Vietnamese player named among top world football talents

Vietnamese youngster Le Dinh Long Vu has been listed as one of the world's top 60 young football talents by sports journalists of British newspaper, The Guardian.

Vietnamese youngster Le Dinh Long Vu is one of the world's best young players in 2023. (Photo of VFF)

Marcus Christenson, Steven Bloor and Garry Blight have researched, discussed and named their picks of players born in 2006 all over the world in the list which called 'Next Generation 2023: 60 of the best young talents in world football'.

Vu from the central province of Ha Tinh is currently a winger of Song Lam Nghe An. The 1.72m-tall player is the only face from the Southeast Asian region.

In its comment on Vu, The Guardian wrote: "Vietnam are blessed with many technical, fast players who are equally comfortable on either foot but Le Dinh already has fans excited about how far he can go. He impressed so much at Asia’s U17 Championship that he was called up to the country’s under-23 team.

"His pace, slight build, dribbling and ability to whip balls into the area has led some fans to compare him to Phil Foden. Young Vietnamese talents don’t always progress as much as they should but with the right coaching and club, Le Dinh  could go very far indeed."

Other notable names are Brazilian striker Endrick of Palmeiras FC; French winger Ousmane Camara of Rahimo FC; Croatian midfielder Noa Skoko of Hajduk Split FC and Hungarian goalkeeper Áron Yaakobishvili.

It is the second time that a Vietnamese player highlighted as a football talent by the newspaper. The first one was Phan Thanh Hau of Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC when he was one of the top 40 best young footballers of 2014.

Hau, however, after the honour, did not develop as well as expected. Aged 26, Hau has not made any remarkable achievements in his career. He is playing for Phu Dong FC in the V.League 2./.

VNA