‘Like being with a rock star’ – departing Son’s 10 years at Spurs

“I’m not sure we’ll see another Sonny at Tottenham”, Kevin Wimmer, Son Heung-min’s close friend and former Spurs team-mate, tells BBC Sport.

In this day and age, it is a very special achievement to spend ten years with one club, especially one that is as big as Spurs.

After 454 appearances and 173 goals, Son is moving to pastures new a decade after Mauricio Pochettino brought him to north London from Bayer Leverkusen.

When the then-23-year-old signed for the Premier League in 2015 for reportedly worth £22.5 million, the South Korean international was the most expensive of its kind.

Now aged 33, Son leaves three months after writing his name in Spurs folklore by helping the team to victory over Manchester United in the Europa League final to end the club’s 17-year wait for a major trophy.

Micky Hazard, a 1982 FA Cup and Uefa Cup winner with Spurs, says, “We love players who give so much to this club.”

“Sonny will always be worshipped in these parts”.

Son will be remembered by Spurs fans for his blistering pace and memorable moments, like his incredible solo goal in 2019 against Tottenham when they were too quick for them as he ran all the way from the edge of their own penalty area, avoiding tackle after tackle, before slotging past Nick Pope.

Off it, he will be remembered by team-mates for his incredible gestures.

Son paid the price by hosting the Tottenham team for a Korean barbecue in 2022 during the pre-season tour of South Korea, before handing the entire traveling party personal presents to mark their visit to his home country.

“When he first arrived, I didn’t know much about him”, Hazard tells BBC Sport.

Before Pochettino’s signing at Tottenham and beginning a 10-year love affair with the Spurs, Son had already rejected the Argentine.

In 2013, Pochettino had just taken charge of Southampton when he met with the then 20-year-old – who was already making a name for himself with Hamburg – his father, Son Woong-jung, and his agent.

Son tried to persuade Pochettino that Saints, which was then in the Premier League, would be the best place for him to pursue his football education, but he abandoned him and moved to Bayer Leverkusen, where he spent two years before finally collaborating with Pochettino, who had been appointed Spurs manager 15 months prior.

Yet he struggled to settle in his early days in London and asked to leave less than a year into a five-year contract before deciding to stay and fight for his place.

Son departs with a Europa League winners’ medal and a slew of individual prizes, including the 2021-22 Premier League Golden Boot, which he shared with Mohamed Salah from Liverpool after scoring 23 goals, and the Fifa Puskas award (presented to the scorer of the “most beautiful” goal of the calendar year) for that run and finish against Burnley in 2019.

In 2019, he apologised for his tackle on Andre Gomes which left the Everton midfielder with a horrific ankle injury and which resulted in the visibly upset Son being sent off.

Nevertheless, each award has kept coming in.

Four Premier League player of the month prizes, two-time winner of goal of the month, three-time Tottenham player of the year… the list goes on.

Spurs supporters have warmed to Son’s “Mr. Nice Guy” image off the pitch because he is a fierce competitor.

After Tottenham defeated West Ham in the EFL Cup in 2021, a young fan managed to get on the pitch and ran towards the player before being surrounded by stewards.

Hunderts of fans gathered at Incheon Airport in surprise as Son suddenly appeared to welcome his team-mates as they arrived in the South Korean capital Seoul for a pre-season tour three years ago.

The player, who was already in South Korea on holiday, held up a ‘ Welcome to Seoul ‘ sign with the Spurs badge on it and waved to his team-mates as they made their way out of the arrivals terminal.

Sungmo Lee, a journalist and author about South Korea’s football, claims to be at Incheon Airport that day.

Son is big news in South Korea.

That’s not entirely true, in fact. Son is huge news.

Son is almost always in the top three along with other top K-pop stars like BTS and Blackpink, according to Sungmo Lee, who has been studied on who has the highest brand value among all South Koreans.

“One of the reasons for that is South Korean people regard him as the national treasure and pride of the country”.

A Son icon appears above the scoreboard to indicate that he is participating in one of the country’s live broadcasts of Tottenham matches, in addition to regular television programs that are simply compilations of Son’s best goals and assists.

His face beams from giant billboards advertising anything from clothes to ice cream, and Son’s picture has also appeared on the side of the capital’s buses promoting tourism.

A massive mural in Son’s honorarium has been constructed in Chuncheon, a city that the player and his family call home and is located about 50 miles from Seoul.

England right-back Kyle Walker, who played for Tottenham between 2009-2017, recalls a promotional visit to Seoul with Son soon after Spurs finished runners-up to Premier League champions Chelsea at the end of 2016-17.

“I’ve never seen anything like it”, Walker, who spent eight years in north London before joining Manchester City in 2017, said on his ‘ You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker ‘ podcast.

Because fans would try to stop the traffic, we would make an appearance and then we would have to drive away using decoy vehicles. They all wanted to catch a glimpse of Sonny.

They would return to our hotel and spend the night outside. It was incredible.

Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, and David Beckham have all been in on it before, to a certain extent. But it was nothing compared to Sonny”.

Wimmer described it as “being in the company of a rock star,” adding that Son has kept in touch with him since he left Spurs in 2017.

“I was always joking with him about this”, he says.

“You are the most famous guy in South Korea,” I told him, but he responded, “No, no, it’s not so special.”

Former Austria defender Wimmer had arrived at White Hart Lane from Cologne in the summer of 2015, three months before Son.

Wimmer goes on to say that “I knew of him because, like me, he was playing in the Bundesliga.”

The pair struck up an instant friendship in London.

They used to converse German together when they first got better at Tottenham.

After a win at Southampton in 2016, Son and Wimmer interviewed one another – in English – for Spurs TV.

Why is Kevin my best friend, Kevin? asks Son.

Wimmer responds, “Because you are a wonderful, trustworthy person. It’s always funny with you and I hope we stay together for many more years here”.

In the space of two years Spurs have lost Harry Kane – their all-time top scorer with 280 goals in 435 appearances – and now Son.

Son scored 17 goals and added 10 assists in 35 Premier League games to help Spurs finish fifth overall at 2023-24 following Kane’s departure to Bayern Munich in August 2023.

However, Son scored just seven goals and provided nine assists in his 30 Premier League appearances in 2024-25. Additionally, he was limited to making the Europa League final in the 67th minute due to an injury-related injury-hit season.

Four days after beating Manchester United in a European final, great names from Tottenham’s past formed a guard of honour for soon-to-depart manager Ange Postecoglou’s side before the home game with Brighton on the final day of the season.

Along with Hazard, Ossie Ardiles, Pat Jennings, Keith Burkinshaw, and Martin Chivers were also present on the field.

“Sonny came up to each and every one of us, shook our hands, and said: ‘ Now I’m a legend'”, adds former Spurs midfielder Hazard.

“Despite everything he accomplished during his ten years at Spurs, he never believed he could be a legend until he won a trophy. I think there is something special about that, something beautiful. It encompasses all of his character.

Wimmer, who now plays for Slovan Bratislava in Slovakia, messaged his friend immediately after the final in Bilbao to congratulate him on helping Spurs win a first major European trophy since 1984.

Spurs are supported by 12 million – almost one in four – South Koreans, according to research commissioned by AIA, the Asia-based insurance firm which is the club’s shirt-front sponsor.

Sungmo Lee asserts that “son is a pride of the whole country.”

“He already proved himself to win the Golden Boot in the Premier League, which was regarded as impossible for an Asian player”.

Son’s 2020 trip to his native country for mandatory national service made headlines.

The player spent three weeks with the South Korean Military Corps, where he finished among the top five performers.

Will Son’s departure hit Tottenham’s revenue streams?

Up to 700 Son shirts are sold at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on matchdays, which is the highest number of any player, as a result of the increasing number of fans visiting South Korea to see their hero in action.

“They tend to be wealthy fans with disposable income”, football finance expert Kieran Maguire tells BBC Sport. They come away with two carrier bags full of items with Son’s name on the back, according to the statement “they don’t just buy one Son shirt.”

Maguire believes there could be a “small” impact on Tottenham’s finances now Son has announced he is leaving.

The difference between finishing 16th and 17th in the table (Spurs finished 17th last season) is $3.5 million, though it will be a blow to Spurs fans in terms of memories because Son has been a magnificent player for them.

” Over the course of the season, that’s more important than shirt sales from one player. “

What does Son’s future hold, as he enters advanced negotiations with Los Angeles FC for Major League Soccer?

” On several occasions, including his interview with the Korean media in 2024, he has said he won’t be a football manager and won’t be staying in football after his retirement, “adds Sungmo Lee.

He added that, for that reason, he wants to keep playing football for as long as possible.

Whatever he decides to do when he stops playing, Son’s memory will live on at Tottenham and beyond.