Well, I'm even more confused now...your post made me wonder if my understanding of the "FAs can leave this league" setting was wrong, but running a sim seems to confirm my thinking.
In short: With a purely fictional setup and FA options set as you did, player movements like the ones you listed in your first post are impossible. The only way for players to change leagues is via trade, which is in keeping with the options' intent, I think...you're preventing all FAs from leaving their respective league, so even though all clubs are technically allowed to sign players from outside because of the other setting, they cannot do so because nobody is actually available to them.
So, I think what you see happening to players who are in their second league is actually what's supposed to
always happen, and their initial ability to change leagues is wrong/a bug. Maybe it's due to the inclusion of a historical league, I dunno.
Just my interpretation though...what's actually happening may be something completely different.
