After joining Spurs from Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen for £22million in the days leading up to deadline day, Son Heung-min arrived with arrived with a reputation as one of the best attackers in Germany.
Article by Nathan Flint @nathflint
Since the turn of the year, things have been a little different. The emergence of Dele Alli combined with Erik Lamela’s superb form this season have restricted Son’s first-team opportunities. He scored just one goal in 16 appearances (9 of which were starts) up to mid-March when he netted a consolation goal in the home defeat to Dortmund.
Thirty-three league goals in ninety-four appearances for Hamburg and Leverkusen (averaging a goal every three games over a three-year period) was enough to convince Spurs that Son was worth the money. But has the South Korean international done enough in his first season to convince the fans that he’s worth his place at the club?
A quick look at social media would suggest that opinion is split. Since today’s fans tend to be very impatient (which is understandable given that ticket prices continue to rise - but that’s another story) anything less than an immediate impact from a new signing will inevitably result in some getting on their back.
Son picked a foot injury (his first injury of any kind for almost three years) less than two weeks after making his Spurs debut, ruling him out for over a month. After scoring three goals in his first three games for the club – including the equaliser and winner against Qarabag in the Europa League - Son has hit by his first major setback.
His response was excellent – the Asian’s next seven games post-injury saw him assist five goals. Injury aside, the first half of the season was a success for Son as he posted a return of 4 goals and 5 assists, culminating in a clever flicked winner against Watford in the last game of 2015.
Since the turn of the year, things have been a little different. The emergence of Dele Alli combined with Erik Lamela’s superb form this season have restricted Son’s first-team opportunities. He scored just one goal in 16 appearances (9 of which were starts) up to mid-March when he netted a consolation goal in the home defeat to Dortmund.
His spell out of the team has continued, with just 202 minutes of football in April and May. A return to the first-team was only prompted by Dele Alli’s naivety when the youngster was suspended for the remainder of the season after ‘punching’ Claudio Yacob in a 1-1 draw at Home to West Brom. Son has taken his chance with two goals in his last two games.
When you consider the intense competition as well as Son’s lack of first-team opportunities in the second half of the season, a return of 8 goals and 5 assist in 21 starts in all competitions is impressive.
His four goals in the Premier League make him the fourth top scorer in the squad (alongside Erik Lamela) which is another impressive stat considering he has been limited to a total of 1061 minutes. The four players above him have completed a total of 10,909 minutes – an average of 2727.
In the Europa League his contribution was largely unmatched; his 3 goals put him second in the top scorer list behind Lamela (6), while his 4 assists give him the top ranking in that respect. Son has been involved in 7 of Spurs’ 20 Europa League goals (35%) in 503 minutes on the field, a ratio of 1 goal every 71 minutes.
It’s fair to say that Son has done very well in his first season at White Hart Lane despite injuries and competition limiting his playing time. His contribution can only serve as encouragement for next season, for his manager, the player and the fans.
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Sensible analysis. He has loads of potential. A little patience required. Remember how long Lamela took to "earn his Spurs".
ReplyDeleteok squad player as he's got plenty of energy but that's about it for me... ok he also sells shirts in the far east, which is nice for the money men but I'd rather a player with that something special, like gazza used to have, that's what's needed for the raising of our game for champs league
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