There's no denying that Manchester City have benefitted massively from a near unlimited budget during Pep Guardiola's reign.
It has allowed them to build a state of the art academy that is now producing some of the country's brightest talent, assemble a club hierarchy that is the absolute best at everything they do, create the perfect environment for the best manager in the world to flourish and, of course, dominate the transfer market.
But while City have had the capability to spend near unlimited funds on players for the past decade they have often been restrained, occasionally to the bewilderment of supporters who are understandably desperate to see as many stars come through the doors as possible.
Until the out-of-character £100million signing of Jack Grealish in the summer, the Blues rarely spent absolutely silly money on players.
Of course, any amount of tens of millions on a footballer is a stupid concept if we take a step back but, in context, City have rarely gone to ridiculous lengths to sign a single player. Instead preferring to pay more reasonable amounts for highly talented players that still have room to develop rather than firmly established names.
As a result, there have been plenty of targets over the years that City have simply walked away from when they felt the asking price they were being quoted was just too much. Even if the player was in a position that desperately needed reinforcing or would have drastically improved the side, they have never feared missing out on them.
Jorginho, Fred, Alexis Sanchez, Kalidou Koulibaly and Harry Maguire are all prime examples and the latter further vindicated the club's stance in a dismal display at Turf Moor on Tuesday night.
Manchester United were in desperate need of an immediate response following their FA Cup elimination at the hands of Middlesbrough, but after a bright start their old frailties once again haunted them and they could only draw with Burnley. Losing their ascendency in the top four race in the process.
For the Clarets' equaliser, Maguire was turned inside-out by the giant Wout Weghorst and then the gap he had left was exploited by Jay Rodriguez. The captain took an age to get back to the striker and when he finally did his challenge was half-hearted as the ball was prodded into the goal.
It was yet another cumbersome display from the defender who is having a poor season and repeatedly showing that his £80million price tag was far too high.
City abandoned negotiations with Leicester City when the Foxes quotes that much and, though they went a year without a replacement for Vincent Kompany and lost the title to Liverpool, they signed the transformative Ruben Dias a year later and for £20million less.
The Portuguese has gone on to be one of the best centre-backs in not just the country but the world, whereas Maguire's stock has never been lower.
It just further shows that restraint and patience are virtues in the transfer market and it hasn't led City astray yet.
If all five of those players had have joined City, it is easy to see them going on to be much better than what they have been in the years since their moves failed to materialise.
Guardiola is the best coach in the world and makes almost every player he works with better. The same could well have happened with those who slipped through the net. It's easy to see how Maguire, with his raw qualities on the ball, strength in the tackle and dominance in the air, could have gotten even better under the Catalonian but, instead, he has regressed under poor stewardship.
But, City will have no regrets about those who got away and nor should they because if players they don't sign only get worse for their closest rival, is it actually better than signing them anyway?
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