Discussion: Is Sun Jihai really the best in Asia in the Premier League? Only Son Heung-min can compare with him? Better than the three-ball king?
Former international player Xu Liang's remarks in the live broadcast caused a lot of heated discussion. He believes that among the Asian players in the Premier League, only Son Heung-min can compare with Son Jihai, and Samkata, Park Ji-sung and others are not as good as Son Jihai. So is that really the case? Let's answer a few questions.
What level was Manchester City at that time?
From 2002 to 2008, Sun Jihai played for Manchester City. And Manchester City in that period was obviously not the later Premier League giants.
City returned to the Premier League after one season of relegation in 2002-03 and have been a mid-tier team ever since, finishing 9th, 16th, 8th, 15th, 14th respectively, until 9th in 2007-08, never qualifying for Europe.
In the summer of 2007, Thaksin joined Manchester City, but sold the club to Mansour just a year later, and the blue moon began to rise, but in the summer of 2008, Sun Jihai switched to Championship side Sheffield United, so he did not catch up with Manchester City.
What was Sun Jihai's status in Manchester City at that time?
In City's six Premier League seasons, Sun made 123 appearances and scored three goals, including an injury early in the 2004–05 season. The 2003-04 season had the most appearances of 30, followed by 29 in 2005-06 and 28 in 2002-03.
The 2006-07 season was 13 times, mainly due to injuries. In the 2007-08 season, there were 14 times, and Sun Jihai was reduced to a substitute under the famous coach Erikson, after Joel Luca.
In this way, Sun Jihai, as the main force of the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League, is actually three seasons, which is of course the best among Chinese players, but to be honest, it is really not outstanding in the range of Asian players.
Let's take Maya Yoshida, who is also a defender, who played in the Premier League for 7 and a half years in Southampton, making more than 20 appearances in 5 seasons, a total of 154 games and 6 goals, better than Sun Jihai in all aspects, right? And Southampton at that time was not necessarily worse than Manchester City.
What level are Son Heung-min, Park Ji-sung, Samkata Smoked?
In Xu Liang's opinion, only Sun Xingmin can compare with Sun Jihai, which is really exaggerated. Son Heung-min is recognized as Asia's first brother, the first Asian player in history to reach 100 Premier League goals, the first Premier League Golden Boot from Asia, and now the captain of Tottenham.
Although the position is different from Sun Jihai, Sun Xingmin is far ahead in terms of personal performance, influence and football status, reaching the level of a world-class superstar, and comparing Sun Jihai with him, it is really a little "touching porcelain".
Sankata has not been as long as Sun Jihai in the Premier League for the time being, but the shock he brought to the Premier League is not even inferior to Son Xingmin. The breakthrough of the three-goal king made all Premier League right-backs feel terrified, and also helped Brighton to qualify for European competition, these two points alone are beyond the reach of Sun Jihai, and his next stop will definitely be a giant-level team.
As for Park Ji-sung, as a teammate of Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, an important rotation of Manchester United at his peak, he played 134 times in the British Premier League, scored 19 goals, 4 Premier League and 1 Champions League title has established its historical status, and Sun Jihai is even more incomparable.