its not as complicated as any of the mentioned reasons. its just a Nordeus attempt at getting players to spend. Making you react to a 'slump' in form by buying a 50T scout and throwing the teams in 2nd, 3rd and 4th place a glimmer of hope so they spend too.

my team have struggled since exactly mid season too. 2 defeats in 3. first half of season undefeated. won 2-1 today at home to a team I beat 5-0 away. needed an injury time winner too.

players don't have 'problems' and playing friendlies wont find them
'players' are simply code in a pretty basic program.