I'm facing the same problem. Here is what I've observed and would appreciate if someone can look into this.
I've been keeping an eye on the transfer list at my server and would easily see many 5* players on regular basis all the time and was drooling over getting few of these players then.
I then spent $50 and got myself 500 tokens thinking I could build the best team to reach #1 position in my league

I ofcourse noticed the scout list and bought myself a decent player. Since then I would also only see at max crappy 4* old players at my T list (2-3 at the max per refresh). and usually would see many 2-3* players on regular basis.
I do believe this has nothing to do with my being in a new server specially that for a whole week I only saw 5* players when I didn't spend any money for tokens.