think our best chance of replacing Fernandinho is to get a technical, mobile box-to-box midfielder who can be converted into a 6 because that's what Fernandinho was, and Saúl fits that mould with a few seasons of defensive play under his belt already.
I know he plays well next to Rodri in a 2, and with Lillo as assistant we're gonna play that sometimes. So he potentially solves the Rodri problem as well.
He's had a couple of down seasons, he's spoken quite openly about being a bit down and out because of Simeone forcing him back deeper (much deeper than a 6 plays for us), the team not playing attacking football and not being able to leave when he asked 2 years ago probably didn't help. So there's a clear and obvious reason I can point to as to his form dropping off, and it goes away overnight when he moves club.
I certainly think if Bernardo had to go, replacing him with Grealish + Saúl (and we'd obviously have to pay some money on top) would make the squad more rounded, better over a season.
And just as a short term thing, he's getting the summer off. So he'll get a full Pep preseason and he'll be rested and ready to go, and there's not many better players on the market who are in that position.
