THE GREATEST ASIAN participant of all time. At any time when such GOAT conversations come up, there’s certain to be debate and disagreement.
It is purely subjective and differs relying on a person’s main standards: be it staff success or particular person accolades.
Even so, Son Heung-min does certainly have a superb case in being labelled Asian soccer’s best 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 advised ESPN was an MLS-record switch charge of $26 million.
Even by world requirements, the South Korea captain is a bona fide A-lister.
For the previous decade, he has starred for certainly one of 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 this planet, then Son’s Golden Boot-winning 2021-22 season (which he shared with Mohamed Salah on 23 targets) certainly noticed him attain world-class standing.
Solely in his first and closing seasons with Spurs did he not hit double digits in league targets and, it needs to be remembered, that a lot of these campaigns noticed him play out broad and never as the point of interest in assault, which he solely turned following the departure of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich.
But, if consistency is certainly one of his strongest attributes, his penchant for the spectacular is maybe what has made him an icon within the eyes of his many supporters.
Aim-of-the-season awards litter Son’s trophy cupboard. Loads of long-range screamers and solo efforts that would go away followers nonetheless marveling until at the present time when watching a replay.
One, nonetheless, was ok to even win the FIFA Puskás Award as one of the best purpose throughout the globe in 2020 — a shocking 70-yard cost ranging from simply outdoors his personal penalty space that noticed him depart the complete Burnley staff 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 most likely not essentially the most orthodox of coaching strategies, it definitely honed Son’s now-renowned method and ball management, and likewise instilled in him a sure stage of dedication to his craft.
Tolgay Arslan, an in depth buddy who got here by the ranks with Son at Hamburg, has little doubt in his thoughts that the South Korea captain wouldn’t have gotten this far based mostly on pure potential alone.
“You would see ‘Sonny’ had a very particular reward. He was very proficient [but] you possibly can see many proficient gamers in Europe,” Arslan advised ESPN in an interview final October.
“His father did loads for him. The arduous work, even together with his dad, introduced him — for my part — to a different stage. That is why, perhaps, he is one of the best Asian participant who’s ever performed soccer.
“It is expertise but additionally arduous, arduous 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 have been instantly drawn to compatriot Cha Bum-kun, a trailblazer who gained two UEFA Cups (because the Europa League was beforehand recognized) within the Nineteen Eighties with fellow German golf equipment Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen.
Son would finally comply with Cha’s footsteps in becoming a member of Leverkusen in 2013. Two years later, Tottenham would come a calling and the remaining, as they usually say, is historical past.
THE PREMIER LEAGUE is not all the time type 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 an enormous transfer to the Premier League.
Shinji Kagawa‘s switch to Manchester United, recent from him taking part in a pivotal function 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 closing season on the helm, he was by no means in a position to totally set up himself and was gone even earlier than Son’s arrival.
Many, equivalent to Dong Fangzhuo and Junichi Inamoto, have been deemed pure advertising 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 Metropolis.
Hidetoshi Nakata, the one participant that got here earlier than Son who most likely had the same world profile as an Asian participant, solely moved to Bolton Wanderers at a time when his powers — and curiosity within the skilled recreation — have been waning.
Son endured comparable hurdles in adapting to the Premier League. He netted simply 4 instances in his debut marketing campaign.
With the dedication and dedication to the craft that now embodies what he brings to the pitch, he persevered.
His second season would see him web 14 targets 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 staff success viewpoint, Park Ji-sung could be a preferred various reply — and he’s one which Son has referred to previously 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’d even have been two continental titles given Ferguson’s suspicion that the 2011 closing in opposition to 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 targets 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 closing actual take a look at 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 targets was a males’s file till it was eclipsed by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021.
There are additionally the pioneers like Cha, whose 308 appearances within the Bundesliga was a file as an Asian import that might stand for 30 years.
None of them, nonetheless, can lay declare to being among the many world’s finest gamers at a given cut-off date. Son presumably may.
But, maybe the talk surrounding the best Asian footballer of all time will not be one which must be answered on this dialog.
Amongst some very esteemed friends, it will probably merely be agreed that Son is a legend in his personal proper.
And that’s the shining legacy he will likely be bringing with him to LAFC, and MLS.
