Fan zhengdong started international competition from 15 and quickly moved up the rank, and Harimoto obviously started much earlier. Who do you think it is the better or more complete player at age of 16?
I think Harimoto at this point is slightly better than FZD at 16, but it's not by too much.
I would say TH is the better player (compared to 16yo FZD, rather than current day FZD), but FZD was the more complete player even then.
TH has always been, in the context of international competition, and even now remains, an unorthodox player. He has advantages far in excess of most of not all other players (mostly the short and close to table game), but also gaping weaknesses in his game.
For all the extra opportunities he may have had, TH has world titles under his belt, and still goes deep into interntional competition, and keeps a stable high ranking. It's not where a 16yo TT player is expected to be able to be at that age even given ample opportunities. Surely when it comes to 'better' it's hard to look past how much you win. Whatever you can say of his game, it is effective, it lets him win.
FZD on the other hand, in 2013, didn't really have many impressive feats under his belt (on a adult TT level). He has however always been an incredibly complete player. There is very little he does not do at an elite level. Even in 2013 he was a very technically sound, solid, physically fit player, beating pretty much all non-chinese opponents with the sheer... completeness of his game.