Mehdi Ghaedi, Esthghlal’s winger has been making the headlines for all the good reasons in the last few months.
Only 1.66 m tall, (or short as most will refer to his height) and barely 60 kgs in weight, Ghadei’s built is hardly the physique of a top-level footballer. Yet he has already demonstrated plenty of skills and scored enough goals to make him a star. He is even shorter than Messi who is 1.70 m.
The 21 years old Mehdi Ghaedi was born and raised in the port city of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf. After joining his local club IranJavan Bushehr as a kid. His talent was recognized early and was soon promoted to the full team in which he played in season 2016-17 scoring 10 goals in a total of 29 league games.
Esteghlal Tehran, forever a club with scouts spread all over the country looking for talents, was forewarned about this skillful tiny player that is drawing rings around defenders. He was immediately recruited at the age of 19 and made his debut as a substitute in 2017 against Foolad Khuzestan.
Less than 3 years with Esteghlal, the tiny Ghaedi is becoming a household name in Iranian football. This is the season that transformed the young man into a fearful player with dribbling skills, pace and crossing accuracy of the highest kind.
During the immaculate performance of Esteghlal in the AFC Champions League qualifier against Al Rayyan Club in Doha, Mehdi Ghaedi was the undisputed star. He even out jumped much taller defenders to score a fine heard on the far reach of the goalkeeper.
He has scored 9 goals this season and provided 6 assists in the league plus two goals in the AFC Champions League.
What Ghaedi lacks in physique he compensates in his outstanding dribbling which is in fact helped by his tiny frame. Mehdi Ghaedi is also a controversial player already with many accusing him to be a fall guy. Although he has been awarded yellow cards for easily falling on the ground during tackles, he has been unfairly treated by the Referees even when genuinely fouled upon. With such a tiny built, it seems to be difficult for referees to decide whether his fall to the ground is genuine or not.
He was involved in a fatal car accident a couple of years ago and was lucky to survive after a series of surgical operations.
Although transfermarkt.com , the website that evaluates the price of players, Far from a complete player, half a million Euro, Ghaedi is easily worth several folds value. Ghaedi is a rough diamond who and is destined to be a true star of Iranian football. The rough edges need to be handled by skilled managers and if this player manages his time on and off the field well enough, there is little doubt that he will end up in a European club challenging at the highest level.
Turkish clubs have already made serious inquiries about him, but Esteghlal will not be easily persuaded to let go of this talent at such an early age. The mistake they have done with releasing Majid Hosseini will not be repeated.
For the time being, Esteghlal fans are enjoying the performance of the Prince of Persia who is torturing defenders with his clever dribbles and body shimmy as seen yesterday when he passed 3 Persepolis players right on the touchline to cross for Motahari to score Esteghlal’s goal in the local Derby.
His next destination is Team Melli. Surely Dragan Skocic has seen enough potential in Ghaedi to select him for the next squad.