Where is our Mkhitaryan ?

[EKBATAN]

what i mean by this is...look at Armenia being able to produce a talent like him that can play in a top 5 team in a top 5 league. And as far as Football history goes, Armenia is not near what Iran has done. Other similar nations have also produced top talent in the past, like Togo, Trinidad, even Oman has that goal keeper, there is a long list of players like that i wont get into. But all these years i was hoping we could produce a consistent talent like that. Closest we go was with Daei and Dejagah. Mahdavikia, hashemian, neku, karimi either didnt play in top teams or they only played there a short time. Now you might say Daei didnt play long either but i look at him as the first of his kind, opening the doors, and things were different back then. But yea even him and Dejagah, didnt last at the top very long.

I am still waiting for the day that we can have a pro player that can be a well known name around the world. Playing consistently at the top level, as a starter. Maybe these other countries dont get to go to WC or win continental cups, but at least they can watch their favorite players every week in a good team or champions league. At this point, we should really have a couple of players like Mkhitaryan produced at least.

Hopefully Azmoun, Ezatollahi, Shekari and Jahanbakhsh will get there....but even those guys we have to wait a few years and see. Not sure if they'll reach that level but i guess I would be happy even if they reach Mahdavikia/Nekunam level as well.

[Zamboor]

lol for some reason i always thought mikhtariyan was ukrainian xD now it just hurts that we dont have a proper european based star

[ShiroKhorshid]

Sardar definately can reach international class to world class level.
Unlike players like Nekounam(26), Karimi (26) or Daei (28) he has the advantage of moving to Europe very very young (17), basically as a youth player. Who knows what levels those players mentioned would have reached if they would have moved to Europe at Sardars age.
Lets see what happens. If we hopefully make it to Russia he can show his talent to the world and hell still be only 23 by then. However i hope hell already play in one of the top leagues within the next 1 or 2 years.

[teammelli91]

Our current hopes lie in Jahanbakhsh and Azmoun.

[Gotham]

what i mean by this is...look at Armenia being able to produce a talent like him that can play in a top 5 team in a top 5 league. And as far as Football history goes, Armenia is not near what Iran has done. Other similar nations have also produced top talent in the past, like Togo, Trinidad, even Oman has that goal keeper, there is a long list of players like that i wont get into. But all these years i was hoping we could produce a consistent talent like that. Closest we go was with Daei and Dejagah. Mahdavikia, hashemian, neku, karimi either didnt play in top teams or they only played there a short time. Now you might say Daei didnt play long either but i look at him as the first of his kind, opening the doors, and things were different back then. But yea even him and Dejagah, didnt last at the top very long.

I am still waiting for the day that we can have a pro player that can be a well known name around the world. Playing consistently at the top level, as a starter. Maybe these other countries dont get to go to WC or win continental cups, but at least they can watch their favorite players every week in a good team or champions league. At this point, we should really have a couple of players like Mkhitaryan produced at least.

Hopefully Azmoun, Ezatollahi, Shekari and Jahanbakhsh will get there....but even those guys we have to wait a few years and see. Not sure if they'll reach that level but i guess I would be happy even if they reach Mahdavikia/Nekunam level as well.

Honestly I'm pessimistic about Iranians in that regard. They all seem to have some combination of bad discipline, injury proneness, laziness, or blind love for money. I just don't see us having our own Mkhitariyan ever. Even in other big name sports like basketball this combo exists. Look at the ONE player that we got to the NBA who actually got to play there. Hamed Haddadi and it was only because of his height, otherwise he was lazy as fuck, only posted pics of kebabs 24/7 on his Twitter page, and eventually what little NBA standards he met were tarnished. Maybe Kazemi can prove me wrong but just Iranian athletes in general, I have little hope for them as far as popular sports/leagues go.

[teammelli91]

What's really interesting is that Armenia's Russia 2018 qualifying group is actually not the most difficult. That's considering in comparison to the powerhouses of European football.

Armenia with the few stars that they have like this guy, have a decent chance to get to the playoffs or even qualify depending on the consequences.

Good luck to Armenia!

[Z Joon]

I believe that this player will be Ezzatollahi in 5-6 years but I would honestly be happy if JB and Azmoun would reach the Mahdavikia/Hashemian/Daei level, which I'm sure they will.

The only thing that bothers me about Ezzatollahi's move to Russia is that once he will become a solid player over there, they can easily keep him in the country with big money contracts and he may go on to never reach his full potential (like many top class players went through in the RPL) in a top league... Hopefully this doesn't happen and he becomes a regular player in a top 3 league at some point in his career.

[ShiroKhorshid]

lol for some reason i always thought mikhtariyan was ukrainian xD now it just hurts that we dont have a proper european based star

There are lots of small countries with world class players, be it now or in the past. Off the top of my head:

Bale and Giggs (Wales)
Dwight Yorke (Trinidad/Tobago)
Eidur Gudjohnsen (Iceland)
George Weah (Liberia)
Mkhitaryan (Armenia) as mentioned
Kakhaber Kaladze (Georgia)
Emanuel Adebayor (Togo)
Jari Litmanen (Finnland)
Goran Pandev (Macedonia)
Aleksandr Hleb (Belarus)
.....

Unfortunately none of our players got as famous as most of those players.
Daei, Mahdavikia and Karimi probably were the closest.

[_Navid_]

I am also wondering the same. Will we ever have a world class player? We had players in the past who could have been if it wasn't for the political situation/personal mistakes. Football and basketball are the only two major sports where we haven't had a world class athlete yet.

[Abtin]

But.. But.. Didn't Azmoun have offers from Barcelona, Arsenal and Milan?
JK

[EKBATAN]

Honestly I'm pessimistic about Iranians in that regard. They all seem to have some combination of bad discipline, injury proneness, laziness, or blind love for money. I just don't see us having our own Mkhitariyan ever. Even in other big name sports like basketball this combo exists. Look at the ONE player that we got to the NBA who actually got to play there. Hamed Haddadi and it was only because of his height, otherwise he was lazy as fuck, only posted pics of kebabs 24/7 on his Twitter page, and eventually what little NBA standards he met were tarnished. Maybe Kazemi can prove me wrong but just Iranian athletes in general, I have little hope for them as far as popular sports/leagues go.

i agree. I always feel like its a combination of those things you mentioned, its like we dont have a true successful Athlete mentality in our culture. We dont have many players in any sport that are super focused and cant be phased by pressure and their environment. Players like a kobe bryant, messi, ronaldo type who thrive challenges and beating the odds. We do have the talent, but it just lacks that extra push in them to become elite level.

Haddadi is a great example, i actually believe he could've been a top 10 center in NBA if he just worked hard. But he was too k00n goshad and didnt even learn English. How can you improve if you cant communicate with your coach and teammates ?? Kazemi on the other hand has that but he lacks a few other parts of the game that holds him back. We shall see this year, if he gets a contract with the rockets by end of next week then we can see what he's up to.

But yea even our wrestlers, volleyball, futsal, we always fall short somewhere cuz of our mentality or buckling under pressure.

[EKBATAN]

But.. But.. Didn't Azmoun have offers from Barcelona, Arsenal and Milan?
JK

i never believed those rumors. There is no way these teams come for a player that can barely start for a russian team.

[teammelli91]

But.. But.. Didn't Azmoun have offers from Barcelona, Arsenal and Milan?
JK

He had a serious offer from Inter's youth and Rubin Kazan, but he opted for Rubin Kazan because of Berdyev and advice from his parents and agent. He said that they believed it was soon to go to Inter and that he would be better off and a much better chance to be successful in Kazan.

[teammelli91]

i never believed those rumors. There is no way these teams come for a player that can barely start for a russian team.

I think he meant before he went to Rubin Kazan, which he did have a serious offer from Inter's youth. However he chose Kazan.

[EKBATAN]

He had a serious offer from Inter's youth and Rubin Kazan, but he opted for Rubin Kazan because of Berdyev and advice from his parents and agent. He said that they believed it was soon to go to Inter and that he would be better off and a much better chance to be successful in Kazan.

well its good he didnt go to Inter. They are ran horribly right now and dont have a good future plan. i'm glad he didnt take that offer.