Eliaquim Mangala insists his hefty price tag has not affected his form at Manchester City, but concedes his debut season in the Premier League is not going to plan.
Much was expected of the France international when he moved to the Etihad Stadium in August from Porto, for a fee reported to be in the region of £32million.
However, the centre-back has faced scrutiny over his form for the Premier League champions after a series of high-profile errors.
Mangala, though, insists there is no burden from the vast outlay City paid to sign him.
"It could be better, it could be worse," he told the Manchester Evening News when asked on 2014-15.
"It's my first season in the Premier League and you have to adapt to a new style of playing.
"I'm lucky enough to be living my passion, and I want to improve above anything else. My transfer fee doesn't particularly bother me."
The former Standard Liege man also believes he will continue to improve under the guidance of manager Manuel Pellegrini and training with world-class players.
"I think that every coach brings you something different," he added.
"Pellegrini's very strong in terms of playing a four-man defence - quite a lot of our training is based on this defensive plan, a four-man defence.
"When you play games against big teams in the Champions League, great strikers, training alongside quality players then I can only improve."