Even a trophy doesn't do much to make us look sexy to other players. I don't think your average Spaniard or Turk gives a toss about whether we've won the FA or League cup recently, they all focus on the league these days imo.
We're only ever as good as our last league finish. Until we break out of the monotony of midtable outside of the Top 6 we're going to face a continuous battle of signing players who can hopefully take us to the next level while the majority won't and those that do will continue to be poached by the teams above us.
It requires an awful lot to go right for us in the way that it has for Spurs who outside of City and their oil money have been the only club to seemingly crack into that level of elite clubs with a sustainable club model. We don't have the people in the club capable of securing this success currently in all areas of the club whether that be on the pitch, in the boardroom, or on the balance sheets.
The scary part is that even if we go about things the right way the progress can still all be undone by poor recruitment producing the consequence of poor performance in the league.
We're Sisyphus pushing his boulder up the hill.