The Guardian ‘destroys’ the Vietnamese prodigy's future

The Guardian wrote: “Phan Thanh Hau is the heartbeat of their midfield, always available and ready to spray passes short and long and to use a deft first touch to create space for a lovely left-foot to prise open opposition defences. His next move is either to the V-League or Europe.”

This is such a shocking decision of football expert John Duerden, since Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong or Tuan Anh are the brightest stars of U19 Vietnam at that time.

Even Phan Thanh Hau doesn’t understand why he is named on the list: “I was surpised with this, while there were a lot of excellent names in U19 Vietnam including Tuan Anh, Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong, Van Toan… In fact, many people asked: Why me, but not someone else?”

Up to now, the inclusion of Phan Thanh Hau in the '40 of the Best Young Talents in World Football' is the wrong decision of The Guardian and John Duerden. Even the prestigious British newspaper is also disappointed with each update of information about Thanh Hau.

At the age of 17, British media accidentally caused Thanh Hau to wear undue pressure. The label "40 of the Best Young Talents in World Football" forced Thanh Hau to try to rise above the excellent seniors such as Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh ... Then the young talent was pushed by the pressure of fans’expectations.

Phan Thanh Hau was put into the first team in Hoang Anh Gia Lai. But after 5 seasons, the 'prodigy that day' has only made  39 appearances (about 8 matches/season), less than same-age player Trieu Viet Hung playing 56 games in 4 seasons (about 14 matches / season).

At the current age of 23, Phan Thanh Hau is the same age as Quang Hai, Bui Tien Dung, Tran Dinh Trong ... While Quang Hai has been 'The best player in Vietnam', the pillar of Hanoi and the national team, Quang Ngai-born player is still on the bench at HAGL and has never been able to fight with U23 Vietnam in any international tournament.