Not to be rude, but I don't see the logic in that argument !
I can point out to the contrary that Matri + Quagliarella + Vucinic + Gio + Martinez combined cost this club around 70 mil euros.
Man city (who are considered as care free spenders) spent around 50 mil on both Tevez and Silva and those two are "easily" faar better than anyone we've got in our squad.
Those players are all worth less than we paid true, (Vucinic good value, Martinez a blunder) but that's really not an outrageous figure for an entire forward rotation.
Those were transitional players and they all contributed to bringing this team forward (except Martinez).
Now we will move on from them. Marotta succeeded in building the best defense AND midfield in Italy. It is unreasonable to think he could create the best in all 3 phases in such a short time.
Forwards are tricky to buy. They all have high wages and carry high bust factors because they are so dependent on the team around them so it's hard to gauge how well they can translate. High egos and always in high demand. You have to enter bidding wars and persuade these players.
Unless you have great scouting and can unearth them or pick up relics from other teams. But that is a huge risk.
At the time we were in it was somewhat safer to go with decent domestic options with modest wages and SOME acumen. Hopefully the time comes when we can move on from them however because they helped us transition but are not good enough for the future.