He bought Tokens. I have had a similar rival my whole career. (I failed to promote last season and one of the bright sides to that is he won't be in my League again.) I figured out he lived in Italy so stopped looking at TL when Italians are awake... then eventually he found the Scout list and I didn't see him on the TL as often. The players don't have to be signed for a week, so unless you continually check his squad you won't know what happens.

There are no bid bots or "Nordeus players". What there are is people who have invested in more Tokens than you would think, that's all.