There are differing levels of top end talent though and it's too simplistic to group them all together. There's a difference between being a top end talent at 17 with no first team experience, a 19yr old with very limited first team experience, and a 21yr old with 2 highly rated seasons and international football under your belt. Each time you move up that chain your exposure to risk reduces significantly and you can make a judgement much more confidently. Martial falls in the middle category and that's why the fee raises so many eyebrows, because he's so much of an unknown quantity, I don't care how good your scouts are.
As Claudius says, this is United we're talking about, they're in a unique position in being able to pull crap like this. They can swallow that 40m without batting an eyelid.
I'm all for us gambling on young talent but I'd certainly want them to be more established than Martial.
