Ranking the 5 greatest Asian players in Premier League history
The Premier League has always been comprised of players from different corners of the world. England's top-tier football has consistently been an attractive platform for a lot of players globally. To date, the major footballing nations have all had at least one player play in the Premier League at some point.
Some fine Asian players have graced the Premier League
Lately, we have seen a lot of African and South American players arrive in the Premier League and do amazingly well. Asian players, on the other hand, aren't seen as much when compared to others. That being said, the future of Asian footballers looks promising and we might soon see a flurry of them arrive in the Premier League.
Despite having seen fewer players from Asia, there have been some memorable players from the continent who have graced the Premier League. Sometimes, it has so happened that some of them have not got the recognition they deserve, but definitely did serve their purpose to the respective club.
On that note, let's take a look at the five greatest Asian players to have played in the Premier League:
#5 Maya Yoshida (Japan)
The Nagasaki-born centre-back graduated from Nagoya Grampus in Japan. He was promoted to the senior team in 2007. After spending three seasons with the Gampus, Maya Yoshida signed for VVV-Venlo to play in the first tier of Dutch football back then.
When Yoshida arrived at VVV-Venlo, he already had his compatriot Keisuke Honda at the club. In fact, Honda was influential in bringing quite a few Japanese players to the Dutch club. Yoshida performed well with the Yellow Black Army, which eventually resulted in a move to the Premier League in 2012.
Southampton had just returned to the top tier of football in England in 2012, which encouraged the Saints to go after Yoshida's signature. The transfer fee was around £3 million. Yoshida spent eight seasons with Southampton in which he played as a centre-back, right-back and left-back, depending upon the need.
The Japanese centre-back has made 154 appearances for the Saints, scoring six goals in the Premier League. When on song, Yoshida looked like a very reliable defender to have in the team. His versatility to play in different positions at the back was a big plus for Southampton.
During Yoshida's tenure at Southampton, the club managed to finish in the top eight for four consecutive seasons. He remains the only Japanese player to make more than 150 appearances in the Premier League.
#4 Ki Sung-yueng (South Korea)
Ki Sung-yueng started his football career with FC Seoul in South Korea. After spending three seasons with the club, the central midfielder joined Celtic in the summer of 2009. Ki was quite impressive with the Scottish giants as he helped them win the Scottish Premier League in the 2011-12 season.
He had impressive passing range and a good reading of the game from midfield. His ability to play both a central midfielder as well as a defensive midfielder proved to be very useful for his teams. Ki also had a knack for scoring some fine long range goals. Taking all this potential into consideration, Swansea signed the South Korean for around £6 million in 2012.
Ki made a good start to his Premier League campaign as his passing abilities attracted a lot of praise in his first season. Surprisingly, he was sent on loan to Sunderland the following season, where he played 27 games and scored thrice.
After returning from loan, Ki spent four more seasons with Swansea City. The Swans were relegated in the 2017-18 season, following which Ki joined Newcastle United in the Premier League. Unfortunately, with injuries and a change in management, the former Celtic midfielder struggled with regular involvement on Tyneside.
He left for Mallorca in 2020, ending his Premier League stint. Ki has made 187 appearances in England's top division, the highest for any South Korean so far.