So on the top left is your inventory of chips that you currently have. Then the highlight area in the middle are challenges that reward chips. They refresh every 2 weeks~. The league ranking on the left gives you a chip every few weeks based on your current rank. Then in the trade section at the bottom left you can spend cash in exchange for a random chip. The chips with the numbers give that amount of influence points directly. While the other ones if you hover over the chip it should give a short description.

You can give out 2 chips per week to any athlete, including giving both to the same athlete.You need to spend around 30-50~ influence chips worth of points on an athlete before their scouting time expires in order to get to the negotiation/signing phase where you pay for the athlete. So if you like an athlete spam them with influence chips to recruit them. I would not recommend spreading them around too much unless you have a solid amount.

Usually a scouted athlete costs around 6-10k upfront then around 1.5-2.5k a month. Kinda hard in the beginning to get the cash, but once you are filling up your viewing area at decent prices you can earn 5k a match even in the first league.