Looking at the transfer estimates of my own (mostly untrained) mid-age players I cannot support the thesis of reasolably low prices at any time during the season.
(26484915), acquired Dec 2014 at the age of 26 for 510k now has an estimation of 500-800k.
(30450573), acquired Mar 2015 at the age of 25 for 676k now has an estimation of 950-1300k (few ups included)
Looking at the ever less number of players my (unchanged) transfer filter returns now in comparison to the past I guess that the impact of less free agents is more significant than the BBs admit.