I get what people are saying, but I don't actually hate this kind of deal.
initial outlay isnt that high and the potential upside is big.
this one went pear shaped when the Kortrijk manager decided he didn't want him after all.
if he'd had even a moderately good season in Belgium he'd have increased in value, and if he'd had a very good season he'd have increased a lot, or been a ready made striker replacement for us this season or next. the injury wasn't great timing either.

ok this one hasn't really worked out, but we aren't going to be swallowing a huge loss on this reportedly. if we tried this enough times and were close to breaking even on the failures, then eventually we would get lucky.

I think people are looking at it through the context of a relegation season with the benefit of hindsight, but at the time we signed him we had just finished in the top half, had a relatively settled squad and management team, and our highest finish for a few years. - if we were ever going to try something like that then why not then? there will always be a reason not to try something like that.

as it was we were relegated, but not due to penny pinching in the transfer market - we bought in some big names and spent enough cash, just the bigger signings didn't perform.
does anyone think if we had spent the money on another first team player we would have stayed up?