Realistic in that players do have these preferences? Yes. But not in that every player prefers the same thing. If we could turn it off it wouldn't be a big deal at all, but since we can't I think the concerns people are raising are valid.
Should a player prefer to play with compatriots? Of course, this is true that this is a factor for some players.
Should all players prefer to play with compatriots? In my opinion, no.
What I hope is that there is some variation in the preferences. Say for location/compatriot. Some players will have high, low, or no preference. I want to see a player who only cares about the largest contract and has no preferences for coaching, compatriot, location, role, etc. They just want the most money. From what we've been shown it seems like every player has the some preferences and those preferences don't have variation within them. Have the devs stated if there will be variation in the preferences yet?