Son Heung-Min Returns to Tottenham to Fight for His Place
Son Heung-Min is focused on jumpstarting his Tottenham career.
Since being the now-fourth most expensive transfer in Tottenham’s club history, Son Heung-Min’s Spurs career has had many obstacles in the way.
From a foot injury last September after a promising start, to becoming a bench player and finally last month’s Rio Olympics, the South Korean international has had a slow start to justify the £22 million Spurs spent on him.
Though going to the Olympics last month was a joint effort by South Korea, Son Heung-Min and Mauricio Pochettino.
All three parties were hoping to avoid having Son serve two years in the military.
Since Son skipped out on London 2012 due to focusing on club commitments with Hamburger SV, it wasn’t surprising that he wanted to take part in Rio 2016.
His desire to help his country win a medal meant that he would miss the beginning of the Premier League. But since returning, it appears he has yet to be cleared after the Taegeuk Warriors suffered a huge blow in the quarter-finals against Honduras.
Their defeat left a major impact on Son who was said to have “cried all day long” and not “eat much” prior to rejoining Spurs.
Now that he’s back, Son is looking forward to playing his best with Spurs.
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“Tottenham are the team I wanted to join and I know that I have to work hard and play my best,” Son Heung-Min said (via ESPN FC).
“I am in good condition and ready to go and play as well as I can.”
“I am sorry to my national teammates and coach but I will support them and hope they get a good result against Syria.”
On two different occasions, when Son Heung-Min put club football before international football, he has produced good results.
During the 2012-13 season with Hamburg, when Son decided against playing in the London Olympics, he made 34 appearances scored 12 goals and had three assists in all competitions.
That, along with his previous seasons with HSV saw him secure a switch to Bayer Leverkusen the next season.
Then, after missing out on the 2014 Asian Games because Bayer wouldn’t release him, Son made 42 total appearances, scoring 17 times and racking up four assists.
Not surprising, it saw Son join Spurs last summer.
It’s possible that lightning strikes a third time while South Korea navigates through their World Cup qualifiers without the 24-year-old.
Though once the 2018 Asian Games approaches, it will be the final lifeline for Son Heung-Min and the rest of his teammates to finally be excused from serving two years of mandatory Military Service, if they can defend their 2014 title and win another gold medal.
Twice now, Son has responded well when he put his all into club football.
Although his Spurs career has started off slowly, he’s ready to right the ship and justify the amount Spurs paid for him.