THE GREATEST ASIAN participant of all time. Every time such GOAT conversations come up, there’s sure to be debate and disagreement.
It is purely subjective and differs relying on a person’s main standards: be it crew success or particular person accolades.
Even so, Son Heung-min does certainly have a wonderful case in being labelled Asian soccer’s biggest participant of all time.
On the very least, he is among the main candidates.
And his legend, each in Asia in addition to among the many Tottenham Hotspur devoted, is now headed to America.
Following an emotional Spurs farewell, the subsequent chapter of Son’s profession was confirmed on Wednesday when he accomplished a transfer to LAFC for what sources told ESPN was an MLS-record switch charge of $26 million.
Even by international requirements, the South Korea captain is a bona fide A-lister.
For the previous decade, he has starred for one among England’s, and Europe’s, most outstanding golf equipment — even when it took him till this previous spring to lastly land a primary piece of membership silverware within the type of the Europa League.
If the Premier League is to be acknowledged as essentially the most aggressive home competitors on the planet, then Son’s Golden Boot-winning 2021-22 season (which he shared with Mohamed Salah on 23 objectives) certainly noticed him attain world-class standing.
Solely in his first and last seasons with Spurs did he not hit double digits in league objectives and, it needs to be remembered, that lots of these campaigns noticed him play out huge and never as the focus in assault, which he solely turned following the departure of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich.
But, if consistency is one among his strongest attributes, his penchant for the spectacular is maybe what has made him an icon within the eyes of his many supporters.
Purpose-of-the-season awards litter Son’s trophy cupboard. Loads of long-range screamers and solo efforts that would depart followers nonetheless marveling until today when watching a replay.
One, nonetheless, was adequate to even win the FIFA Puskás Award as one of the best aim throughout the globe in 2020 — a surprising 70-yard cost ranging from simply outdoors his personal penalty space that noticed him go away the complete Burnley crew in his wake earlier than he calmly completed previous the goalkeeper.
Such iconic moments are what LAFC, and MLS, hope Son will convey with him stateside.
SON’S TALENT IS indeniable.
However maybe what actually elevated him to the participant he has turn into is what goes on behind the scenes that few are aware about.
He has recounted how his father, a former participant himself, made him juggle the ball for 4 hours straight in his youth. Whereas in all probability not essentially the most orthodox of coaching strategies, it actually honed Son’s now-renowned method and ball management, and in addition instilled in him a sure degree of dedication to his craft.
Tolgay Arslan, an in depth pal who got here by means of the ranks with Son at Hamburg, has little question in his thoughts that the South Korea captain wouldn’t have gotten this far based mostly on pure capability alone.
“You could possibly see ‘Sonny’ had a extremely particular present. He was very proficient [but] you possibly can see many proficient gamers in Europe,” Arslan instructed ESPN in an interview last October.
“His father did quite a bit for him. The laborious work, even together with his dad, introduced him — for my part — to a different degree. That is why, perhaps, he is one of the best Asian participant who’s ever performed soccer.
“It is expertise but additionally laborious, laborious work.”
The assumption that Son had what it took to succeed professionally would have been a key issue behind his mother and father permitting him to drop out of highschool in Seoul to hitch Hamburg’s academy on the age of 16.
By the point he was 18, Son had impressed sufficient to earn his skilled debut.
Comparisons had been instantly drawn to compatriot Cha Bum-kun, a trailblazer who received two UEFA Cups (because the Europa League was beforehand recognized) within the Eighties with fellow German golf equipment Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen.
Son would finally observe Cha’s footsteps in becoming a member of Leverkusen in 2013. Two years later, Tottenham would come a calling and the remainder, as they typically say, is historical past.
THE PREMIER LEAGUE is not all the time form to new international signings. It may be harsh and unforgiving.
Three summers earlier than Son’s transfer to north London, one other prodigiously proficient Asian prospect had additionally impressed sufficient within the Bundesliga to earn a giant transfer to the Premier League.
Shinji Kagawa‘s switch to Manchester United, contemporary from him taking part in a pivotal position in Borussia Dortmund‘s back-to-back Bundesliga titles below Jürgen Klopp, arguably got here with higher hype. Whereas he did win the Premier League in his first 12 months, which coincided with Sir Alex Ferguson’s last season on the helm, he was by no means in a position to absolutely set up himself and was gone even earlier than Son’s arrival.
Many, comparable to Dong Fangzhuo and Junichi Inamoto, had been deemed pure advertising and marketing strikes. Others toiled away admirably however at less-illustrious golf equipment like Shinji Okazaki, who admittedly did win the Premier League in that fairy story season with Leicester City.
Hidetoshi Nakata, the one participant that got here earlier than Son who in all probability had the same international profile as an Asian participant, solely moved to Bolton Wanderers at a time when his powers — and curiosity within the skilled sport — had been waning.
Son endured comparable hurdles in adapting to the Premier League. He netted simply 4 instances in his debut marketing campaign.
With the willpower and dedication to the craft that now embodies what he brings to the pitch, he persevered.
His second season would see him web 14 objectives within the league and 21 in all competitors. He is by no means seemed again since.
SO WHO TRULY is the best Asian footballer of all time? Is he the one which has simply moved to MLS?
Purely from a crew success viewpoint, Park Ji-sung could be a preferred various reply — and he’s one which Son has referred to prior to now as a job mannequin.
Park’s trophy-laden spell with United noticed him declare 4 Premier League titles, three League Cups and a UEFA Champions League crown. It would even have been two continental titles given Ferguson’s suspicion that the 2011 last towards Barcelona was misplaced as a result of he didn’t change his South Korean nullifier to play on Lionel Messi at halftime — when the tie was nonetheless evenly poised at 1-1.
Nakata didn’t get pleasure from a lot longevity in his profession however, at his peak, he boasted irrefutable high quality. With six rounds to play within the 2000-01 Serie A season, his very good cameo — the place he got here off the bench and performed a hand in each objectives as Roma got here from behind to attract 2-2 with Juventus — successfully secured the Scudetto for the capital membership, because it meant they handed their last actual check within the run house with a six-point benefit nonetheless of their grasp.
Though much less acquainted to many, Iran‘s Ali Daei additionally has a case. The one-time Bayern striker’s tally of 108 worldwide objectives was a males’s report till it was eclipsed by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021.
There are additionally the pioneers like Cha, whose 308 appearances within the Bundesliga was a report as an Asian import that might stand for 30 years.
None of them, nonetheless, can lay declare to being among the many world’s greatest gamers at a given cut-off date. Son probably might.
But, maybe the controversy surrounding the best Asian footballer of all time is just not one which must be answered on this dialog.
Amongst some very esteemed friends, it might merely be agreed that Son is a legend in his personal proper.
And that’s the shining legacy he might be bringing with him to LAFC, and MLS.