Well Wenger said the reason he didn't want to sign him was because he was a box to box attacking midfielder and we have plenty of them. You say the media and everyone call him a defensive midfielder, a quick google search and this was the first article and he is a quote from it
Sounds to me like he is an attacking midfielder not a defensive midfielder.
About the money, since 2008 we have spent 200 million, the last purchase being Mesut Ozil (this summer's spending not accounted for on the basis that we are talking about last season), in the same period, liverpool spent over 300 million. (using
http://www.transferleague.co.uk/prem...transfers.html )