Memphis Depay comes to mind. I think people were looking to see if Fernandes was a one season wonder but he seems just as good this season. The main thing I have seen is he can pick out a pass which is what we are serious lacking.
How many clubs were in for Salah and VVD? Liverpool pretty much had a clear run at them because people had reservations and look how they turned out.
I'm not aware of huge interest in Salah but City and Chelsea were briefing their local press that they were confident of signing VVD - James Ducker infamously writing that he would be joining City 'as back-up for Stones and Otamendi' a week or so before he joined us. Don't take this the wrong way but Liverpool have been a lot smarter than most clubs when it comes to transfers over the past 5 years too. The summer we signed Salah wasn't the start of our interest in him either - we tried and failed to sign him before he joined Chelsea, so we were at least confident in him succeeding. The fact that Fernandes was being whored out all over Europe is somewhat significant too - there was no obstacle of an unwilling seller or difficulties in persuading a player to move. Had any big European side wanted Fernandes, they got him last summer without too much fuss. That isn't the case with most £50m transfers.
I'm not saying he will flop but you can't just point to his record in a 2nd rate league as proof he's a top player and or will succeed in the PL. Fwiw, I follow a few statto accounts on twitter and when discussing him last summer the issue they raised re Fernandes was his underlying numbers in European games weren't up to much.
edit: if you want an example to cling onto then Eriksen before he moved to Spurs. Like Fernandes he was being heavily linked with every major side but for whatever reason nobody moved for him despite the fact he was available for a fairly modest fee. Spurs took a bit of a punt on him and it paid off big time.
