I don't believe at all that we genuinely tried very hard for Moutinho. Dembele plays in his favored position and we'd just sprung his contract, while we've never paid over 16.5m for a player and have had to finance a number of wage increases for new contracts over the summer. From what JJ has said, my best guess is that AVB threw a bit of a tantrum since he was probably promised we'd at least try hard for Moutinho, so Levy had to at least appear to try to go for him at the last minute. How sincere this attempt was is up to you; I'll note that we've never even looked close to signing Mouts this window. Nor Willian, nor Leandro.
Personally, I believe we really do have very little fat to burn, considering the massive wage bills we're competing against will be pressuring us too, by exploding the meaning of 'fair market value' (hell, even Everton are struggling TERRIBLY with wages). The very latest figures are not out but you have to consider that wages have outpaced revenue growth in recent years, so we have less to work with than before, and there are a lot of extra costs - signing on bonuses, agent fees, "signing-out" bonuses (you have to negotiate some fee with the outgoing players since they're entitled to the remainder of their contract), etc. that are not captured in reported transfer fees alone. Indeed we had one of the highest "agent fee" bills under Redknapp, perhaps unsurprisingly.
Hence our Nelson/Saha/Pienaar/'other random geriatrics with favourable contract situations' January windows.
