COMMENT: 12 million quid? For a talent like Xherdan Shaqiri? It's a snip. An absolute snip.
And this week's deal is a triumph for everyone connected to Stoke City. From Peter Coates and Tony Scholes, to Mark Hughes and Kevin Cruickshank, the players, right through to a full Brit on Sunday.
As Shaqiri and brother Erdin watched on, it was effectively Stoke City on trial against Liverpool on Sunday.
The match was lost, but being part of a heaving Britannia stadium, seeing Hughes' team up close, Shaqiri was convinced his game would thrive at Stoke. It's a massive, massive decision, which represents a major boost in Stoke's status across Europe.
When Stoke came calling earlier in the summer, Shaqiri had nothing to compare them to. The £12 million was accepted by Inter Milan, but the Swiss was reluctant. Instead, the former Bayern Munich attacker went with what he knew, resisting the Potters and entering talks with Schalke.
But as chief scout Kevin Cruickshank hinted yesterday, Stoke left the offer on the table and kept in touch with Shaqiri's minders. The player's family just needed to do their homework. Just as your average Premier League player wouldn't know the ins and outs at Villarreal, or how Giampiero Ventura planned to set up his Torino this season, the great strides made by Stoke under Hughes are relatively unknown across Europe.
Shaqiri needed to see it all himself. It's no coincidence that he and Erdin made it for the season's opener. They'd been waiting for such an opportunity to experience what Hughes and Cruikshank had been selling - and they were hooked.
Any player with Bayern and Inter on his CV - and at only 23 years of age - is something special. In Germany, where he's rated so highly, they can't believe it. Stefan Effenberg, the former Bayern Munich captain, slaughtered the decision yesterday, telling Shaqiri he had been "badly advised" in choosing the Potters.
At Inter, sources inside the club have told tribalfootball.com that Shaqiri was a "victim of circumstance". He arrived just as Roberto Mancini was getting his feet under the table and the Swiss' qualities simply weren't what he was seeking in a player who could work just behind Mauro Icardi. It was just "the right move at the wrong time' for Shaqiri, we've been told.
Effenberg can talk about 'bad advice', but how deep has he dived into why Shaqiri made this decision? Is he aware of what Hughes, a former Bayern player, has done for Bojan Krkic's career? The Spaniard hasn't played so well since he burst onto the scene as a teenager with Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. After meandering from club to club, he's found a manager - and a home - where he can actually feel like his career is moving in the right direction. After a tough 12 months, is it any wonder why Shaqiri has bought into the same 'project'?
The ink is barely dry on his five-year contract, but Shaqiri's No22 shirt is already setting sales records at the club shop. However, it's not just at first team level where Hughes is driving change.
Sergio Molina has joined the U21 squad from Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid Castilla, while Moha El Ouriachi has been tempted away from Barcelona B. Yusuf Coban rejected an approach from Fenerbahce earlier this summer to stick with Stoke. Eddy Lecygne has been involved with the France U19 team. And it was the Potters who saw off all rivals to snap up Mark Waddington and Dom Telford last season after they fell out with Blackpool. Drop further back and scouts across Europe are still scratching their heads over how Stoke managed to beat some of the game's biggest clubs to the signature of Belgian whizkid Julian Ngoy.
Then there's Ollie Shenton, who we're all hoping can come right through the Potters system to play for England. Making your first team debut before actually signing pro is a pretty decent start.
This is Stoke City 2015. As Charlie Adam said yesterday, "there's a real buzz" about the place. Treading water is no longer enough. Under Hughes, and with the support of Coates and Scholes, a new culture is being driven throughout the club.
At Stoke, Shaqiri is just the headline. There's some great stories being developed and written just below him. If Effenberg really wants to understand Shaqiri's motivation, he'd do well taking a deeper look.
He may even come away impressed.
