I have a club in level 3 and it is really hard to chase that 18y/o ft or high % player against managers who have had seasons to stockpile tokens , also with the additional income stream from higher level Asso earnings. Lower level managers have to aim at lower % players. I am picking up 74-79% players for virtually nothing and just throwing greens at them until they are useful.
The inflation in the market for young high% players in the auction is just a joke. I sit in on some auction , put in an early bid that gets beaten almost before it shows on the screen , and just watch what people are paying and have a laugh at the prices. I always reserve a big grin and a good laugh when I watch a 25 or older player in the high 90% area go for 30 or 40 tokens. Thats just stupid in my opinion , I couldnt justify it to myself and just wont do it. This is the result of one of the dumbest decisions by the devs I have seen in nearly 2 1/2 years of this game. I am not sure if it is worse than taking the gk training trick away but its damn close.