I never claimed that the stats tell the whole story. You just have your eyes closed to any kind of evidence whatsoever and are more willing to stick to your outdated convictions than learn something new.
Ok.
Your post above is ok in general.
Stats do tell a part of a story, but not the whole story.
For example, as I have said above, Bartra has more tackles than Pique and Umtiti.
Not because he is better but because he plays for a team who has to defend for 90 minutes.
The opponent enters Barca's half probably 20 times per match, while for a team like Betis, an opponent is around their box all the time.
So, Pique probably (an example) has 2 tackles out of 20 actions, while Bartra has 4 tackles out of 60 actions, so 1/10 compared to 1/15, which means that Pique is better.
The same, since Barca is a possession team and we hold the ball for long in the opponent's half, Rakitic and Busi don't have to tackle/intercept THAT often.
Compared to Cms from Las Palmas or Betis.
For example, how many times Spanish Cm's needed to tackle against Russia?
Compared to Russian Cms who had to defend for 120 minutes?
Also, Mexico-Brasil, Mexico is running up and down for 90 minutes and giving away possession (fast counters) after 10-20 seconds.
So, a Maxican Cdm or a Cm will have to tackle/cover 100 times per match, while a Spanish guy will need to make an interception here and there.
To some extent, this is why Fabregas from Chelsea probably has more tackles than Rakitic from a possession based Barca.
Bayern is slightly more direct than Barca, so we have to take that into an account also regarding Thiago's stats.
On the other hand, imagine if we had a world class RB and a crappy LB.
And the opponents will target that crappy LB all the time.
He will be involved in 30 defensive actions, and have let's say 5 good interceptions.
A world class RB won't have too much work, since the opponents will avoid him.
He will be involved in let's say 10 actions and have 3 good interceptions.
Now again, is a LB with interceptions better?
This is simplified, but you get my point, I guess?
Or imagine that you have the ball (as a player) and you have 2 defenders infront of you:
Paulinho on the left
Denis Suarez on the right
Would you choose your path through Paulinho or Denis (so, would you rather try to dribble past Paulinho or Denis)?
I would always try to avoid a big guy, or a guy who defends better and pick on a weaker guy.
Or, if Paulinho will cover me, I will pass the ball to someone else, because I can't do too much against Paulinho and I won't risk.
So, even though Paulinho didn't tackle me or intercepted a pass, he closed me down and "forced" me to make a backpass and to chose a different path.
Those are things which can't be seen or measured in stats.
Whenever Rakitic is not playing for Croatia, you can feel a giant hole in midfield in a defensive part.
It can't be measured in stats, but he just always "close" an opponent, closing him down and forcing him to pass the ball "to somewhere else".
So, Barca already has Messi who is lazy.
Dembele who doesn't know how to defend.
Suarez who is Suarez...
Coutinho who is light as a fly.
The only 2 guys working in defense are Rakitic and Busi. And those two are not enough for a CL level.
And now, guys would want to get rid of Raki for Thiago, more creative and a weaker defender/workhorse.
Thiago could work in some other universe where we would have young Messi, Pedro and Etoo in attack, where they are working hard and pressing.
In the current lineup, if you move away Rakitic or Busi, you are inviting a huge chaos.
I personally think that we will see a drop in our defense even now without Paulinho, even though his defensive "stats" were average, but imo, he did a lot of good things in defense which can't be a measured in stats.
So, let's see how we will play without Paulinho.
I don't even want to imagine Barca without both Paulinho and Rakitic with Messi, Luis and Dembele walking and resting in attack and with light Coutinho behind them
[MENTION=15376]DonAK[/MENTION] said that we need fast and mobile midfielders.
That is true.
But we also need someone for 4 attacking players (Messi, Luis, Dembele, Coutinho) who barely defend, or if they defend, they aren't too good at it (Coutinho).
. Messi has his fair share of bad games but balanced with some truly great ones. He was a dominant force in the entire Chelsea series, great vs PSG in the 6-1, created several great chances against Juventus, dominated the Arsenal series in 15/16 the year before. 
