Son Heung-min is likely the most successful football player from South Korea. He has been enjoying a long and successful career as captain of Tottenham Hotspurs, a club he joined a decade ago.
This article will cover some of the most important moments of his biography and the road to success. We will also look at some of Son Heung-min’s goals. Let’s check it all out!
The Journey to Tottenham
Son started playing the sport at an early age, which is not surprising at all since his father was a football manager.
Son Heung-min’s career started at the FC Seoul academy. He played there for a while before dropping out at 17 and joining Hamburger SV, a German club, where he enjoyed a few successful seasons.
In 2013, he joined Bayer Leverkusen. His time there was also spent phenomenally: he managed to adapt to the new club quickly and was very powerful even during the first games there. Some of his best moments included a hat-trick in a game against his former club, Hamburgers. Overall, his two seasons at the club, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, were quite productive, with him scoring 12 and 17 goals, respectively.
During these years, Son enjoyed a successful international career as well. He was a part of the South Korean national team during the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, an annual championship for footballers aged 17 and younger.
His next big championship was the AFC Asian Cup in 2011. He also was a member of a national team during the 2014 World Cup qualifications (South Korea did not make it). The next impressive event in his international career was the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. The team ended up being a runner-up after losing to Australia. Son showed impressive capabilities, scoring both goals in the quarter-final game against Uzbekistan. In 2015, he played for the team’s 2018 World Cup qualifications against Laos and was quite productive during the game.
As you see, there are many Asian tournaments and championships you can follow, watch, and place the wagers on. If you are interested in betting on them, you can do so on this page.
A Leader On and Off the Pitch
Heung-min joined Tottenham in the second half of 2015. The contract cost £22 million and made Son the most expensive Asian football player in history. Needless to say, Heung-min quickly proved his worth.
Even though his debut game was not exactly eventful, one of the earliest of his matches showed impressive results, netting two goals in the game against t Qarabağ FK. A few days later, he scored his first Premier League goal. He continued showing impressive results during the 2015–16 Premiere Leagues, and the club ended up in third place.
His next season for Tottenham was even more impressive: Son’s first appearance resulted in scoring 2 goals and his team winning the match against Stoke City with the score of 4:0. The next game (against Middlesbrough) featured Son netting two goals again, and his run during the 2016-2017 season continued being successful. He won the Premier League Player of the Month award title in September and April, becoming the only footballer to win it two times in that season, which was quite great by the Tottenham Premier League standards.
The 2019-20 season solidified his achievements, highlighted by Son winning the Puskás Award for his stunning goal in the match against Burnley. Universally acclaimed as one of the best goals of the season, it was the result of Son running from one end of the field to another, avoiding seven players of the opposing team.
Son became the captain of Tottenham Hotspur in 2023 and was the sixth player in the history of the club to score 150 goals, as he continued to show outstanding results and guided the team to success.
Son Heung-min is known for his versatility: he can attack from any position, has a great two-foot capability, and can show great results during the assists. He is also quite fast and explosive, which makes him quite powerful when combined with his positional and tactical skills.
Goals, Assists, and Records
Let’s take a look at the rough data; after all, Son’s career has been quite fruitful and productive. Below are Son Heung-min’s stats, numbers, and personal records.
- Tottenham Appearances: 323
- South Korea National Team Appearances: 131
- Tottenham league goals: 126
- National team league goals: 51
- Premier League Hat Tricks: 4
- Number of Player of the Year titles:2
- Number of the Footballer of the Year titles: 7
A Global Icon: Son’s Influence Beyond the Field
He is a charitable person: he donated money to the victims of the Goseong Fire, which devastated parts of South Korea in 2019. He did the same to help battle the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country a year later. Together with his father and brother, he opened the Son Football Academy in his hometown, spending over 10 million pounds.
Partnership With Harry Kane
Son and Harry Kane, another successful player, used to be teammates. Together, the two often assisted each other during the games, resulting in some impressive goals being scored.
One of the latest examples happened in March 2021, when their teamwork led to a goal against Crystal Palace. Tottenham triumphed with a score of 4:1. Harry Kane and Son Heung-min have combined for more than 30 goals and assists, a record in modern football. In the 2020/21 season only, they had 14 of those.
As of now, Kane no longer plays for Spurts after joining Bayern Munich in 2023.
Conclusion
The impact a professional player can have on their club is always interesting. In this article, we assess the influence Son Heung-min has had on Tottenham, the club he joined in 2015. Over the years, Heung-min has demonstrated that he is a dynamic and influential player who has elevated his team’s performance significantly. He continues leading it as a captain and showing impressive results.
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/2SATljljXCY?si=hmU3fn592XrJnQkg” title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
About Author
