One excuse I've read being banded about is that our transfers are poor because they're from "low/mid table teams". Where they came from is entirely irrelevent. It's how we man-manage them and use them that matters. For example (and this is ignoring lower division players):
Spurs: Kaboul (Pompey), Parker (West Ham), Saha (Bitters), Defoe (Pompey), Friedel (Villa),
Toon: Williamson (Pompey), Gosling (Bitters), Taylor (Wigan)
United: Jones (Blackburn), Rooney (Bitters), Smalling (Fulham), Young (Villa), Valencia (Wigan)
City: Lescott (Bitters), Milner (Villa), Johnson (Borough), Barry (Villa)
We shouldn't make excuses for our poor domestic transfers. Either the management aren't utilising (playing Henderson on the right, for example), man managing the players (Shelvey/Suarez, for example) or they simply were not good enough in the first place (Carroll/Downing/Adam, for example). Where they come from does not matter.