Heung-min Son: Tottenham’s number seven

As the number 7 appeared on the board and drew the curtain on Heung Min Son’s time in North London, tens of thousands of fans rose to applaud the man who gave his career for Spurs.

Amongst them stood Son Woong-Jung, with a grin that could only belong to a proud father who had seen his son achieve greatness in a Tottenham shirt. The stories of Heung Min Son and his hard-line father are widely publicised, but the one that always stands out is that after a particularly poor performance in his youth, Son had to stay outside for hours practising his juggling.

It is a story that epitomises his time at Spurs a story of relentless hard work.

Son, after a slow start, turned into a revelation for The Lilywhites

Heung Min Son joined Spurs for £22 million on August 28 2015 from Bayer Leverkusen. Things could have been so different; Spurs had two offers for Burundian forward Saido Berahino rejected before turning to the South Korean. He has since scored 173 goals in 454 games – the board must be eternally thankful that they made the right decision in the end.

Son, after a slow start, turned into a revelation for The Lilywhites. Between 2016 and 2024, there was not a single season in which Son failed to register over 10 goals. His most notable campaign was scoring 23 goals and seven assists in 2021/2022, sharing the golden boot with Mohamed Salah.

Following Kane’s departure, Son stepped up to the plate as captain. Whilst there certainly was a drop-off in performance, only achieving a seven goal tally (his lowest in nine years), Son’s leadership, especially for a young, inexperienced Spurs team, was invaluable. In every sense, he was the perfect professional.

Son will be remembered for his mazy runs, blistering pace, and sharp finishing

As age began to take its toll, he understood his role had changed from goal-scorer and game-winner to a different type of leader. It may not have been a Son touch to win the Europa League final, but he undoubtedly played an important role behind the scenes, coming on late to see the game out and safeguard success.

Son will be remembered for his mazy runs, blistering pace, and sharp finishing. One of the few wingers who felt just as comfortable cutting in on his weaker right foot as he did hitting the byline and delivering searching crosses on his left. His Puskás-winning goal in 2019, where he took the ball around half of Burnley’s defence before slotting it calmly past the keeper, was the perfect example of everything Son’s game had to offer.

However, despite his brilliance, Heung Min Son’s departure from Spurs does not affect how Tottenham will play. By the end of 2024/2025, Son had already begun to take a back seat. With the arrival of Kudus, it looks like Spurs will set up with Brennan Johnson on the left and Kudus on the right. What Spurs lose is experience, and Thomas Frank will need to find a player to fill the vacant role of captain.