It looks like the pendulum has swung too far towards career longevity. In earlier FMs players had one foot in the grave when they turned 30 and it was only a matter of time before all physical stats (including Strength, which never made any sense) were in the single digits. I think Kimmich lasted until 36 as a Serie A rotation level player in FM20 back when I played a long career in it, and he was a huge, unique outlier.
In FM23, it looks like star players generally don't decline much until their mid 30s. It's not unheard of, we've seen Pepe, Messi & Zlatan carry on as difference makers for a long time, but those guys are the exceptions. It should not be as common as reported here.
I don't know which model is closer to what we see in real life. Calibrating a huge sandbox like FM is a difficult task.
Here's some data. Young footballers of the year from Scotland & Italy between 2001-2010. The first list should be representative of high-end Championship / EPL rotation players. The latter of top players in the most veteran-oriented of the major European leagues.
Scotland
2001: Stilian Petrov - EPL starter until 33 years old
2002 Kevin McNaughton - Championship starter until 31, Championship backup until 34
2003 James McFadden - EPL starter until 27, EPL backup & SPL starter until 31
2004 Stephen Pearson - Championship starter until 31, SPL rotation until 34
2005 Derek Riordan - SPL starter until 28, international journeyman until 33
2006 Shaun Maloney - EPL starter until 30, EPL rotation until 34
2007 Steven Naismith - EPL starter until 30, SPL starter until 34
2008 Aiden McGeady - Championship & Russian PL starter until 30, League One starter until 36, still playing
2009 James McCarthy - EPL starter until 26, SPL rotation now at the age of 32
2010 Danny Wilson - MLS starter now as at the age of 30
Italy (cutoff misses earlier winners Totti & Nesta who played as Serie A rotation players until 40 & 36, respectively)
2001&2003 Antonio Cassano - Serie A starter until 32, rotation until 34
2002 Matteo Brighi - Serie A starter until 31, rotation until 35, backup until 37
2004 Alberto Gilardino - Serie A starter until 36. Serie B rotation until 38
2005 Giampaolo Pazzini - Serie A starter until 32, Serie B rotation until 37
2006 Daniele De Rossi - Serie A starter until 35, rotation until 37
2007 Riccardo Montolivo - Serie A starter until 31, rotation until 33
2008 Marek Hamšík - Serie A starter until 32, still playing in Turkish Super Lig at 35
2009 Alexandre Pato - Serie A starter until 22, injured a few years, bounced around in Brazil & China & MLS since. Now 33
2010 Javier Pastore - Ligue 1 starter until 29, still La Liga rotation player at 33
I don't really know what conclusions to make here. The SPL winners seem to be close to the "old" FM model where very few players remained viable top league starters after 30. Personally, I find this surprising as the old FM career arc model always felt "wrong" to me.
The Serie A winners are closer to what we see in FM23. A good but nowhere near elite player such as Brighi can hang around as a valuable squad rotation option until his mid-thirties. 36-37 year old Luca Toni / Fabio Quagliarella winning Capocannoniere trophies... The one exception (Pato) had a series of disastrous injuries that derailed his career. I don't know if that really happens in FM still.