MONEY PAYS: Man Utd's midfield is under fire after they backed away from top targets due to hefty fees - but those £100m stars are now thriving elsewhere

Like it or not sometimes you just have to pay for quality, and that was underlined this weekend across the Premier League.

Manchester United were outclassed by Tottenham on Saturday evening, even if somehow they were minutes away from winning the contest before Dominic Solanke's stoppage time equaliser.

But the north Londoners, especially in the first-half, were playing football on a different planet at times. The gulf between them and Michael Carrick's side was notable and among the key drivers of that was Sandro Tonali, a player who United turned their nose up at during the summer.

The reason? Too expensive. Tottenham didn't think so, landing his services in a move that could reach £100m.

A day later and Elliot Anderson was being named the Player of the Match after Manchester City had demolished Liverpool at Anfield. This is the same Anderson who was named the best player on the pitch in the Manchester derby only weeks ago.

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He moved to the Etihad for £116million, which did make him the most expensive Brit for a brief period. His preference was always to move to the blue half of Manchester, but on the red side there appeared no desire to try and outgun City financially, they simply accepted their fate.

Yes United will have looked at the £70m they spent on Carlos Baleba and thought 'good value'. Youri Tielemans' £35m release clause could've made him a bargain buy.

Every club in the league wants to buy players who perform beyond their transfer value. That's pure gold, but those types of deals are hard to find in a market that is consistently being inflated.

Ultimately there are occasions where big players, who bring big moments ultimately come with a big price tag. It is something that comes with the territory, pay it or miss out. And missing out looks like the United midfield did when it was outclassed by City or Tottenham in recent weeks.

That is the price you pay for setting your financial ceiling, and it seems as if United are paying for it now. They largely cut and pasted their transfer strategy from last summer, where they spent £200m on Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo. The trio all having impacts.

Already though their recent wave of recruitment looks like its fallen well short, you only have to watch them play to see that, with Carrick very much a man under pressure. Andrey Santos joined in a £50m deal from Chelsea but has played only 16 minutes in the Premier League since he started in the opening weekend defeat at Hull City.

The Sun reports that United insiders have conceded that both Tielemans and Santos were “a long way down the list” when it came to their ideal targets. They're now paying for those decisions.

Anderson, Mateus Fernandes, Aurelien Tchouameni and Ederson were United’s ideal recruits, but they either chose to stay put or moved to other teams in the Premier League.

Their free-spending days are gone, but that shouldn't see them walk away from the big name players, who by their nature court hefty price tags.

In some ways the decision, driven largely by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, to rein in their transfer spending was sensible and a long time coming. If you're spending huge sums on players they need a proven track record, or at least a bucket load of potential. Throwing such figures at the likes of Antony has not proved a smart strategy.

But there's a time and a place to throw down major sums. Ultimately the Red Devils did spend just over £150m on three players in the summer - Santos, Tielemans and Baleba. Had they directed that kind of money at one marquee player, or even two individuals, they'd likely be better off than they are now.

Of the traditional top six, which is not particularly valid from a results perspective, but remains relevant from a financial standpoint, United are the only team not to spend at least £100m on a player.

Now you can rightly question whether some of those lucrative transfers have worked out. Florian Wirtz to Liverpool looks doubtful and Manchester City's signing of Jack Grealish never truly delivered.

But those blockbuster deals, for one, show the level of ambition within a club. But equally, looking at the £100m deals that fail, and not those that thrive, is an immensely negative approach. If you feared about how spending £100m could end up then you'd never sign Declan Rice, who has driven Arsenal to the title. You'd never get an Anderson, who looks destined to win multiple titles at City, punishment dependent of course.

The plan at Old Trafford had been to focus on rebuilding their defence next summer after successive windows where their attack, and then midfield, was addressed. That plan will certainly need revisiting with their midfield looking far from done, owing to them watching their targets head elsewhere.

There's an expression that says "buy cheap, buy twice". United certainly didn't buy cheap, but their refusal to pay top dollar is likely to mean another summer focusing on finding a world class midfielder.