Barcola is a no from me. We may need a role-player and not a protagonist to replace Martinelli—or we extend Gabi and use Calafiori and Guimarães to better mix up our left-sided offence, and to give Rice more rest or use him deeper.
Tzolis is a protagonist who may or may not be a decent stand-in for what we've lost in that regard with Trossard. Looks good in preseason but this isn't much to go on.
Barcola seems a smart and disciplined bloke but I doubt an arrival from PSG could have the enthusiasm for thankless hard running that Martinelli's tactical LW role has required. If Martinelli heads off, we'll have no option to create width or track back quite the way he has done.
Rogers perhaps could have done it, but I don't think he improves enough on Gabi for us to pay over £100m for the increment.
Martinelli's off-the-ball commitment (and even Trossard's improvements off the ball) is a big reason (among varying reasons) that other players we consider hypothetical options at LW, including Saka, Madueke and Eze, have rarely been used there. It's an option that can help us get more offensively out of Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly and now Guimarães down the left.
I also think 1-on-1 ability to create overloads has become an overvalued cliché if Barcola is now £120m or whatever bullshit PSG are trying on. As a trend it all starts with Guardiola's supposed genius in signing Jeremy Doku. Barcola is a top player, but I don't value his shooting or final balls at the price point being discussed. Given how many high-priced transfers are flops, this one has flop written all over it. We can get more out of tactical innovation with our current squad.
