The point is we are in a situation where we can't afford to pay for top talents who are already developed. We can either buy young talents before they've proven themselves. Or we can buy squad players who will never be top class, e.g. Alvarez or Kuzmanovic.
At Dinamo Zagreb, Kovacic was known to be a tremendous talent and a starter with more Champions League experience than maybe half our squad has ever seen. I don't know how much more development you could've realistically expected without the price exploding. And let's face it, if Kovacic had not been on shitty teams for the last two seasons coached by losers like Mazzarri and thus possibly developed more than he has now, his value would be much higher than €20m.
Disagree. How much others are willing to pay for Kova right now is independent from his value back then - and for example, PSG paid 60 million for David Luiz, does that make 40 million for him a good deal? eg. would 20 million for a 17 year old messi be a good deal (for the time)?
I've had my doubts lately about Kovacic. Either he has regressed under Mazzarri or he was never as good as he was made out to be. I think it's a combination of the two - it's never that black and white. On one hand being shunted into a inler and hamsik role is terrible for his development and instinct, on the other he has a fuckload of things he needs to work on in his game.
still a LONG way to go for mateo to be considered world class, but it is without a doubt possible. He was never a zidane or platini - he will never be "one of the greatest midfielders of all time" and that kind of pressure never helps.
That's why on second thought I can see how the treq role could be very good for him. It's not suited to his current skillset because while it integrates the stuff he knows, it also requires the qualities he currently doesn't possess - but that's the point. It lets him do what he's good at, gives him creative freedom, AND forces him to work on the shortcomings of his game.
edit; and I also disagree re the players we can sign. Young players usually go for big money, so there's too much risk. Taking everything into consideration, in order of decreasing priority, bosmans (eg. cigarini), out of contract players the next year (eg. gaitan), out of form/transferlisted talents (eg. jojo, soldado, osvaldo), and lastly, young players (eg. depay).