I think he's faster and also not as prone to mistakes. Would clearly be an improvement over Lenglet and don't even need to talk about Umtiti. I long thought Lenglet is just going through a bad period and will eventually return in better form but at this point I believe he's mentally broken and will never recover. So if we could sell him for around 30m and get Pau for the same money I'd seriously consider that. But with United interested I doubt Villarreal will sell for anything less than 50m and for that money (if we'd even be able to invest as much in a CB) there are surely better alternatives.
What I'll never understand is why we're so set to have two left-footed CBs which clearly limits our options on the market. All of this after we've had a lot of success having two right-footed CBs (Marquez-Puyol, Pique-Puyol and Pique-Masche) playing together for years.
I actually think Lenglet is more athletic based on what I've seen of Pau.
But anyway, Lenglet was not error prone for Sevilla. Playing at Barca is a whole new level of pressure with the spotlight on you. I don't mind paying 10-15m on players with a high ceiling and taking gambles or bets that way, but I'm done with the 35-50m signings for players that need to prove themselves and aren't regarded as great talents such as a Sergio Ramos or Rio Ferdinand was back in the days.
Give me a CB that has proven he's great and can play well under pressure in the CL. I know it's a tough ask given our circumstances, but I'm just done with these type of signings.
We need more quality. Immediate quality at CB.
The left-footed CB obsession is indeed too much even though I get the logic.