How much we spend acquiring players has almost nothing to do with our ability to get the player to agree on personal terms. If man shitty, barca, real (and the list goes on) can offer extremely higher wages than we can, then add in the tax systems in Spain and England then you can see why those countries are more attractive. Then throw in the fact that Italy has only 3 CL spots and that goes against Serie A as a player has less chance of playing in the CL, which in turn means less money in Serie A and you see that Italian football is in a vicious cycle that unless some major overhaul happens is heading straight for disaster.
I'm not saying that it's all doom and gloom yet but it's headed that way is something isn't done about it...