I just said in another thread I think there's a "behind the scenes" bell curve for player performance. Some players have legendary potential, and will play well from day 1 until retirement; others will be stars for a few peak seasons; others play well enough, but fail under pressure (my GK who can go 5 saves, man of the match then down to a 5 rate in league, then right back to form); and others who should just be avoided and can't be developed.

Buying token players, I think, offers a higher % chance of getting a better tier of player, but there are no guarantees. Plenty of 79 token players end up in auctions 3 seasons later if they're lucky. Finding and maintaining great players is part of the "end game" strategy, when resource management becomes crucial.