Road to J.League - Nguyen Tien Linh

The ‘Road To J.League’ campaign will run from Jan 2 to Jan 19 which gives you the opportunity to vote for the player you think will most likely make the step up to the best league in Asia.

In Vietnamese football, Le Cong Vinh is an absolute legend whose last club before he retired in 2016 was Becamex Binh Duong, in a 12-year career span which included a stint with Consadole Sapporo back in 2013.

The player who is seen capable of following the same path as Cong Vinh is none other than Nguyen Tien Linh, who is the undoubted 24-year-old star of the current Becamex side.

In all competitions since making his debut for the club back in 2016, Tien Linh has made 53 appearances with 17 goals and three assists while at the same time spending a lot of his time with the various national teams of Vietnam.

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Part of the Vietnam side that played in the 2017 FIFA U20 World Cup, Tien Linh’s talent was recognised early on by Park Hang-seo with the South Korean head coach relying heavily on the striker during the recent 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Seven goals scored from eight matches in Group G, Tien Linh found the back of the net against United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Malaysia to help Vietnam qualify for the final round of the qualification process.

At 1.83m, Tien Linh can be considered a tall striker which isn’t the norm in Southeast Asia but the Hai Duong born player is much more than just a target man with good predatory instincts.

Huy Phạm

A big man who is very comfortable to receive the ball to his feet as well as being very mobile and has a great understanding of space, Tien Linh has all the right characteristics that are needed from a modern-day striker.

If Tien Linh does make the jump to J.League, a club such as FC Tokyo might be a good fit. The club may be in need of freshening their age profile, thus having a considerably economic option of someone like Tien Linh could be beneficial for both parties in their growth.

Think Tien Linh has what it takes to play in the J.League? Cast your vote here.