Mauricio Pellegrino feels Southampton failed to substantially strengthen their squad during the transfer window because they were priced out of deals.
Saints lost star defender Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool for a reported £75million at the start of January, with £19.2million former Monaco forward Guido Carrillo the only subsequent arrival at St Mary's.
The south coast club were heavily linked with a deadline-day move for Spartak Moscow's Dutch winger Quincy Promes but the transfer was not completed, reportedly due to the Russian club's lack of time to find a replacement.
Manager Pellegrino believes it is difficult to get value for money in the transfer market in the wake of recent deals, including Paul Pogba's £89million switch from Juventus to Manchester United in 2016 and Neymar's world record £198m move from Barcelona to Paris St Germain last summer.