Tottenham Hotspur invested heavily in their squad over the summer in an attempt to steer Roberto De Zerbi's side away from their consecutive 17th-place Premier League finishes, and it's fair to suggest those who arrived in N17 have enjoyed mixed success so far.
Two embarrassing campaigns left the North Londoners on the brink of relegation, and the Lilywhites' hierarchy subsequently woke up and realised something needed to be done about their free-fall. They splashed in excess of £300 million on six players, whilst also adding Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka to their ranks for free.
The opening months of the season haven't been particularly positive, and the return on these investments doesn't look especially promising. That said, recent wins over Coventry City and Chelsea suggest De Zerbi has Spurs moving in the right direction.
While the likes of Jan Paul van Hecke and Sandro Tonali have settled well in North London, the jury remains out on another summer arrival, at least for the time being.
Mateus Fernandes is Spurs' Most Overpriced Signing of all Time
Eyebrows were raised when Tottenham opted to spend €99 million (£85 million) on Mateus Fernandes in the summer. However, the scepticism around the deal was largely focused on the price tag, and not on the player himself.
In fact, there was significant optimism at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that they'd managed to sign one of the most promising up-and-coming midfielders in Europe, albeit one who needed careful nurturing to develop his game to a level where he could fulfil this potential.
Such is the excitement over Fernandes in some Spurs circles that comparisons between the Portuguese and former Tottenham midfielder Mousa Demebele have been made. The I Paper drew on this comparison after De Zerbi's outfit beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in mid-October:
"On his day charging forward, retaining the ball and outmuscling his opponents, he looked like a reincarnation of Mousa Dembele – the last criminally underrated Spurs central midfielder to tear up Stamford Bridge."
Dembele was renowned for his ability to aggressively carry the ball forward in the centre of the park, with this attribute making him a unique profile for a midfielder. While Fernandes certainly hasn't done enough in a Lilywhite shirt to warrant being labelled as Dembele's replacement, he shares some similarities with the Belgian, particularly with the manner of his ball carrying and ball retention.
That said, £85 million is an astronomical fee for an unpolished midfield water carrier, and TransferMarkt's values certainly weren't convinced when Tottenham made the investment.
The website that assigns market values to players based on a community-driven, qualitative process, valued Fernandes at €50 million (£42 million) in the summer. This meant that, based on this estimated value, Spurs overpaid by around €49 million (£41 million).
TransferMarkt's market values rate this as the biggest overpay in Tottenham's history, making Fernandes the most overpriced signing the Premier League giants have ever made.
Fernandes Can Still Justify His Price Tag
Ultimately, Fernandes is only two months into the first year of his five-year deal at Spurs. He has plenty of time to justify his club's outlay on him, and he could even prove to be a bargain in the long run.
Part of the reason why the £85 million fee still looks dubious is how peripheral he's been up until this point. De Zerbi has been reticent to use the former West Ham star regularly from the beginning, and even started Conor Gallagher over the new signing in a game earlier this season because the ex-Chelsea captain 'has experience in English football'.
There is a perfectly valid argument circulating in the Tottenham public sphere that suggests if you fork out this significant a fee for a midfielder, he should be playing every week.
That said, the performance at Chelsea certainly provided a blueprint for how De Zerbi can get the best out of Fernandes, and highlighted just how excellent the player can be.
Completing 91 passes and managing 121 touches, Fernandes was constantly on the ball, dictating Spurs' build-up from deep, whilst being progressive with his passing. This in-possession work didn't come at the expense of his defensive work, as he still put up 14 defensive contributions, in a game where Spurs had 69% of the ball.
If De Zerbi can engineer his system in a way that gets Fernandes on the ball all the time in matches, then the ex-Southampton man should be well-platformed to develop into a superstar.