The Katic v Benkovic situation shows that what you are saying is totally correct.
Katic was reported as being £1m at the time. He already had 1 Croatia full cap and was an Under 21 regular. Leicester bought Benkovic for £12m iirc with no full caps, loaned him out to Celtic. They recently played together for the Croatia U21 and Katic was superb compared to Benkovic, who was then dropped for the next games. The Celtic fans loved Benkovic but I'd argue some of him performances were suspect. Niko, on the other hand, has continued to improve and will surely get another call up to the Croatia squad soon.
So far we've spent about £1.4m on transfer fees/compensation (Edmundson, Hastie, Aribo), and our new signings are already making an impact and impressing.
At our level cost doesnt always equal quality. I think the club have done a superb job so far. If we can add quality and spend a fraction of our rivals then I will be a very happy girl!