who is the Iranian guy playing for Arsenal? i seen him scoring a goal, couple of weeks ago. I never heard of him again. who is he? is he originally Iranian? or same situation as Zandi?
His name is Danny Karbassiyoon. His father Kamran (a lifelong soccer enthusiast like many Iranians ) emigrated to US at age 18. Kamran met Anna who emigrated from Italy while they were in graduate school. Danny showed his potential when he was 9, but at age 15, a knee injury kept him out for 1.5 year from soccer. His youth club coach arranged a 4 months program in Germany to play with a U-18 team to accelerate his development. The coach lobbied to get Danny a spot as waiting list in 2002 Adidas ESP program that took top high school soccer talents in USA together. One week before the event, due to an injury to someone, Danny is able to get chance to join the event and became the best player for the program. Then Arsenal called him for a 2 weeks tryout, after that asking him come back six months later after his high school is done. Before turning 19, he was signed by Arsenal. At that point, he got the attention from US youth National team and played few matches for US U-18 friendlies. In Arsenal due to 10 forwards in the packing order, he took an offer to become a left back in the regular reserves. He is #3 on the line behind Ashley Cole and Clichy. Both of those guys are world class players. Danny can play in England due to an Italian passport, and he is eligiable for USA, Iran, and Italy. He spoke fluent Farsi and was taking classes in Italian as well. In the game he scored, he was beating Miles, the starting right back for England in WC 2002. The Manchester City team had 7 EPL starters there. He also played against a full starting Everton team with a 3:1 win in 90 minutes. They did lost 0:1 to Manchester United in next round that he played 7 or 8 minutes as sub for Clichy. He is definately good enough for a mid-to-low table EPL team.