JAKARTA Footballers from Asia are now starting to mushroom as well as make a significant contribution to European football.
In recent years, footballers from Asia have started contracting many major European clubs. This clearly helps improve visibility and competition on this continent.
The large number of Asian players on the European continent automatically makes the world start to observe other talents that are ready to be brought in. Therefore, in the next few years, it is possible that more Asian footballers will play in Europe.
Despite that opportunity, currently some Asian players' faces are quite popular in Europe there. They continue to be in the media spotlight thanks to their important role in the club they are defending.
Here are the five best Asian footballers in the world who are currently playing in Europe:
The player who strengthened Tottenham Hotspur ended the 2021/2022 Premier League season as the top scorer. He is side by side with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.
The two names recorded 23 goals last season, winning 5 goals from Cristiano Ronaldo. This achievement made Son the first Asian footballer to win the Golden Boot in one of Europe's top five leagues.
The record was even more impressive because none of the goals he scored from the penalty spot. Meanwhile, this season, Son has recorded eight goals and three assists in 28 appearances in all competitions.
That statistic makes Son undoubtedly one of the greatest Asian footballers of all time. He is a fast, agile, dynamic striker and consistently contributes to The Lilywhite.
Mitoma recently successfully shocked the English Premier League. Initially he was just a relatively less known commodity before joining Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer 2021 transfer window.
Slowly and surely, in the last few months he has also succeeded in making the most popular competition earthquake. This is because of the seven goals he has netted for Seagulls so far this season. Interestingly, he scored all of these goals in his last 11 appearances.
Although he is not a highest player (only 178 cm), he has also proven to be an air ball threat. Mitoma, a graduate of Tsukuba University in Japan, wrote his university's thesis on dribble art.
Science at a university seems to have helped him at his current club. The reason is, he is now one of the players with the best dribblers after Lionel Messi.
This Iranian centre-forward is one of the strikers who is currently in his best form in the Portuguese Primeira League.
Taremi is a very impressive striker physically. He is a player who is growing rapidly because he has successfully achieved the best performance in his career at the age of 30.
He has scored 20 goals and provided 11 assists in 31 appearances in all competitions for FC Porto so far this season. Taremi also scored twice and provided one assist in three appearances for Iran at Qatar's 2022 World Cup.
Hwang Hee-Chan is nicknamed 'hwangso' (banteng) in South Korea because of his aggressive playing style. He has been one of the best players produced by South Korea in recent years.
He began to be the center of attention during his loan spell at RB Salzburg in 2020. At that time he successfully made a very unforgettable debut season before being sent on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2021.
Wolves then signed it permanently last summer. Hwang Hee-Chan has scored one goal and provided three assists in 22 appearances in all competitions for the Premier League team so far this season.
Takehiro Tomiyasu is not a striking player like the rest of Meriam London's squad. He is a full-back who doesn't talk much and is very effective in carrying out his duties in the defense sector.
He can play as a right-back and also a left-back. In addition, he also has good technical capabilities and can release a very good cross. The 24-year-old has provided two assists in 25 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal this season.
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