yes, it's hard to imagine a front office that bought essien for 10M€, sold him for 38M€ and replaced him for 10M€ getting bamboozled.
nobody will ever have chelsea's budget, but OL is proving now in europe what they've already proven in france: it's not what you spend but how you spend it.
grumpy OM and PSG fans saying aulas bought lyon to the top make me laugh and laugh and laugh. the opposite is true; as late as our third title in a row OL was spending less than these two, and if OL has the biggest budget now, one can say that money was earned on the field and on the negotiation table.
the same is happening in europe. OL carried out their remarkable summer on practically zero expense, despite having a warchest that was probably as tidy as anyone's except you know who's. at this rate OL will truly be at equity with the "big" clubs (who dey?) in a couple more years.