Bit of a stretch wouldn't you say?
They have some big money transfers, sure, so does City. But plenty of their team are actually players from their academy (Carvajal, Asensio, Morata, Casilla, Yanez, Vazquez, Mariano) or players they got at a very young age (Marcelo, Varane, Ramos, Isco, Kovacic, Casemiro,...). So not at all the finished product. And even Kroos wasn't the accomplished player he is today when he joined them (remember, he left Bayern because they got Thiago and Xabi Alonso to play in his position).
I would say their approach has changed over the last Galacticos period where they just bought names, then tried to fit them into the team (Beckham as a replacement for Makelele, anyone?). They look for young potentials, just take a look at the most discussed (possible) transfer targets linked with Real: Theo Hernandez (done deal), Mbappé and Ceballos. All still very young. And they are bringing back 2 youngsters from their academy who impressed on loan this season (Vallejo to replace Pepe).