Proven wrong? we've never been in the situation of having to attract top players whilst outside the top 4 since the Prem era began.. Mata was brought in under the assumption we will definitely finish top 4 and he obviously thought he has it in him to join up with the likes of RVP etc and get us to that top 4. If we get there, fair enough we're sorted.. and we can attract whomever, but once we fall outside the CL spots.. we have to be realistic at who we can go for.
I can't see Kroos going to spain, so the Premiership is the only other possibility.. He would get into Liverpool's side, Arsenals and he could replace Lampard like for like in the Chelsea set up. This is all assuming that he is actually going to leave Bayern, which rarely happens. I can't see a player who plays in majority of Bayern's games, is accustomed to being at the latter end of CL, wanting to play in a team which is in the europa league if that.
It is essential if we wish to attract top drawer players to be in the CL, regardless if we are Manchester United. Otherwise we are going to have to sign young talents with potential world class ability, which is not a negative.. just saying those who are linking us to Vidal, Kroos etc need to be wary that it is unrealistic to think we can attract these players in the summer if we're not in europe.