Son makes emotional Spurs farewell – how much will they miss him?

Son Heung-min bids his final match of his Tottenham career in front of his adoring home fans in Seoul by way of an emotional farewell.

When he was substituted in the 65th minute, his Spurs team-mates and the opposing Newcastle players performed a guard of honor at his embrace.

The 33-year-old Son was greeted off the field by the backroom staff and substitutes after Ben Davies had given him the captain’s armband, and he rested his head in his hands as he fought back tears.

Eddie Howe, manager of Newcastle, said: “My players instinctively responded.

That speaks for himself. Not just his talent, but also how he has managed to succeed throughout his career.

At the Seoul World Cup Stadium, the pre-season friendly ended 1-1.

Son said, “I didn’t initially believe I was going to cry.”

“But leaving the club I’ve spent so much time with felt really tough after hearing a few words from my teammates.”

“It was a really, really happy match,” I said. I had a memorable day thanks to my fans, my teammates, and also my opponents.

James Maddison, who had only been playing for ten minutes, was taken off on a stretcher, which raised questions about his injury, according to new Tottenham manager Thomas Frank.

According to Frank, “Sometimes things in life and football can be both beautiful and brutal.”

“That’s what we have today,” the statement read. Maddison appears to have suffered a bad injury, but Son’s teammates’ unbelievable scenes and the players’ respect show up on the other side.

He was emotional when the team-mates gathered around and then we had the walkaround.

Son joined Spurs from Bayer Leverkusen for about £22 million in 2015, making him the most expensive Asian signing in Premier League history.

He was a legend at Spurs, who won the Europa League match against Manchester United to put an end to their 17-year search for a trophy in May.

Son is engaged in discussions with Los Angeles FC’s Major League Soccer (MLS) team in advanced.

After the game, Frank claimed that it was “very likely Sonny’s last game because]a move is] very close” and that saying goodbye in South Korea would “provide a beautiful ending” for Son.

Spurs will play Bayern Munich on Thursday in Germany, and they will also face Paris St-Germain in the Uefa Super Cup the following week.

Every time Son touched the ball, the eager Seoul crowd erupted in joy.

After scoring from the penalty area from the edge of the penalty area in the fourth minute, Son paid tribute to him by replicating his celebration, which he mimicked taking a photo.

Son’s stats speak for themselves: he scored 173 goals in 454 games, which is the highest total for Spurs, and he added 101 assists, which is his 16th-highest total in the history of the competition.

He also ranks seventh among Spurs’ 71 Premier League assists, and he became the first Asian player to achieve the award, which he scored 23 goals in addition to Mohamed Salah at Liverpool.

Son added 17 goals and added 10 assists to his league team’s 35 games the following season when Harry Kane, Spurs’ top scorer, moved to Bayern Munich in 2023.

Son, the club’s three-time all-star player of the year, was the first player to score twice in league goals last year as Spurs moved one place above the relegation zone.

Son’s influence should not be only measured by goals, though.

His best return to date came from having 0.38 assists per 90 minutes last season, which was his fifth-highest total in the league last season for players who played for more than a thousand minutes.

The statistics that illustrate his impact on the rest of the team are perhaps the most interesting.

Spurs won 42% of the 24 league games Son started in 2024-25, compared to 7% without him, and 13 of those games were lost to their captain.