And how did Coutinho turn out for Barca? Or Keita turn out for Liverpool? Or Pepe for Woolwich? The point is that spending 100 million on a player does not always guarantee success. Even if it is a very established player. PSG bought Neymar and Mbappe for crazy amounts and brought in Messi on huge wages. The purpose being to win the CL. Yet, even though these players performed at levels commensurate with their fees, PSG still haven't managed to win the CL and have gotten to exactly the same number of finals as us.
As for the Bale money, we did get a 100 million player in Eriksen (the fact we didn't sell him at his peak, is a different story), some serviceable players in Chadli, Capoue, and Lamela, and a few duds in Paulinho, Chiriches, and Soldado. Interestingly enough, Soldado was considered the big signing at the time. His fee was the equivalent of 60m in today's money. Yet he flopped completely.
Which goes back to the point we have all be harping about, both the "Levy out" and the "I'm fine with Levy" brigades: it's not about how much you pay, it's how good you are at identifying the right players regardless of the price. Something that no team in the world has a 100% hit rate on, with us probably being among the worst.