It was a bit tongue in cheek. He was far too finnicky when it came to transfers. Rejected some very good and fairly gettable transfer targets over the years who went on to flourish down the years.
He then dug his heels in with Ndombele, Lo celso and Sessegnon. My speculation is that he just wanted to get star signings after several flops like Janssen, Nkoudu etc. except he didn't pay attention to the needs of the squad overall.
For the price of Ndombele, Mou got two starters, a backup RB and striker, keeper and Bale. Poch just didn't give a shit that we had no backup striker, no RB, LB, DM going into the season.