Lets be realistic folks. We don't and never had a hope of winning the champions league this year. Its merely a question of getting through the group stages and possibly through the first knockout round depending on who we met.
We don't have the quality to go all the way. There are teams out there with players like Ronaldo, Messi, Iniesta, Aguero, Van Persie, Hazard, Torres......players who can make a difference and cost anywhere between EU30-100m when we are only ever prepared to pay no more than 25.
However, while I am frustrated with Marotta's false promises......if you cannot get a top player within your budget, then don't break the bank. One could argue that our priorities were not right in that we should have spent a greater %age of our transfer budget on a striker - which kind of makes sense.
But at this point in time, if players like Dzeko, Jovetic, and Llorente cannot be bought, we STILL NEED ANOTHER striker because we only have 4. Bentner may not be such a bad choice because we don't buy him outright and take him on loan.
We still have the option to potentiall buy a "top striker" but it would involve selling either Matri or Quags for a reasonable price. Most likely not to happen in this transfer window now.