I find it odd that you start off talking about going after "elite" players for mad sums of money and going toe-to-toe with the big boys financially only to follow it up by holding Dortmund up as an example who do none of those things.
They went after the Reus of three years ago (or whenever it was) when he was still a 18M player rather than the Reus of today who everyone would pay through the nose for.
The reality is that we, like Dortmund, will probably still be targeting the Mkhitaryans and Sturridges of this world - players who are one or two rungs below the "elite" (not always in terms of talent but most definitely in terms how desirable they are).
I think you're overestimating both our financial capability as well as our pull. We are a much more attractive proposition with CL football and an improved reputation but let's not pretend we've suddenly become some dream team.
Whether or not our procurement process is efficient or not is a separate issue - it's the same problem (if it is one at all) no matter what class of player you go after.
I mean realistically, who's a more attractive proposition than us? Chelsea, City, PSG, and possible Monaco have the biggest pull out there, and like I said we can't match that. Bayern, Real, Barcelona can match the funds of that first group of clubs.
I think we're in the tier below that. Equal to Dortmund and Juve. I say we're somewhat more attractive than Atletico, Arsenal, Roma. We're definitely a better landing spot than Schalke, Leverkusen, Spurs, Zenit, Ajax, Porto, Napoli, and Inter.
The advantage when competing with that first tier of clubs for targets is that those clubs are already highly stocked with talent. If an elite player is available, we could be at the top of the pecking order just because many of the top tier clubs won't have any need for such a player.
Manchester United are the real enigma in all of this, they're a bit difficult to place. Outside of RVP though, they haven't made a real splash for transfers in recent years, which I think is going to be an issue going forward. They badly need talent, but how attractive a proposition they are in difficult to say. They're going to spend on important players, but they aren't going to be the cream of the crop, and they
have to succeed. Otherwise, it could be a very difficult road back.
Of those clubs above though, there really isn't a much better model than what Dortmund have established. However, just on the basis of revenue, I would say we have a bit more spending power, so we need to adopt a more aggressive approach based on what Dortmund have been doing. It's not revolutionary, but the idea is that we should take advantage of this opportunity to build on what we've done this season. We don't need to necessarily buy depth players, we can buy first team players and relegate some starters to bench roles.
I do disagree with the last bit though. The better the player, the more interest there inevitably will be. We got away with our inefficient negotiations on Aspas, but certainly not with Mkhitaryan. If we want to pursue targets for whom we're competing with Juve or Spurs, who get their deals done quickly and quietly, then there's an inherent risk that we'll miss out if this trend persists.