‘Cheers, Son’s crying’ was the meme that constantly followed Heung-Min Son’s Tottenham career. Instead, it was those around the South Korean who were in tears last week.
As the full-time whistle went in Seoul on Sunday, the emotions spilled out as Tottenham’s captain appeared for the final time in Spurs colours.
Ben Davies, who named Son as the godfather of his child Ralph, was crying at the departure of his friend. Other team-mates showed their emotions – but even the Spurs media staff cried on the field, ahead of the 33-year-old starting his new adventure at LAFC.
Except Son was not just Tottenham’s captain and leader. “Sonny is Tottenham and Tottenham is Sonny,” said James Maddison before his team-mate’s finale. In a decade at the club, Son wove himself into the hearts of the Spurs: players, staff, supporters – and even rivals.
Firstly, there was Son the player – and he departs the Premier League as one of the all-time greats to grace it from abroad. “One of the best players who has ever played in the Premier League as a winger, in my opinion,” said Thomas Frank as Son announced his departure.
The numbers make it hard to argue with that. If Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne are the two standout Premier League players of the last decade, then Son could make the argument that he is in third or fourth place in that list.
Son even ended his Premier League career with more goal contributions than De Bruyne, who spent exactly the same number of years in England’s top-flight as the South Korean.
And the goals Son scored over the years were memorable too. He scored the first of Spurs’ new era in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against Crystal Palace. His Golden Boot-winning campaign was signed off with a double at Norwich, which saw the home fans give him a standing ovation off the field.
There were also nine north London derby strikes against Arsenal.
In Europe, he scored twice in the opening 10 minutes at Manchester City in a Champions League quarter-final second-leg tie in April 2019. Harry Kane was missing with injury that night, but Son stepped up and Spurs memorably progressed on away goals.
Son’s partnership with Kane was another key factor of the modern Spurs era. The duo hit record-breaking heights in north London.
The Premier League has seen many memorable partnerships down the years. Shearer and Sutton, Henry and Bergkamp, Silva and Aguero, Drogba and Lampard. But none were a better double act than Son and Kane.
The pair combined for 47 Premier League goals, smashing Drogba and Lampard’s record by 11 strikes. Their 14 set-ups for one another in the 2020/21 campaign is also an unmatched Premier League feat.
Were it not for the 32 goals set up by Son, Kane would also not be Spurs’ all-time record goalscorer. It proves how instrumental the South Korean was to the Spurs era, but also to their star striker.
How Kane and Son are remembered at Spurs individually creates some debate. Yes, Kane was the generational goalscorer who fired the team to relative success. But Son will always be remembered as the one who stayed. The one who would later guide the team to the trophy he craved, in this year’s Europa League.
No two players have combined for more Premier League goals than Harry Kane and Son – here’s a look at every time Son set the England captain up
In fact, Son was the only member of the 2019 Champions League final team who was at the club last season. He is the only one out of that team, Mauricio Pochettino included, who delivered a trophy for the club.
Amid rumours over Kane’s future for years, Son never approached the Spurs board asking for a way out himself. He probably had every right, given he scored 40 Premier League goals in the two seasons either side of the summer where Kane was pursued by Manchester City. But his commitment to Spurs always resonated well with the club’s fanbase.
‘He’s nice, so nice’
It brings us on to the next part of Son’s legacy that leaves with him. The human being.
Son always had a humility about him right from when he entered Spurs. The winger initially suffered from homesickness upon arriving in England. “He struggled to settle,” said Pochettino back in 2016.
Here are our picks of Son’s best Premier League goals as he reached the landmark of 100 goals in the competition
The close friendships he forged with the likes of Davies, Dele Alli and defender Kevin Wimmer helped him pull through, and the role of Pochettino was important too.
Son’s first full season in England did not fare well, so much so that the South Korean asked to leave in the summer of 2016.
Pochettino responded by putting Son in the team for the 2016/17 campaign, with Son immediately paying back the trust. He fired Spurs to their best start to a season in 50, before helping them finish as runners-up that term.
“I’m impressed with him as a man as well as a footballer,” added Pochettino. “He’s a very nice person and how he works is impressive.” Others in the media would find that out too.
Any interview with Son would see the South Korean always shake the hands of every person in the room. He always seemed to understand the sacrifices people made to meet him. Even at his arrival in Los Angeles this week, Son spent more than an hour signing autographs.
Hundreds of fans gathered to say farewell to Son as he departed South Korea for Los Angeles ahead of his expected move to LAFC
There was also the story of when Son first came to England and saw a neighbour was throwing a family birthday party. He turned up to introduce himself – and he would then forge close relationships with those who lived around him, no matter their background.
It would be no different when Son replaced Kane as Spurs captain. He would prove to be a sounding board for any new player, his generosity extending to helping others settle in. After all, Son had struggled himself.
“He’s nice, so nice,” said Pape Sarr to Sky Sports during his first season at the club. “Even if I say something wrong [in English], he tries to understand it to put me at ease.
“Since the first day I met him, we got on. We have a good friendship, he helps me a lot and gives advice on the pitch and off it. I appreciate that a lot and he’s one of my favourites in the team.”
But Son would be no more popular than in his native South Korea. The forward’s spell at the club allowed Spurs to tap into the East Asian nation on a commercial level. There, Son is regarded as a rock star.
That was even seen in England, with South Korean flags not only at every single Tottenham game – but a significant number of supporters from the country would even queue outside the club’s training ground on a daily basis, just for a glimpse of their hero.
Spurs may have retrieved the vast majority of the £22m the club paid for him back in 2015, but Son paid off that fee a long time ago. He has left a unique presence on the Spurs squad during his decade at the club.
None more so than being the player to lift the trophy to end the 17-year drought. The perfect ending.
How do Spurs replace Son?
Watch Son announce he will leave Tottenham Hotspur after 10 years at the club. Warning: Flash Photography
While Son’s presence as a leader will take some replacing, how the team fill his goal contributions will be an immediate concern for head coach Thomas Frank.
Even in Son’s final season, which saw him dip in levels for the first time in a Spurs shirt, he still registered 17 goals and assists last term. No Spurs player managed more.
There is a wider context too. Second in that list was James Maddison, who could miss the start of the campaign after being stretchered off in Son’s final game in Seoul against Newcastle. Dejan Kulusevski, who got 15 goal contributions last term, is also working his way back to fitness after knee surgery in May.
Spurs have recruited Mohammed Kudus from West Ham this summer, but the attack will need bolstering even further.
Frank’s interest in a No 10 is evident through the failed pursuit in Morgan Gibbs-White, who was the subject of a £60m approach from the north London club.
The injuries to Maddison and Kulusevski have heightened the need for a player in that position, but will a winger be required to replace Son?
Frank was coy about that out in South Korea, hinting that an internal replacement is more likely through Brennan Johnson, Wilson Odobert or Mathys Tel, who the Dane admitted while on pre-season tour is more of a winger than a striker.
With Cristian Romero set to step in as captain, how Spurs replace Son could be one of the main talking points when they begin a new era under Frank.
Sky Sports to show 215 live PL games from this season
From this season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.
And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games this season are on Sky Sports.
