RowJimmy
So I think we're still in the market for a starting level LW. It's perfectly possible we have a higher value attached to Barcola or Diomande than we did to Rogers and that we started with him in the hope he would be cheaper and easier.
This is a really astute point, and I think another way of framing it is that Arteta/Berta (and the scouting/coaching staff) are pricing based on role rather than player.
Barcola/Diomande can beat someone from a dead stop much like Doku does. Unfortunately Martinelli can't do that, and because we're often facing low blocks this is an incredibly valuable and needed skill set.
Rogers looks like he can beat a low block in other ways (dealing with physicality centrally and shooting), but I don't think he'd offer us anything as a wide forward that we don't already have in Eze and maybe even Tzolis.
All that to say, we may have earmarked £80-100m for central players who can improve us (Rogers upfield with a good shot/physicality or Bruno deeper with passing range and physicality) and we may have a separate budget for players who can beat a man when wide and facing a low block.
Having wrote all that out, I'm starting to want Diomande more because while he's raw, we also ask very little of the LWF position from a tactical perspective. We have our possession/creators all on the right, and often isolate our LWF to play 1v1.
