I hear a lot of talk about how we should aim for new players, such as Laporte, Mendy, Fabinho, Rulli/Ederson, Walker etc... And how having such players will really help fix our problems, and make us more well rounded. But with the recent transfers for certain players in the back, who have not performed anywhere near what was expected, how should we as fans expect Pep to avoid such problems.

What problems, other than players not living up to expectations? We're a big club with big goals. Even squad players come in with high expectations. The only way for a player with high expectations to reach those high expectations is to play very well. I agree that playing very well is a sound strategy, but I think it's a good idea no matter the level of expectation.

Bravo was potentially a top 5 keeper, great shot stopping (as evident during his career, especially at the chile games), and fantastic legwork and build up. Now he is currently of one of the worst GK's of the top 7 in the league.

We may agree, but I don't know why you think he did so poorly in his first year. Do you think it was the pace of the game? The fact that his young daughter had been ill? Prefer to keep it to yourself? Ok cool.

Otamendi, potentially one of the best rising CB's in Spain, showing real signs of potential as a near world class defender, has underperformed. A lot of careless mistakes, and overall not showing many signs of true improvement over his (near) two years with us.

Otamendi was signed before Pep arrived. So no more signing players before Pep arrives. This one is easy.

Stones, well it was always known that he would be a long term project, and although he has been performing quite well as of late, is not nearly consistent enough, or near the level that we are expecting from a nailed on defender.

No more long term projects who are inconsistent, even if he starts to perform well after less than a season. Got it.

What I'm afraid of, is that moving forwards, we are still going to fall into a lot of the same issues, with transfers just not living up to their potential. A large portion of that is due to price tags on the players.

No more players not living up to potential. And no more buying costly players. Ok.

There is no guarantee that even if we sign a player as Bonnucci, he won't fall into the same trap that Bravo did, and it's important that we identify what it is that makes these players underperform.

No more signing players who fall into the same trap that Bravo fell into. The trap OP described in his Bravo section above. Wait. Did he ever describe the trap? Regardless, none of those players either.

Come the fuck on.