There is enough proof out there that spending hundreds of millions can buy you a title, Man City, Chelsea and Paris Saint Germain are evidence of that but only up to a certain point.
Those three teams have just the one Champions League between them and at a guess have probably spent close to £2 Billion to build their teams to the level they are at now.
On the other hand, you have teams like Ajax, Tottenham and even 2015–16 Premier League winners Leicester City that have also proven that they can build top-class teams on a low budget.
Recruitment is as much a key to success as spending ridiculous amounts of money and that is an art form that is very difficult to master.
Look at who we have recruited over the last couple of years, most have been failures and even the players that have performed for us, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette as examples, have not seen their value rise too much, if at all.
But then we have Mattéo Guendouzi who cost us £7 Million and is now reportedly worth £60 Million.
We can look at other clubs, Dortmund bought Jadon Sancho for £8 Million and is now worth £128 Million, West Ham’s Declan Rice came through their academy and said to be worth £54 Million and the same with relegated Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon who is now valued at £37 Million.
And before we criticise our recruitment policy too much you have to consider how often our rivals have made huge errors of judgement in the transfer market, Chelsea buying Danny Drinkwater for £35 Million only to become a fringe player and letting the likes of Kevin de Bruyne leave, Man Utd seeing Paul Pogba depart on a free transfer only to buy him back for roughly £90 Million, Liverpool with Andy Carroll and of course, Man City who spend fortunes and discard players as if they were candy in a sweet shop.
Having huge amounts of money helps of course, but it has to be spent wisely and it is not the only way to build a team for the future.
Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers are great examples of excellent recruitment though even the Foxes do get it wrong on occasions as £25 Million flop Kelechi Iheanacho has so spectacularly proven.
If we can get our recruitment sorted out we will be competitive, we will still be able to buy quality players just not as many as our closest rivals but that does not mean we cannot compete as long as we compliment the big name purchases with unknown talent that will develop to the highest level.