There is always the option of trying to get players off the negotiations list for few tokens.

The trick is to look at what level you are next season (I assume you will be level 13) then go through each player on the negotiations list to see which players are on it from level 15,16 or 17 clubs. Managers at those levels won't value the players that are only 1 training cone away from being a 6 star player for you, as to them they will only be 4,3 or 2 star players to them.

I've found by putting in bids for players on the negotiation list to managers that are a few levels above me often gets me the player without using many tokens. I often just bid the minimum amount - and more often than not as that player is irrelevant to the manager they let him go. It doesn't always work, but I'd say I have a good 75% success rate on this. It's an easy way to pick up almost scout players for less than 10 tokens without getting into a bidding war.