Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min fired South Korea into the knockout stages of the Asian Games.
Tottenham Hotspur may have got off to the perfect start to the new Premier League season with two wins from two games, but boss Mauricio Pochettino would no doubt love to have Son Heung-min available for the trip to Manchester United.
Spurs have seen the winger head off to Indonesia for the Asian Games, meaning that his cameo against Newcastle United was his last performance for Tottenham for a little while.
Son missed the 3-1 win over Fulham on Saturday, as he featured in South Korea’s 6-0 win over Bahrain last Wednesday, and then the shock 2-1 defeat to Malaysia on Friday.
That left South Korea needing to beat Kyrgyzstan to advance into the knockout stages, and captain Son took matters into his own hands by scoring a 63rd minute winner in an unconvincing 1-0 victory.
That means that South Korea will now face Iran in the knockout stages on Thursday, and Tottenham will be closely monitoring his situation ahead of their trip to Manchester United next Monday.
If South Korea lose to Iran, it’s feasible that Son could be back in the UK in time to be a part of Mauricio Pochettino’s squad at Old Trafford, as much as he’d rather give Son time after his travelling.
The downside to a South Korea defeat would be that Son would then be forced to go through mandatory military service within the next two years, and Spurs would be left to worry about his departure.
Son may point to ex-Arsenal striker Park Chu-young being allowed to delay his military service until 2022 due to residing in Europe as one way to get out of his duties, but winning a gold medal at the Asian Games would put an end to this particular problem – even if Spurs may want to have him back for the trip to United.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
