In the pre bosman world any player who had anything left in his legs would attract a fee regardless of their contract free transfers in the top 2 divisions were a pretty rare. Giles came to us for £75,000 whereas today that would have been a free. That said Giles himself would have probably pocketed the £75,000 so to say "free" is a bit misleading particularly where Kanu is concerned.
Our best value "free" was Kevin Campbell because of his impact during the Great Escape although his impact was pretty short lived.