I'm not sure you can hold that fee against him. The transfer strategy was to bring in young players with plenty of potential - Clyne, Ramirez, Gazza, Yoshida. Many pointed out that it was a strange and risky window for recruiting the type of players we did for a newly promoted side, for instance, an experienced commanding CB was on most poster's lists and could have made the impact you are looking for, not a young Ramirez.