Some of the statistics should be:
Speed, acceleration, shot pow, shot acc, heading, reaction, tackle, etc. The same they always use

BUT

in EA they think that unexpensive players are slow, have no stamina, can't shoot, etc.
and this creates big differences, that in real life doesn't exist, between players and teams. For them japanese and africans can't run, and actually they are very fast. The real difference between good and bad players are their QUALITY. There should be an uneditable QUALITY stat, that makes players better, not just faster.
Quality makes them difficult to tackle, to take them the ball, to defend, to follow around the field, to dribble, etc.