Top 10 Players in Asia in 2016

[Tehranto]

Hey PFDC fam,

Need your help with a project - I wanted to write an editorial on PFDC about the top 10 players in Asia in 2016. I think it would be amazing for not only PFDC releasing editorials on Iranian football, which we do already, but also be authoritative on matters of Asian football as well with fair and balanced perspectives. Please provide who you think should be on that list and what their accomplishments are. Let's be fair and balanced and we can come with a final list and publish it.

This is not about how many Iranian players make it - but about who deserves to be there. Obviously Iran has had a fantastic year and should have some players there - but be impartial (but don't hold back if you think they do and why! We Iroonis are sometimes way too taroofi in this aspect). Please state a player(s) and their highlights and why they deserve to be in the list. We will use their highlights and accomplishments in 2016 on why they made the list.

Some names to think about: Azmoun, Son, Kagawa, Matt Ryan, Okazaki, Al-Habsi, Jahanbaksh, Kruse etc.

[greenguy4life]

Hey PFDC fam,
Need your help with a project - I wanted to write an editorial on PFDC about the top 10 players in Asia in 2016. I think it would be amazing for not only PFDC releasing editorials on Iranian football, which we do already, but also be authoritative on matters of Asian football as well with fair and balanced perspectives. Please provide who you think should be on that list and what their accomplishments are. Let's be fair and balanced and we can come with a final list and publish it.
This is not about how many Iranian players make it - but about who deserves to be there. Obviously Iran has had a fantastic year and should have some players there - but be impartial (but don't hold back if you think they do and why! We Iroonis are sometimes way too taroofi in this aspect). Please state a player(s) and their highlights and why they deserve to be in the list. We will use their highlights and accomplishments in 2016 on why they made the list.
Some names to think about: Azmoun, Son, Kagawa, Matt Ryan, Okazaki, Al-Habsi, Jahanbaksh, Kruse etc.

Good list. Al Habsi had an absolute howler last weekend which cost his team, lol just saying. I'd say somebody like Ki Sung Yeong, Tom Rogic or even our big man Ezzatolahi

[Tehranto]

Good list. Al Habsi had an absolute howler last weekend which cost his team, lol just saying. I'd say somebody like Ki Sung Yeong, Tom Rogic or even our big man Ezzatolahi

I think Milad Mohammadi deserves to be in there as well - one of the lead assist men in the RPL and he's a LB! Plus he's been one of the major stars of a team that has no business being 4th in the RPL right now - the surprise team.

[inarsenewetrust]

3- Sardar Azmoun (rostov)- Scored 12, assisted 3 in 2016 for ultra defensive side Rostov including four in champions league fixtures against Anderlecht, Ajax, Athletico Madrid, And bayern Munich. Also Provided an assist against PSV Einhoven. Voted 4th best player in Russian league, and is now listed in the top 15 most valuable centre forwards under the age of 23. with his goals, rostov finished as unprecedented runners up in the RPL, only one point from the title.
5 - Alireza Jahanbakhsh(AZ Alkmaar) - 7 goals and 12 assists in all competitions in 2016. One of the best players on an AZ team who finished third in the table last season, and has qualified to knockout stages of the europa league this term.
1- Hueng Min Son- (tottenham)12 goals and six assists in all competetions in 2016. Key part of tottenham team who finished third in EPL last season.
4- Shinji Okazaki(leicester)
2- Kagawa (dortmund)
my top 5 (tossup between azmoun and kagawa for second)
6-10 ( in no particular order)
Milad Mohammadi (terek Grozny ) - Tied for second most assists in RPL (playing as a left back as well) with four. His team currently sit fourth and he is a mainstay in their defense starting 35 games in 2016.
Tom Rogic (celtic) - 13 goals and 8 assists in 2016.
Omar abdulrahman
Karim ansarifard - 11 goals 5 assists in 2016 leading panionios athens to fifth place in the table earning him a big money move to giants Olympiacos in January.
Sakai - Hamburg . Mainstay and captain for hamburg team who managed to survive another year in the bundesliga.
young players to watch : Asano, Ezatolahi,
players like ryan (valencia), Kiyotake (sevilla) adnan (udinese) barely play and thus do not warrant a place in top 10. Even our own ezzatolahi, who did end up playing for rostov 18 times ( wayyyy more than any of the previously mentioned guys did for their teams) doesnt deserve a place tbh. Players like haraguchi, koo ja chaeol, ki from swansea also were inconsistent in terms of games, statistics, and performance.
Overall i expect 2017 to be even better for iranians with jahanbakhsh, ezzatolahi,milad,sardar, ansarifard, and ghoucannejhad all looking likely to have excellent seasons (fingers crossed).
I got all stats from transfermarkt, soccerway, and i subtracted any goals, assists in players 2015/16 totals and added what remained to their 2016/17 totals (subtracting any goals in 2017). so feel free to use them, they are accurate.
EDIT : Ive decided against okazaki. Although I really like him as a player, and he was important in leicesters title win, 7 goals and four assists over all of 2015/16 and half of 2016/17 combined isnt really good enough to warrant top five as a striker. Also ive added koo ja chaeol from augsburg after looking at his very impressive stats from last season, hes still been a starter this season.
1- Son
2- Kagawa (13 goals, 13 assists last season, this season 4 goals , 2 assists)
3- Azmoun
4- Rogic
5- Jahanbakhsh
6- Okazaki
7- Koo Ja Chaeol ( 8 goals 4 assists last season for augsburg, 2 goals 2 assists this season)
8- abdulrahman (with all that weve said about him there is no doubting that he is one of the top ten asian players, based on purely talent, plus his team did get to final of ACL )
9- Sakai
10- Milad Mohammadi- In team of the season for russian league at the midway point of this season. (or ansarifard- but i go with milad since he has emerged as best left back in all of russia)

[Tehranto]

Son - also the only Asian to ever win BPL/EPL player of month award

Which is incredible!

[PersianLegion]

Sardar Azmoun
Alireza Jahanbakhsh
Reza Gucci
IPL (Behnam Barzay from SS, Ramin Rezaian from PP, Hajisafi from Sep)

Son Heung Min
Ki Sung Yueng
Nam Tae Hee
Shinji Kagawa
Shinji Okazaki
Yuto Nagatomo
Odil Akhmedov
Sardar Rashidov
Tom Rojic
Omar Abd Rahman

Best goal keeper:
Alireza Beiranvand
Kim Seung Gyu
Mathew Ryan

Young player to watch:
Saeed Ezatollahi
Takuma Asano
Lee Seung Woo (Barca kid)

[Tehranto]

Anyone know of any Saudis who did well? They are doing well in other group - and if there is a standout player who has also done real well at club level, they may stand a chance of making latter part of top 10

[PersianLegion]

^ Omar Assouma is a great player in Saudi league but he is Syrian.

[KeonKish]

Mohammad for sure! He is left out just because he is a defender. His ENTIRE season with Terek has almost been perfect. And he has gotten more than a few assists in a league where scoring is tough. Considering it's his first full season and he's so young I think he deserves to be on the list. Ez too


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[Iranianarsenal11]

I'd say the only Arab who deserves to make it is the Omar Abdul whatever guy from UAE... The rest of the arabs aren't that good.

[Afat11]

#1 best Saudi team member is the referee. Can't remember the last time they've been able to win without that guy's help.

[PersianLegion]

I'd say the only Arab who deserves to make it is the Omar Abdul whatever guy from UAE... The rest of the arabs aren't that good.

Iraqi player Ali Adnan is not bad for a defender.

[Afat11]

Younnes Mahmoud did great at the AFC U-13 championship this year too.

Let's be honest guys, the top 10 Asian players are pretty much from S. Korea, Japan, Australia and Iran. I really don't like this politically correct nonsense where a list of best Asian players has to include some random players from China and Arab countries to be "representative".

If it were a true objective list without the pandering, I can't think of any player outside of the 4 countries that did anything of note. Other than on PFDC, I have not heard people talking about Abdulrahman since Asian Cup.

[Tehranto]

Younnes Mahmoud did great at the AFC U-13 championship this year too.

Let's be honest guys, the top 10 Asian players are pretty much from S. Korea, Japan, Australia and Iran. I really don't like this politically correct nonsense where a list of best Asian players has to include some random players from China and Arab countries to be "representative".

If it were a true objective list without the pandering, I can't think of any player outside of the 4 countries that did anything of note. Other than on PFDC, I have not heard people talking about Abdulrahman since Asian Cup.

I agree, no politically correct nonsense. I asked people to list achivements and accomplishments and unofrtunately for OAR no one has really listed anything noteworthy he has done to be in the top 10.

As far as Ali Adnan, he is a benchwarmer at Udinese and they want to get rid of him; and he doesn't even start for the Iraqi team. J

[PersianLegion]

This is a comparison that I did a while ago between best player of few Asian countries in Europe. This may help you a little bit.

Club performance of top Asian players in European leagues (best player of each nation up to Nov 28th, 2016)

Sardar Azmoun: RPL
2015-2016 results: 24 match 9 goals and 3 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 0 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
2016-2017 results: 22 match 6 goals and 2 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 9 matches 4 goals and 1 assists)
Son Heung Min: EPL
2015-2016 results: 42 match 8 goals and 5 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 8 matches 3 goals and 3 assists)
2016-2017 results: 15 match 5 goals and 4 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 5 matches 1 goals and 0 assists)
Shinji Kagawa: Bundesliga
2015-2016 results: 46 match 13 goals and 13 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 12 matches 3 goals and 2 assists)
2016-2017 results: 10 match 4 goals and 1 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 2 matches 2 goals and 1 assists)
Tom Rogic: Scottish Premier League
2015-2016 results: 39 match 10 goals and 7 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 5 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
2016-2017 results: 22 match 9 goals and 3 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 8 matches 1 goals and 0 assists)
Odil Akhmedov: RPL
2015-2016 results: 41 match 4 goals and 6 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 12 matches 0 goals and 3 assists)
2016-2017 results: 21 match 0 goals and 2 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 8 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
Ali Adnan: Serie A
2015-2016 results: 31 match 1 goals and 3 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 0 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
2016-2017 results: 7 match 0 goals and 0 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 0 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)

And this is a comparison for Iranian players in Europe

Top Iranian players in European leagues

Sardar Azmoun: RPL
2015-2016 results: 24 match 9 goals and 3 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 0 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
2016-2017 results: 22 match 6 goals and 2 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 9 matches 4 goals and 1 assists)
Reza Gucci: Eredivisie
2016-2017 results: 16 match 6 goals and 2 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 0 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
JB: Eredivisie
2015-2016 results: 30 match 3 goals and 7 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 3 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
2016-2017 results: 18 match 4 goals and 4 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 6 matches 0 goals and 1 assists)
Karim Ansarifard: Greek Super League
2015-2016 results: 36 match 10 goals and 2 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 0 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
2016-2017 results: 10 match 4 goals and 2 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 0 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
Masoud Shojai: Greek Super League
2016-2017 results: 10 match 2 goals and 2 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 0 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
Saman Ghoddoos: Allsvenskan
2014-2015 results: 25 match 8 goals and 5 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 0 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)
2015-2016 results: 31 match 11 goals and 7 assists (EL and CL + Qs: 0 matches 0 goals and 0 assists)