Sure he had a trust issue after what happened with Poyet and was reluctant to spend, but to say, as fact that “We know he wasn't overly impressed with Oscar” is a baseless assumption. Can you expand on why you believe this to be the case?
We didn't get Grabban ???
I know what a budget is, but it doesn't reflect on what a manager can spend when it is already spent. You make it sound as if Oscar was blessed to have what he had.
It's a bit like saying you can have a £200 budget for your food shopping followed by it's already in...
Oscar’s budget was committed to Gus's players plus Kemy. Sometimes budgets sound like managers can spend where in reality Oscar had zero. £4m came in from Bridcutt and Barnes, and Stephens was brought in for about £400k as an emergency because of Crofts injury.