During a press conference ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s 8/3/2025 preseason match against Newcastle United in South Korea, Son Heung Min confirmed the rumors that had been circulating for some time now – that he would leave Tottenham Hotspur this season. The destination? Not confirmed yet, but LAFC seems to be the frontrunner for now, with some Saudi clubs reported to be interested as well (as is tradition with any world class footballer in their 30s).
Fittingly, five of my friends from all walks of life messaged me verbatim “End of an era” in the last few hours. And yeah… it is. I can’t even put into words how important this man has been for Korean football.
We here at the Tavern have been watching over Son’s career for 26 years now – from his world debut at the 2009 U17 World Cup where he scored a screamer vs Nigeria to his preseason debut for Hamburg SV in the summer of 2010, his KNT debut under Cho Kwang Rae ahead of the 2011 Asian Cup… and all the fame and glory that followed, catapulting Son into the conversation of Korean football GOATs alongside Cha Bum Kun and Park Ji Sung. Had he not won the Europa League there are many who would argue he wouldn’t be in that conversation alongside CBK and PJS but he pulled it off, entering the twilight of his career NOT trophyless.
Just for fun, let’s rewind time and highlight some Son Heung Min moments we captured here at the Tavern. The Tavern was founded in late 2012 at the very tail end of his career at HSV, so that’s where this series will begin. But for those of you who recall that 2009 Nigeria goal, those first preseason goals against Chelsea in 2010, that first Bundesliga goal against Koln, his debut for the KNT vs Syria in 2010 and that first goal against India in the group stages of the 2011 AC… let’s take a moment to appreciate those moments as well.
The “Son Heung Min” shot emerges
Son really doesn’t do this anymore, but for those of you who watched him during his early days you will fondly remember the trademark Son Heung Min shot – a curler from the edge of the box. Left foot, right foot, never mattered. If you gave Son space at the corner of the penalty box, there was a good chance he could produce some serious magic. It was 2012-13 when he earned the nickname “Dortmund killer” – one that would persist throughout his career, scoring 9 goals in 11 games against Dortmund throughout his career at HSV, Leverkusen, and Tottenham. I vividly remember when I was a senior in high school watching both the Dortmund games live – and each time he produced his magic I literally shouted in joy and startled my parents in the kitchen next door. What a time it was…
Bayer Leverkusen:
Son’s time at Bayer Leverkusen was quite successful and set the stage for his later success. It was where he transitioned from a promising Bundesliga prospect at Hamburg SV to a genuinely dangerous attacking talent ready for the Premier League spotlight. His partnership with Kiesling probably also set the stage for his partnership with Harry Kane later down the line. He scored goals in the CL, scored hat tricks, made a real name for himself… but I do remember a lot of issues and controversies. Remember the fallout with Hakan Calhanoglu, who labelled his transfer to Tottenham “ill-advised” (or was it “badly-advised? It was in German) in public? Remember the difficulty of transferring in the first place and how the German media didn’t take well to it at the time? Remember when Leverkusen wouldn’t let him go for the 2014 Asian Games? Son was u23 at the time, and he was a shoo in for the squad. But Leverkusen held him back (reportedly), and the squad ended up winning. Thank the heavens he would eventually win it…
Another thing that really sticks out in my mind is how streaky Son used to be. He was kind of like Hwang Hee Chan today – he would go several games playing really poorly, followed by several games where he would score a bunch of goals in a row. German media sometimes accused him of going missing in matches and this streaky form – scoring hat‑tricks or braces and then going several games quiet – led to criticism that he wasn’t reliable enough for a Champions League club. IIRC even in his early days at Tottenham he was a bit streaky too.
The first hat-trick
This is a core memory for me and I can play the scenes over and over in my head. It’s November 2013 – I am tired of studying for my freshman organic chemistry class in the basement cubicles of Bass Library at Yale University so I decide to turn on the Hamburg match to watch Son play for the first time against his childhood club. This game was wild. In classic Bundesliga fashion, Bayer wins 5-3 with some sweet goals from Son. One of those goals, prior captain Heiko Westermann tries to slide tackle to intercept Son’s goal – and hits his head on the crossbar. I really felt bad for HSV then as they were close to the relegation zone.
The other high scoring game that really sticks out during Son’s Bundesliga days is that 5-4 loss to Wolfsburg when Bas Dost scored 4 and Son scored 3. A younger Kevin de Bruyne was playing for Wolfsburg back then – SHM and KDB exchanged jerseys that day.
How to best utilize Son Heung Min on the KNT:
Even way back in 2014, we were trying to figure out what Son’s best position is and how to best replicate his club form for the KNT. This has been the subject of so many articles on the Tavern I can’t post them all here. I would argue that to this day, we NEVER figured out how to use Son, outside of “draw all the opposing defenders so our other players have more space” – not that we ever capitalized on that though! To this day I wonder what would’ve happened if we just him as a one man counterattacking machine. But for most of his career, Son was the best at the team at creating chances as well as scoring goals, which led him to drop deeper than he probably should be. This started to change as Lee Kang In entered the KNT picture, finally freeing up Son a bit more and leaving the passing and the creating to someone else.
The fateful transfer to Tottenham:
At the time it seems some of us were a bit apprehensive, having just seen what happened to Park Chu Young at Arsenal.
We have mixed feelings about this. SHM seriously needs a new challenge and seems to have gotten complacent over at Leverkusen. People have also suggested that he fits Pocchetino’s system better than Roger Schmidt’s. You may say that Leverkusen = CL and Tottenham = EL but Leverkusen has a good chance of falling down to EL. Now, competition could be a problem for SHM, but considering his high fee I’m fairly confident SHM will feature. Moreover the current Tottenham wingers are Chadli and Dembele, the latter of whom can play literally anywhere.
Perhaps we were right to be a bit anxious initially given that he did have a slightly difficult first season in which he almost moved back to the Bundesliga, but what a decision it turned out to be NOT to move.
All the Asian Cup, World Cup, and other tourney heartbreaks: “Crybaby” is born
Bit of a disappointing thread this one… Son famously has a habit of crying on national television. Like he does it ALL THE TIME, sparking debates on mental fortitude, whether the captain should be doing this, etc. It’s pretty much after every single major loss. I’m sure I’m missing a few but just off the top of my head:
- 2011 Asian Cup loss to Japan – still salty
- 2014 World Cup – after both Algeria and Belgium
- 2015 Asian Cup – heartbreaker, losing after he gave us a lifeline
- 2016 Rio Olympics – our squad was one of the strongest on paper since we actually care about U23 exemption providing tournaments. And somehow we lost to Honduras really pitifully
- 2018 World Cup – cried while celebrating that Germany win. Famous shot of then-president Moon Jae In consoling a sobbing SHM
- 2018 Asian Games – tears of joy this time as we actually won something
- 2019 Asian Cup – somehow eliminated against eventual winners Qatar
- 2019 Champions League finals loss vs Liverpool
- 2022 World Cup – cried after the loss to Brazil in the RO16
- 2025 Asian Games – cried after the loss to Jordan of all teams (ugh)
- The press conference above
Spurs Glory: Golden Boot, Europa League Win
Two incredible and truly historic moments for Korean football and for Tottenham Hotspur as a club. The Tavern lights were out back in 2021 (and I was too busy with life the past few months) and I’m sure this is fresh in everyone’s minds, so I won’t go too far into this for now.
Future KNT records?
Son will probably continue to be called up the KNT until he retires out of his own accord. What lies ahead for him? For starters, there is the 2026 World Cup. Maybe he won’t be in his prime next summer, but barring injury he is still a shoo in for the squad at least as we are going through quite the generational shift in the wide forward / winger department. And if the rumors are true and he ends up in LA… home field advantage maybe? After that there’s the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia. Will he continue to play until he’s 35 to chase continental glory for the first time since 1960? Or will he retire after an Asian Cup like Park Ji Sung?
Finally there are the individual records. Son is just 2 appearances shy of equaling Cha Bum Kun and Hong Myung Bo for most appearances for the Korean National Football team. No problem there. What might be slightly harder is the 7 goals he needs to tie CBK for KNT top ever goalscorer. Will there be enough friendlies and tournaments for him to get there? This time, he will be hoping not to end up as co-top scorer.
I had written a bit of a sentimental paragraph here initially but our man isn’t retiring so I’ll save the thank yous and the feels for later. We will continue to update the Tavern with this ongoing story, and stay tuned for a big Korea vs Japan comparison video inspired by Lee Chun Soo and Park Joo Ho’s YT videos (spoiler alert: we are doing everything wrong, and they are doing a lot of things right) and perhaps a 2025-2026 season preview post after that.
My God, all these years have flown by in the blink of an eye… What a story and memories. I’ve learned so much about him thanks to this website. I even remember the day I found out about Son’s transfer to Spurs here. It’s a pity that news is posted so rarely. But I still visit the site regularly, hoping to see a new updates. Please don’t shut down.
Time really does fly! And do not worry – the Tavern will never shut down under my watch. We explain everything here. https://www.taegukwarriors.com/jinseoks-story/
Thank you Son, thank you Jinseok and the Tavern for a whirlwind of memories and excellent coverage of Son’s career the past 10+ years!!
I have to admit I got emotional , too emotional to make any original thoughts other than reposting tributes to Son. He’s one of the foundational players we looked to as a future KNT star. He did not disappoint. I may still weigh in, but currently recovering from Achilles heel surgery (on my right, the left ruptured in 2022 – all from playing football of course), so maybe after the pain and meds wears off…until then, a very belated thank you to Sonny for all the memories in Germany, England and of course for Korea. 감사합니다 and all the best to new adventures in LA
The old tavern owner
Roy you (and Tim and Jae and anyone else on the Tavern) gotta come out here to LA like this season with your Tavern gear and we can match on the way to watch SHM