2021 ACL (West): Ghaedi, Abdi among Six Starlets to Watch
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – With the newly expanded AFC Champions League 2021 group stage just around the corner, the-AFC.com picked six up and coming youngsters who could be set to break through in this year’s edition of the competition.
Some of these starlets are established players for their club sides and some have even appeared in previous AFC Champions League seasons, while several are just breaking into the starting XI, but those U-23 players are all eyeing a milestone campaign over the next three weeks.
Esteghlal and Persepolis forwards, Mehdi Ghaedi and Mehdi Abdi, are among the six starlets along with Nasser Al Dawsari (Al Hilal SFC), Ibrahim Bayesh (Air Force Club), Ibrokhimkhalil Yuldoshev (Pakhtakor), and Khalid Al Ghannam (Al Nassr).
Mehdi Ghaedi - Esteghlal
Perhaps the most established name on this list, it is a testament to the talents of Ghaedi that at the age of 22, he is already considered Esteghlal’s main man as it looks to improve on last year’s Round-of-16 exit.
Although he was both the team’s most creative outlet with seven chances created and its biggest goal threat with seven shots on target taken in the 2020 AFC Champions League, the next challenge for the young attacker is to improve on his output of one goal and one assist.
Ghaedi’s performances in the Esteghlal shirt have already seen him receive two call-ups for Iran in 2020. He made his debut against Uzbekistan in October and a month later, he broke his international duck against Bosnia Herzegovina in just his second Team Melli appearance.
Mehdi Abdi - Persepolis
Another starlet looking to build on a promising 2020 AFC Champions League, Abdi’s 42nd minute header against Al-Nassr in the semi-final was voted as the fans’ best goal of the tournament - while his debut goal, a 90th minute effort in the 4-0 thumping of Sharjah FC was nominated for ‘The best last-minute goal’ of the competition.
