Son Heung-min admits he told Pochettino he wanted to leave after first season

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Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min has reflected on attempting to leave the club.

Tottenham Hotspur attacker Son Heung-min has told Spox that Mauricio Pochettino was the right manager for him when he wanted to leave the club in 2016.

Spurs swooped to sign Son in 2015, paying £22million to sign him after seeing him score 17 goals for Bayer Leverkusen in the 2014-15 season (Guardian).

Son started perfectly with a debut goal against Crystal Palace, but largely blew hot and cold in his first season with Tottenham, leading to speculation about his future.

The Telegraph reported in May 2016 that Tottenham were ready to sell Son if they could get their money back, but Pochettino convinced him to snub a return to Germany and stay put in North London.

Spurs will now be delighted that they kept the South Korean star. Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Son has smashed a staggering 61 goals and 34 assists for Tottenham.

Son is almost indispensable for Tottenham now, and his importance is represented by the face that he is now their third-highest earner on £140,000-a-week (Spotrac), and he has reflected on that urge to leave the club more than three years ago.

Son has admitted that he struggled to adapt from German football to the Premier League, and when he became frustrated with his role, he wanted to go back to the familiarity of the Bundesliga.

However, he noted that Pochettino wanted him to stay, and the talks over his future went so well that he decided to stay, and knew that Pochettino was the right coach for him in his difficult situaton.

“The Premier League is different. I do not want to compare this with the Bundesliga, because the Bundesliga has great quality. But in the Premier League everything goes faster and is much more physical,” said Son. “At the beginning I played from time to time and also scored some goals. Unfortunately I injured myself and it was difficult to find a connection again.”

“I did not get any more playing time and wanted to go back to Germany because I felt very comfortable there. But the coach has always encouraged me. He was the right coach for me in this situation.  I said I’d like to leave the club, but he really wanted me to get stay at Tottenham. He gave me new self-confidence. The talks went so well that I pushed my thoughts of change aside,” he added.