Son blazing a trail after Rio despair
SON HEUNG-MIN admits he was ready to leave Tottenham this summer after struggling to establish himself in the Premier League.
However, Olympic heartbreak for the South Korea forward helped focus his mind.
And Spurs head coach Mauricio Pochettino described the 24-year-old as “on fire” after he followed up his brace against Middlesbrough on Saturday by scoring the winner at CSKA Moscow on Tuesday to get their Champions League campaign back on track. Son was a £22million arrival from Bayer Leverkusen in August last year, making him the most expensive Asian player in football history.
However, more than half of his 28 Premier League appearances came from the bench and Son asked Pochettino for permission to return to Germany in the summer in search of more game time.
A deal was all but agreed with Wolfsburg but, after Son led Korea in an impressive Olympic football campaign – topping their group only to lose to a breakaway Honduras goal in the quarter-finals, just shy of the medal rounds – he vowed to knuckle down and try to make a go of it for the remainder of his five-year contract.
Son said: “I am very happy to hear these words ‘on fire’. I don’t know what to say. I try my best and I want to help my team-mates every game as my team-mates really help me a lot.
“I can’t say I’m going to score for sure, but I try as an offensive player to score and score winning goals.
“It was true I wanted to leave, but I don’t have to say anything anymore.
“I want to play every game, this is normal. Every player is the same. I’m really happy to stay here and play in the Premier League and Champions League.
“For every player it is a dream to play in the Premier League and Champions League. It is a dream come true.”
Son points to the Olympics in Rio as something of a turning point. “After the Olympics I was very upset,” he said. “I was really down because I played for my country and wanted to get some medals for my country.
“For six months I was concentrating there but after the Olympics I thought, ‘Now I have to focus on the season’.
“It was not easy but everyone, my family, my team-mates, they all helped me a lot and made me stronger than before.
“I had pre-season and I felt really fit. We played four games at the Olympics so I feel very fit.
“I am in great form and have made a great start but I have to keep working hard so I finish like this.”
It has all made me stronger