Hero players

If you have gone down the younger squad route
Is there a benefit to having three older higher rated players in the 14(11 plus subs)
Do these 'hero' players raise team performance sufficiently to justify buying them?

It you had one as captain with high leadership skills I guess it would help to some degree to have one on the pitch. Only relevant to the team captain or his substitute though according to the manual. Any more shouldn't make any difference.

Well I meant results to be more exact.
Obviously better players improve results

The leadership point is something I hadn't considered

There is also the perseverance attributes as well explained well by SuDoku AFC few days back.
Specially as the captain is doubled.

https://www.virtualmanager.com/forums/topics/1241981-home-game-advantage

Signed an old defender with 100 leadership 90 peserverence
And old player with some set piece ability
Let's see what happens

If you field a couple of players with significantly higher perseverance it should improve overall performance of the team.