As Heung-min Son dropped to his knees at Bilbao’s San Mames Stadium following the ultimate whistle of the UEFA Europa League remaining in Could, the emotional combine between a celebratory scream and loud cry was a well-known sight. It was the anticipated response of a participant who had not solely received his first title, however captained a staff that snapped a 17-year trophy drought. Nor was it a shock when his teammates gave him one emotional embrace after one other, indicators from the Tottenham Hotspur trustworthy emblazoned together with his identify and face. Son — and his teammate James Maddison, for that matter — wouldn’t be the primary participant whose face was brilliant pink from crying, nor the primary to be an unquestionable fan favourite.
There’s a feeling of routine to those moments of sporting achievement, a lot as there was a reliability that Son boasted throughout his 10 years as a Premier League participant. His consistency as, on the very least, one of many league’s most notable attackers nearly disguises the truth that he was additionally one of many recreation’s superstars throughout his time in England. Son, who introduced his intention to depart Spurs on Saturday and is prone to be part of MLS’ LAFC, leaves Europe’s elites not solely as a membership legend; he was effectively and actually one of many greats of his technology, delivering one of many sport’s biggest tales of triumph alongside the best way.
Son’s profession is a narrative of ability, fashion and shock in nearly equal measure to the purpose that he was universally revered, if not downright adored by the lots. The convenience with which the applause got here was the distinctive basis to miss his star, although. There have been undoubtedly higher gamers than Son within the final 10 years and ones that commanded extra highlight, a minimum of from a European perspective. It unfairly diminished his personal attributes, however the indicators are simple to identify. In spite of everything, how else would you describe a participant with 173 objectives in 454 Spurs video games, a captain who persistently did his nation proud and carved out an unlikely dwelling in north London as something however a terrific?
Son’s historic attacking output
Son joined Tottenham in the summertime of 2015 because the membership’s most costly signing of the summer season, Spurs sending round $30 million to Bayer Leverkusen for a 23-year-old participant. It was a modest price, the Eleventh-highest paid by a Premier League membership that summer season, the likes of Manchester Metropolis-bound Kevin de Bruyne and eventual Manchester United misfit Morgan Schneiderlin fetching more cash. There have been glimpses of one thing particular with Son, even when he was not the buzziest newcomer of the season – he grew to become the most costly Asian participant on the time and already had an admirer in Ruud van Nistelrooy, who described him as a “massive talent” when an 18-year-old Son was his teammate at Hamburg. He began considerably slowly with 8 objectives and 6 assists in 40 video games. That was his solely single-digit aim season in North London, although, hitting the bottom working the next season.
In nearly no time, Son grew to become the kind of attacker that would fortunately discover a place on any staff. He boosted a versatility that exemplified a participant who had no most popular place in assault and was expert with each ft, a practicality and unfussiness befitting this technology’s textbook tempo and energy attacker. It’s a fashion that was incessantly on show and is inherently entertaining – his first Premier League aim towards Crystal Palace in September 2015 marked the primary of many trademark sprints that allowed him to take a shot from distance, and his 2020 FIFA Puskas Award-winning strike towards Burnley was the best model of it.
He was the other of a tap-in service provider, and in additional methods than one. As industrious as a tempo and energy participant will be, Son combined in loads of trendy moments alongside the best way. His first season tally included a aim scored with a backheel flick towards Watford, he notched a scissor kick aim towards Swansea within the following marketing campaign, and his one centesimal Premier League aim was a curling shot towards Brighton and Hove Albion.
His biggest fault was that he was streaky however it was a nitpicky argument maybe clouded by the truth that different attackers have been extra prolific however the numbers make it laborious to disclaim that Son was not simply amongst elites; he was really certainly one of them. At his finest, Son supplied an ideal steadiness of high quality and amount with 173 objectives and 94 assists for Spurs throughout a decade of excellence, rating fifth within the staff’s all-time goalscorers checklist, sixteenth within the Premier League and seventeenth within the division’s help tally. Maybe most impressively, Son ranks third for aim contributions within the Premier League since his debut in September 2015 with 198, behind solely Harry Kane with 231 and Mohamed Salah with 270. He’s additionally the Premier League’s solely Asian golden boot winner, sharing the award with Salah within the 2021-22 marketing campaign.
Son’s biggest drawback, in the meantime, was that Kane soaked up an excessive amount of of the highlight, as an academy product rising because the England captain and the best aim scorer of his time is prone to do. Whilst Spurs felt like Kane’s staff within the eyes of many, it was really extra of a double act. The 2 performed seamlessly collectively, growing an unequalled chemistry that was exemplary of two terrific sporting storylines – a homegrown rising by way of the ranks after a number of setbacks, combining skillfully with a teammate whose dwelling was half a world away however charted his personal unlikely journey to the highest. The pair have rightfully earned a spot within the Premier League’s historical past books by combining for 47 objectives, making them essentially the most prolific goalscoring duo in England’s prime flight.
His remaining season at Spurs, by these watching intently, was marred by accidents and maybe the truth that age slows for nobody, however even then, Son’s output was stellar. He might not have been at his finest, however 11 objectives and 11 assists in 46 matches is certainly not a modest displaying, although essentially the most outstanding reminiscence of the marketing campaign will likely be lifting the Europa League, changing into the primary Spurs captain in 17 years to take action. It’s a becoming exit for a participant who carried out in moments huge and small, even when it was not clear that it was his remaining act.
“For instance I am a legend,” Son said in a post-match interview after the Europa League remaining. “Why not? Solely as we speak, solely as we speak … Seventween years, no person [had] carried out it with such wonderful gamers but as we speak’s the day. In all probability I’ll say as we speak, I am a legend of this membership.”
‘Top-of-the-line people I’ve ever met’
It’s alarmingly simple to decrease Son’s impression as one that’s business-driven – the game’s Eurocentric vantage level means locations like Asia are related extra with money grabs and the advertising of preseason excursions or the ultimate levels of gamers’ careers than anything. Son’s journey from South Korea to England is just not solely a supply of inspiration and a change of tempo for a sport during which sudden superstars are in brief provide, although. As simple as it’s to quantify the impact Son has had in Spurs’ assault and maybe on their checking account, his story is an instance of the intangible, inexplicable romance that exemplifies sports activities at their finest.
“I got here to north London as a child — 23 years previous, a really younger age, a boy who could not converse English,” Son mentioned in Seoul on Saturday, practically 50 miles from his birthplace of Chuncheon, a cit with a inhabitants of lower than 300,000. “I depart this membership as a person. Thanks to all of the Spurs followers who’ve given me a lot love. It felt prefer it was my dwelling.”
Son went from barely figuring out English – his third language after learning German by watching episodes of “SpongeBob SquarePants” – to making a slice of dwelling in north London, leaving town with a lifelong good friend in Wales worldwide Ben Davies. Son attended Davies’ marriage ceremony and is the godfather of his son, Ralph, which made it troublesome for the Korean participant to even break the information to Davies and his different teammates.
“[Davies] absolutely respects my choice,” Son mentioned. “So does everybody. What can I say? It’s extremely laborious to inform my team-mates as a result of I in all probability spend extra time with them than my household, as a result of we’re travelling collectively, spending time collectively each single day on the coaching floor, 5 or 6 hours day-after-day. I believe we all know one another so effectively. All people was disillusioned however, in a approach, additionally very blissful for me. That was my feeling, however I do not know what they have been really feeling. They appeared blissful however disillusioned after I instructed them.”
He has earned innumerable admirers throughout his 10 years with Tottenham, together with Maddison, who was extremely emotional when celebrating the Europa League win Son.
“We had a second on the pitch on the finish and I simply mentioned to him how a lot I liked him, adore him, what he stands for as an individual, and to take all of it in,” Maddison said in May. “He is top-of-the-line people I’ve ever met. I really like him a lot. I am so blissful he had that second in Bilbao, lifting the trophy for this membership, the membership he loves. He is been right here for 10 years and to look at him and share that second with him, all of this, that is our job, that is what we do, however as a human being, you’ll not meet a nicer man. The way it treats everybody. How he treats my household each time he sees them. How he’s with my kids. He is only a sensible man and I am so, so blissful for him.”
The Spurs trustworthy have been equally as blissful for Son, who goes down as maybe the fundamental character for the staff over the past decade. Kane’s would be the first identify historical past remembers when trying again at this era. Toby Alderweireld will go down as one of the best participant because the staff made a visit to the 2019 UEFA Champions League remaining. Mauricio Pochettino will likely be credited as the person who stewarded Tottenham’s finest staff in current reminiscence. Son, although, defines the tip of this period.
He’s the final notable member of Pochettino’s group to stay round at Spurs however his legacy is fully separate from the Argentine’s celebrated five-year spell in north London. Son is just not an ideal participant however his is an ideal story, one during which each trial and tribulation was not solely price it however was marked by layers of marvelousness. Stardom is inherently inconceivable, much more so for a participant from a small metropolis in South Korea who arrived to the Premier League in his mid-20s with restricted fanfare. His legacy is larger than his on-field excellence – he exemplifies the grit and fervour followers crave from the gamers on their favourite groups, greater than anybody else ever did. Son outlasted them, too, even when this may be attributed to the malpractice of Europe’s biggest golf equipment and picked up Spurs’ most historic moments alongside the best way. Ultimately, there was no yet one more becoming to attain the primary aim at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium or to carry the trophy that ended their 17-year drought. Spurs have been by no means fairly Kane’s staff or Pochettino’s staff throughout this era, or anybody else’s, for that matter. For the mix of occasions and experiences, Tottenham Hotspur have been effectively and actually Son’s staff, the 33-year-old leaving a novel legacy behind that he summed up succinctly whereas confetti nonetheless dotted the pitch in Bilbao.
“I used to be capable of create my excellent puzzle.”
