Its certain that for the money they've spent, they could have got better quality abroad. �80m on Downing, Henderson, Adam and Carroll is a large investment and they could've bought similar level players for probably half that total if they had shopped abroad.
What they have bought though are players who are certainties to perform in this league. Its almost like insurance what they are doing, because while you look at Downing and think "Yeah, good winger, but nothing special for �20m". I mean in truth, Arda Turan went for roughly half that, and i'd say he's got more quality than Downing. Arda could genuinely be a Robben / Nani in a few years. But then for the extra �� they paid for Downing, they've got someone who's guaranteed to perform to a consistent high level in the Premiership.
Varying sides of the argument really, do you gamble on the player abroad who arguably has more ability, or pay slightly more and buy from your own league for someone who's a virtual certainty to settle and will continue to produce ?. I think these new owners they have are happy to splash the cash providing they definitely see a return on their investment. The only real gamble they have made in the past 6 months in terms of transfers is Suarez, and as much as i hate to say it, thats paid off already, unless he is suddenly struck down with several horrible injuries.
As for Enrique, its a similar one, he's a solid full back, nothing more, nothing less. He's a good, consistent, unspectacular player. He'll probably be Spains new left back as Capdevilla is on his last legs and there's no other real standout candidate on their left side. What they've done is eliminated the flop factor, essentially.
