^^I do not get why people are willing to pay too much money for an aging star. Do not get me wrong Lewa has been one of the best players I have ever watched in the past few years, he was always good but he became a god-like football player who scores at will so he is definitely great for any team. However the problem here is that you are missing a chance to get a 20's something kid who could be playing for you for another 10 years and instead going for that guy who may play with you for just few seasons and retire.
It is very difficult to keep getting newer and newer players, I rather have 20 year olds fill my roster who are already not so bad but maybe not championship level, but make them all play 15 seasons together without any changes. Obviously that doesn't happen (maybe except ajax? lol) but getting a 34 year old doesn't make sense in that regard neither.
The thing is that teams that consistently target championships don't have time to wait. They have young quality players in some positions but they also need superstars.
For a team like City let's say - Lewandovski is a signing that will bring them closer to the title and they will not care how much he costs because they can afford it.
There are only a few teams that can do that, both Uniteds, Real Madrid and PSG. PSG did not want to sell Mbappe for 200 million euros and they will lose him on a free transfer in a year. That shows better than anything else that some clubs have a whole other playground than most.
Yes, you have a point. Big teams that do have good financial conditions will definitely try to reach their goals, even if they have to spend a lot of money for it. Of course, they already think that what they spend (sacrifice) will be worth it and they know if the result is not what they expected, I guess they were ready for it.
Football cannot be far from business, signing star players will also increase merchandising/apparel sales revenue, so there will always be profit and loss.