'Little Tuan Anh in HAGL' is coach Troussier’s treasure

HAGL JMG course 4 possesses many bright talents for the future of Vietnamese football such as Vu Minh Hieu, Dang Van Dan, Tran Gia Huy, Hoang Vinh Nguyen or Nguyen Thanh Khoi - the future skipper of the street team Mountain.

Among all students of the 4th course of HAGL JMG Academy, Nguyen Thanh Khoi is the only Gia Lai player and also the oldest (born in 2001). Therefore, this guy is trusted by coach Guillaume Graechen to hand the captaincy of HAGL’s best players.

Thanks to the good ability to dispute, outstanding sweeping, Thanh Khoi's current position is the defensive midfielder. Before that, HAGL's talent played as a center-back because of his idol Carles Puyol:

"I really like playing the way the seniors like Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong, Dong Trieu, Van Thanh ... but I honestly do not idolize any of them. My only idol is the former center-back Carles Puyol of Barcelona and Spain. He is solid and he can play as a center-back, full-back or defensive midfielder. "

Thanh Khoi is one of the best players of the 4th course of HAGL JMG Academy. This player is the only Vietnamese face to be called up to the ASIAN ELEVEN team, representing Southeast Asia to attend the Japan Fun Cup international friendly match in Japan.

The talent of "Tuan Anh 2.0" immediately caught the eye of coach Philippe Troussier when he came to power at U19 Vietnam. Thanh Khoi is also the only name HAGL was retained to attend the U19 Asian qualifiers recently, and became one of the most important players of U19 Vietnam.

At that tournament, Thanh Khoi scored the deadlock in the 3-0 victory of U19 Vietnam against Mongolia U19. The same midfielder is the player who fully owns the midfield, helping U19 Vietnam have an important draw against U19 Japan to win tickets to the U19 Asian Cup 2020 in Uzbekistan.

Coach Graechen, who has led and trained many talents of HAGL such as Cong Phuong and Xuan Truong, also gave winged remarks to Thanh Khoi:

"Thanh Khoi is a virtue of leadership, a skipper on the field like Xuan Truong or Tuan Anh. Not only the boss of the middle area, Khoi is also a spiritual fulcrum for the whole team whenever the home team is in difficulty".

At present, Nguyen Thanh Khoi and his teammates at U19 HAGL are attending the National U19 Qualifier 2020. After the first leg, the Young Town players have 3 victories, 1 draw with the difference of +17 and full of opportunity to join the finals of the tournament.