Not necessarily, remember who was player of the year last season? Vardy and Cante weren't too dear either. We need to pay the going rate and it's nice to have the Yanks bankrolling us b4 they rebuild selhurst and take full control, but £30mil leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I know it's the world we're in but recent events have shown the value of teamwork over big time Charlie players - I'd actually be happier with Charlie (no pun intended) Austin for £5 mil (or someone a bit pricier and classier) than Benteke for £30M - to me it just feels like cheating - was at Wembley and looking at the Man U fans ... what a bore, just feel a bit uncomfortable moving in that direction. There's an African or Eastern European or Chinese player waiting to be discovered - Villa paid £7M for Benteke (the same we paid for Gayle) - that's what we need to be doing, some of these players, like Lukaku, aren't interested half the time, we need to get players with something to prove - Benteke has established himself although not a great success at Liverpool and I question his motives coming to Palace. I hope he goes to West Ham, and so does he probably.

Cheaper does not equal better

if we want a 20 goal a season striker then we have to pay the going rate. The going rate may well seem ridiculous to us mere mortals but it is what it is.

If we are going to spend a phenomenal amount of money on a striker I want us to mitigate any risk. That means someone with a proven PL pedigree.

With all that said, it's not to say we shouldn't be looking for young talent as well.

Just like Vary, Ulloa, Michu, mahrez, Mane (11.8m southampton)

So you'd rather sign Austin for £5m, who would be expensive at £5, you think it's 'cheating' to pay the going rate for a top class, PL striker and you think there must be an 'African, Eastern European or Chinese player' who could do the same job, but you haven't got a f***ing clue who.

I think you're hitching your wagon to the wrong club; Hastings United could use all the support they can get.

I think 30mil is last years 15mil, with the new TV deal clicking on it seems all prices across the board have gone up by at least double (bornmouth for instance bidding 15mil - 100 mil plus for pogba being banded about!) and although it's a hell of a lot of money .. Relatively it may be off set from what we are now getting, in fact I have a sneaky suspicion that once the transfer dust has settled Townsend and Mandanda will look like golden steals at 13 and 2mil ! As wil Tomkins at 10 !

Edited by Tyrelli (08 Jul 2016 12.11am)