That’s exactly how it’s changed. All that money from the panic buys filters down into the market, pushes the prices of marginal players up because valuations are all based on comparables, and absent some sort of wider disruption that’s just what it is now. Madrid is about to spend 100m+ on Hazard with a year left on his contract, Bayern just smashed their transfer record on Lucas Hernandez, and even Juve spent 100m on what’s his name last summer. Just because we don’t like it doesn’t mean we can pretend the market hasn’t changed.
And yes, our transfer policy definitely has been working, but our policy has always been identifying players that fit the system, have the right personality, then spending at the high end of the market in both fees and wages to go get them. I’m not advocating that we go out and set a new world record just because, but it isn’t a coincidence that Mendy and Walker were the most expensive fullbacks when they were transferred, or that people criticized how much we spent on KDB or Sterling. We identified who we wanted, then paid up to get them.
The was I see it, Txiki and Khaldoon have clearly come to the conclusion that this blip in the market is just that, and that prices will come back down to earth soon. If they’re right they can sit back and say I told you so, but if they’re wrong, and prices stay inflated, we’re going to end up in a situation where we constantly miss out on top targets, and eventually the quality of the side deteriorates. Try signing a top striker to replace Aguero next year for 50m and see where that gets us. It’s a gamble that I don’t really see the point of, but I hope they’re right and I’m not.