User blog comment:Deshiba/Solo Queue: Item Choices./@comment-4434378-20130724224709

I remember an article that said it like this:

"If you are spending gold on the wrong items, then you are essentially wasting gold.  This means that the enemy can get a gold advantage over you, even when behind"

This is a lot more clear in the laning phase, where players who build greedy items like Tear, get rolled by opponents who build laning items like Chalice.