not really that positive to say he signed a striker who was racking up scorepoints in ajax. He will have been on everyones radar (apart from whoever martin o'niel was managing) but not everyone, who isnt the top teams, got 22m to blow on a striker. Top teams will often prefer already proven strikers before spending (or from youth)
And yes, the last line, they was able to secure most of first choice targets as they were overspending. Not that difficult
Also wasnt the fee for torres heavily linked to the fee for carroll? ( i could be wrong in that)