I had a really successful Wigan career on FM 2012 and I played 3 up front, 2 wide strikers who were pacey, good at dribbling, passing and finishing then the middle man was a big guy who could finish, strong and good at heading. I found a guy at Juve who was like 22 years old, 6 ft 8 ST, had 20 strength, 19 heading and 20 jumping. He had like 18 finishing and composure as well as quite a lot of other good stats so he was amazing for that role, but he was rated by my top scout (20 on both) as 2 and a half star potential, 2 star CA. I got him for 2 mill as I knew he would be great, I had an amazing set of strikers in that team yet he averaged like 8.21 and was insane, over a goal a game. Think he was rated my 7th best striker, but did the best showing how the reports can be meaningless.
As a side point on this years game I am doing a career as newcastle and found a guy who looked like he could be pretty good at Sparta Prague when he was 16. He is now a 19 year old ST who has 20 pace, 17 finishing, dribbling, accel, agi. 18 crossing and corners and plenty of other great stats at just 19. He is 3 Star CA and 5 Star PA for me and he only cost 200k. But my scout said he had 2 and a half star potential when I scouted him because they often scout the potential as if that is his potential if he stays at that club with that setup and facilities. So if you see a great player at a poor team their potential will often be a lot better than it looks, especially in random European and African Sides