Hull City boss Steve Bruce has bemoaned the inflated local transfer market after signing Palermo striker Abel Hernandez.
Blackburn's Scotland international Jordan Rhodes was his preferred option but Rovers turned down two bids and were believed to be holding out for around £15million.
Instead of meeting that, he shelled out around £9.5million to bring Hernandez from Palermo - still a club record fee but one he considered a relative bargain.
"We went for a centre-forward, Jordan Rhodes, and £10million wasn't enough. After that where could we go and get an English or British centre-forward? It was quite sad really," said Bruce.
"I will always look to the English and British market first but on value for money let's be fair, with no disrespect to Jordan Rhodes, we've got a Uruguay centre-forward for the same price or cheaper, less than Ross McCormack (who cost Fulham £11million).
"We now have to be better in the foreign market because unfortunately we just can't get the ones in England. They are just too expensive.
"It's madness. But we have got good value for money."
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