Bristol City manager Lee Johnson feels Leeds United have risked a substantial fee on signing someone with zero Championship experience in the form of Kemar Roofe.
The Whites splashed out £3m to sign last season's League Two Player of the Year from Oxford United and are banking on him to help them push for a top six spot in the Championship this season.
The Robins by contrast are shopping on the international market and are signing Iceland international Hordur Magnesson from Italian giants Juventus, for around £2.5m.
Johnson thinks such a strategy is the better bet and pointed to Leeds paying £3m for Roofe as a prime example of the risk taken by splashing the cash on players in the lower leagues.
Referring to Roofe, Johnson told the Bristol Post: "You can buy an experienced international player for that on the Continent.
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"We're seeing League Two players going for anything between £1m and £3m in this country and that is a lot of money to risk on someone who has not played in the Championship previously.
"As we've seen with Jonathan Kodjia, there are some very good players available in Europe and they are going to cost us a lot less."
For Johnson, whose side managed a finish of 18th in the Championship last season, signing players from abroad makes financial sense given the ever inflating English market.
"It's all about finding the best value for money you can and it has become cheaper to do our shopping abroad.
"Prices continue to go up in this country and you have to work smart and access new markets to find what you want without breaking the bank.
"It's a market we need to be looking at and we've put a lot of work and resources into doing that", he added.
