And Bonnuci? Chiello-Bonbon partnership has been one of the best in the world for years now. MDL is widely rated as one of the best young CBs in the world.
What has Skriniar ever shown for this high rating?
I can't see any scenario where Bonucci is better than Skriniar. Only as a sweeper, I would prefer Bonucci. Even Bonucci himself has said his past 2 seasons have been below the standard.
I think most decent CBs beside Chiellini would be considered a top CB pairing. And still, it's not as if we haven't seen our CBs get overrun many times in big matches with Juve or the Azzurri. After all, it's hard for CBs to cope nowadays if the team in front lets them down. So I'm careful to place so much importance on team accomplishments when evaluating individual players.
For example, we would still win multiple scudetti with Skriniar-Chiellini in my opinion.
As far as MDL goes. And also Demiral really. Physically, I can't see any limitations to their potential and I'm a big believer in both. Personally, I place a ton of importance on Skriniar's consistency on such a clown show of a team. The longest his manager has stayed is 2 years and always under constant turmoil. The only thing Inter could say for sure is that Skriniar would show up, absolutely everything else was in doubt.
And so I place a ton of respect on his mentality to perform so consistently for 40+ matches a season. You could put 2006 Cannavaro on that team and still they would win nothing, so that can't be a factor for me. But also, I have a sense that MDL and Demiral both have this quality as well. But I need to see it first for Juve to be sure.