It still has some value as players want it for their collection since it helps to increase that score for extra bonus %. Generally, you don't want to have players that retire. Near the end of their career, they tend to get cheaper and cheaper which offers an opportunity to build a cheap team with good performance.
The game does need a mechanic that prevents players to earn to infinity, even now With players lasting an entire career I doubt it's properly sustainable. All these things you have to watch out for when playing with the aim to make a profit. For these games it is always the case that not everyone can make a profit. Most players I would say get carried away with the Pay2Win aspect getting tempted to buy more expensive players to compete in the ranking instead of playing the value game.
The Cap 240 Tournaments are great for this if you are able to stick to thel as they give a fixed return and it easily can be calculated.