Plain and simple for all to see
Wenger - locates talent and signs them. The timescale is pretty much you hear about it and it is done and dusted within a matter of days or sometimes maybe weeks. He signs the players quick and cheap. The player more often than not proves to be a bargain, sometimes a World Class talent
Houllier - locates talent and lets every man and his dog know he's interested. By the time the deal is done the selling club has completely taken the p1ss with the transfer fee and the player ends up over-priced more often than not. The success of the signed player is usually inversely proportional to the fee
Example - the Van Persie and Cisse transfers - just think when you first heard about them and what happened. The Cisse transfer is set to go ahead and we've all known about it for over a year at least - the fee reported to be £14m (not often they're far out) We hear about Van Persie in the last week or so and the player costs in the region of just £3m - take note Houllier.
I believe the same has happened before. When we do make swift transfer moves we still end up paying too much, but when you make it so that every man and his dog knows about a transfer months and even years in advance, then you're asking to be taken for a ride