At £30m, Thiago was more expensive, after scoring 18 league goals for Club Brugge in the 2023-24 campaign. The point is that he and Semenyo were recruitment “finds”. So was Jean-Philippe Mateta at Crystal Palace. Danny Welbeck was “rescued” by Brighton on the basis of his pedigree, dressing-room influence and potential to improve with age. Gyökeres, Šeško, Isak and Wirtz emerged from a different algorithm: the one that says – safe bet, pay the money, sit back and applaud. That’s where the mistakes are being made, where money is too abundant.