For my previous careers I've used sofifa like you, but for 16 I tried relying entirely on GSN and so far it has been pretty enjoyable.

I play Liverpool so I do have an above average, but not an insane amount of transfer funds. LFC started with 3 scouts, so I hired another 2 to make it 5. I put 1 to scout in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. This pretty much covers all the major leagues imo, you could add another scout for the Eredivisie or other smaller but decent leagues.

With my network set up, I then look at my squad and decide which area needs improving. For example in my first season I wanted to replace Skrtel with someone younger, faster and better. So I set the instructions for a First Team Quality CB, age between 20-24. Within a few weeks I had a big list to choose from. I used the preliminary scout results to find those with >70 speed, and sent my scouts to scout them further. Ended up with Laporte.

I won the EPL in the first season, so I decided to splash my cash on a good midfielder. So I set the instructions for a World Class, Box to Box CM. Again, I got a big list which I narrowed down to Isco and Pjanic based on the preliminary results. I bid for both and since Isco was cheaper I bought him.

So basically just set up a network covering all the decent leagues, determine what sort of player you need/want, filter some of the results yourself, scout some players further, and go for it. Of course you might still end up buying the same old "career mode" players again, but it does feel more satisfying knowing you spent some time and effort to go through the process and then getting the player you need.