Now now, let's not find cheap excuses for Lenglet here. It's true that some of the misunderstandings in the defence were due to poor communication between him and Umititi and whatnot(offside traps, doubling the player carrying the ball etc.), but his inability to deal with 1 on 1 was his fault and his fault alone. It's simply inexcusable to be beaten so easily for 90 minutes straight no matter how you slice it, I'm sorry.
I'll give him that he has been solid, world class at times even, but when I hear that he has been as good as Umtiti and can sell him without thinking twice, then I have an issue. Umtiti's greatest strength is anticipation which is the single most important quality for a CB that plays for us because we play with such a high line. He used to snuff out attacks before they even happened, often times at the center of the pitch and didn't let the likes of Chukweze turn around and have a go at him straight on. Lenglet at this moment can't do it, not even close and when Alba is not up to it then he's just a sitting duck out there. Maybe he can progress further and improve these qualities but at this point it's foolish to sell Umtiti before we can conclude with certainty that his knee is finished. He's simply the more talented player.
I'm not looking for excuses. Lenglet was really poor against Villarreal. He's not perfect but has shown enough so far to earn the right to have one bad game here and there. Every player, even Messi can have a few bad games during the season.
I'm also not advocating we must sell Umtiti this summer as I want to see if he can overcome injury problems and find his form again. At the same time I would understand club's decision to sell if they don't believe he can ever fully recover (and people inside the club have a lot more informations about his status than we) and get back to his best. But I wouldn't sell him for anything less than what we'll have to pay for MDL and I doubt any team is really willing to take that risk with Umtiti right now.
As you said, Pique and Lenglet had problems earlier on (Although they were individually worse than they currently are. Especially Pique who is in his best form), but now they have chemistry. No reason why this shouldn't happen with De Ligt after a full pre-season and an early period of adaptation.
I agree with having more confidence in Lenglet than Umititi for the rest of this season.
Let's assume everyone will be healthy and won't get a prolonged rest. With no WC or Euro this summer Pique, Umtiti, Lenglet and De Ligt (if we get him) should all start preseason with the team. We usually play 4-5 games in preseason so we can use a combination of MDL-Umtiti and MDL-Lenglet in two games (and let's say we'll try out MDL-Pique in one game) but probably just for about a half so this would mean MDL would play around 90 minutes (one full game) with each of his partners before we start to play official games. This is not enough to establish understanding between them.
It took Lenglet and Pique 3 or 4 months to start playing on a high level. Obviously individual form has a lot to do here but we can probably agree that some time was needed for them to build a chemistry as well. Unless Pique would get a longterm injury (which we don't want) it's hard to imagine De Ligt would get that kind of consistency playing with Lenglet or Umtiti let alone both of them. That was my point.
Again, I'm not against signing De Ligt if Barça think he's a longterm Pique replacement and I don't think selling Umtiti is a must. We can go through the next season with 4 very good CBs (at least on paper) but this doesn't mean there won't be some problems dealing witih them. First, adaptation of De Ligt and trying to get Umtiti back in form and second, keeping everyone happy if they are all fit and playing on a high level.
