well, in my 1st season, I had a 29yr old DC that I tried to sell (and failed) cuz his stats sucked and was worst on the team. After some hard tackler injured 2 defenders and knocked them out for 5 days, I had to sub him in. that dude was MOM 3 times, he scored (5 goals total), and his average rating was 8. I swear he's like giving me and retirement two middle fingers up. and it was just 5 matches.
oddly, I actually succeeded in selling him 2nd season in. his replacement ain't shabby, I bought a cheap 26yr old as back up after I sacked everyone 30 and above, and he's the one getting MOMs (not the 18-22yr olds). no scoring, but quietly stopping goals, average rating 8 and collecting MOMs.
and none of them have special skills lol. strange x3...