As the summer transfer window is in full swing, Japanese media have released a list of the top 10 most expensive Asian players in history. Former Chinese national team player Zhang Chengdong surprisingly ranks ninth, with Son Heung-min and Kim Min-jae also on the list, while Hidetoshi Nakata appears twice.
In January 2017, Zhang Chengdong joined Hebei China Fortune from Beijing Guoan for a transfer fee of €20.44 million, setting a record for Chinese players. Japanese media stated that there is still controversy over whether Zhang Chengdong’s ability matched his transfer fee, but this was indeed a reflection of the crazy wave of Chinese football at the time. With the collapse of the Chinese football bubble, it is now impossible for Chinese football to witness such a frenzy again.
Coming in at tenth is Japanese national team player Wataru Endo, who joined Liverpool from Stuttgart in August 2023 for a transfer fee of €20 million.
Former Japanese national team player Hidetoshi Nakata takes eighth place, moving from Perugia to Roma in 2001 for €21.69 million. Lee Kang-in’s transfer from Mallorca to Paris for €22 million places him in seventh. Iranian national team player Sardar Azmoun’s transfer to Brighton for €22.5 million lands him in sixth.
This summer, Japanese player Hiroki Ito moved from Stuttgart to Bayern Munich for €23.5 million, placing him fifth. Hidetoshi Nakata also appears in fourth, with Parma paying €28.4 million for the Japanese veteran when he transferred from Roma.
The top three are Son Heung-min’s €30 million move from Bayer Leverkusen to Tottenham, Shoya Nakajima’s €35 million transfer from Portimonense to Al-Duhail, and Kim Min-jae’s €50 million transfer from Napoli to Bayern Munich.
The top 10 list is largely dominated by Japanese and South Korean players, with Zhang Chengdong being the only Chinese player on the list, thanks to the golden era of Chinese football.
This article is from a user submission and does not represent the views of Soccer News Pick. If you repost it, please indicate the source: https://www.soccernewspick.com/other/20635.html
