Having spent the past 10 years with Tottenham Hotspur, South Korean icon Son Heung-min is leaving the Premier League club with his legacy fully secured.
Son announced his decision to leave at a press conference in Seoul on Saturday, the eve of Tottenham's preseason match against Newcastle United at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
Entering the final year of his deal with Spurs, Son has been in the transfer rumor mill for weeks. And with what the player himself described as "one of the toughest decisions of my football career," Son is going away from a club where he blossomed into a lethal goal scorer and a respected leader.
Son started his club career in Germany, making his senior debut with Hamburger SV in 2010 as an 18-year-old. He went on to play for Bayer Leverkusen and logged one match with them in the 2015-2016 season before taking his talent to London and joining Tottenham.
He scored just four times in 28 league matches in his first season there but then reeled off eight consecutive seasons of double-digit goals, highlighted by his Golden Boot campaign in 2021-2022.
Son tied Mohamed Salah of Liverpool for the Premier League lead with 23 goals to become the first Asian player to top the Premiership in scoring.
Even last season, when he was limited to seven goals in 30 league matches, Son still finished with 11 goals in 46 matches in all competitions.
Son also scored some memorable goals along the way, including his wonder goal against Burnley in December 2019 that was chosen as the 2019-2020 Premier League Goal of the Season and the winner of the FIFA Puskas Award as the best goal in all football.
He has also earned Premier League Player of the Month awards four times. But team success had been elusive until Son captained Spurs to the UEFA Europa League title in May for his first career trophy and his club's first title in 17 years. According to Spurs, Son is one of 13 players to lift a trophy as Tottenham captain.
Son ranks fifth in Tottenham's all-time list with 173 goals in all competitions, and he is the seventh player in club history with at least 450 appearances, after reaching 454 last season.
At Saturday's presser, Son reflected on his journey, going from "a kid who didn't even speak English" to "a grown man."
"Beautiful club, beautiful fans, having amazing memories. After all that, leaving this club is so hard," Son said. "I just felt like I needed a new environment to push myself, to get more out of myself."
Long known for his modesty, Son has appeared uncomfortable at times with the "legend" label. But in celebrating the Europa League title, Son told a televised interview that he could call himself "a legend of this club," at least for that one night.
Accolades and gaudy statistics suggest Son can be considered the Spurs legend for a long time. Even his new head coach, Thomas Frank, called Son "a truly Spurs legend in every aspect" after spending "10 amazing years."
The coach said while it's never easy to find the perfect timing for a departure such as this, Son is "going out on a high" after winning the Europa League title and having served as "a key player for many seasons."
Son did not say where he is headed next because he felt like this wasn't the occasion for that. But he at least hinted that rumors linking him to Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer of the United States may turn out to be true.
The United States will co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup with Canada and Mexico. Son said it may end up being his final World Cup, and he wants to prepare for it the best he can. Playing his club football in North America, instead of Europe, could help with Son's preparation. And with a sizable Korean community, Los Angeles appears to be a logical landing spot for Son for reasons beyond football.
"The World Cup is going to be important. I want to be in an environment where I will be able to pour my everything into it," Son said. "I want to end up in a place where I will feel happy playing football." (Yonhap)
