In 2014/15 Valencia finished fourth in La Liga, conceding six fewer goals than Real Madrid along the way. Though this lofty position was partly attained via a striker in Paco Alcacer who scored 14 goals that season, it was largely made possible by a centre-back pairing who were by turns formidable and highly organised.

Indeed it was a partnership described by The Independent as ‘perfect’.

The first of this perfect duo was a Germany international who had signed for Los Ches from Sampdoria in the summer of 2014. Imposing and positionally sound his only flaw was an ill-discipline that saw him pick up 19 yellows and one red throughout the year. That aside, he was superb.

Watch Premier League Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Alongside him was a player nicknamed 'the General', a combative Argentine who was not only dominant on the ground and in the air but who posed a real threat in the opposition area too scoring six goals. So consistently impressive were his performances that he was included in La Liga’s Team of the Season come May.

That summer the latter of this seemingly perfect duo joined Manchester City. Twelve months later his partner-in-crime followed him to the Premier League when he signed for Arsenal in a deal worth in excess of £35m.

Valencia, looking suitably pained, brought in at least £67m for the pair.

It is hardly a Scooby-Doo reveal but here goes anyway. The pair in question were Shkodran Mustafi and Nicolas Otamendi, players who between them have lowered the standard of defending in the Premier League by a significant percentage. And these past couple of weeks their successful spell in Spain has become ever more pertinent.

A recent poll conducted by the Spanish publication Marca concluded that the 27-year-old Mustafi is the second worst defender on the planet bettering only Manchester United’s Phil Jones.

As for Otamendi his nickname should legitimately be changed to ‘Generally Useless’ after consecutive blunders against Norwich and Wolves resulted in City slipping further behind Liverpool in the title race.

Without the steadying influence of Aymeric Laporte at his shoulder the player whose form two terms ago was so imperious that he made the PFA Team of the Year is now looking perilously hopeless in undertaking the fundamental basics of the art of defending.

He is a mistake waiting to happen and then it happens. He is rash, impulsive and a law onto himself. It should be said that this is not the first time that he has endured such a dramatic decline either.

One Wolves fan thinks he's pinpointed the moment when they went from EPL strugglers to "peak Barcelona 2011" in the video below...

Returning to Mustafi he spoke out  recently about the welter of criticism he regularly receives from Gooners for his shoddy displays, admitting that it affects him deeply.

“Shortly after Christmas 2018 there was a kink. I've made a few mistakes and they've created a mess that I've never experienced before,” he said in his own defence and though this isn’t remotely true – his shortcomings first became apparent far earlier than late last year - let’s go easy on him and take it at face value. That means a Premier League centre-back has been off the pace for ten months now. That’s not good enough.

In their combined years in England we have seen the best of Mustafi and Otamendi and the very worst, and the very worst has been more frequent sadly.

But let’s end by heading back to Valencia. How long do you think they kept their pained expression up for after bringing in a small fortune for two decidedly unreliable stoppers?

Until the cheques cleared would be our guess.