Son Heung-min to play one more year for Tottenham

With Korean football player Son Heung-min continuing to play for Tottenham in the English Premier League (EPL) for another year, there are growing expectations of Son playing alongside ‘newcomer’ Yang Min-hyuk.

On Tuesday, Tottenham posted a video of Son and Yang training together on Instagram. The video showed Son approaching Yang, who was lying on a mat in the indoor training center and sitting beside him to do stretching. Son also gave a friendly pat on Yang’s head during training.

The 19-year-old, who played for Gangwon in the K League 1 (first division) of Korean professional soccer last year and became the first high school student to receive the Young Player Award, joined Tottenham in December last year. Son recently commented in an interview with the British media ‘Hayters TV’ that he will help Yang adjust well. Son mainly plays as a left-wing striker, while Yang’s main position is right-side striker. The two players may play in the same match, depending on Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou’s decision.

Son, who will continue to play for Tottenham after the club exercises its one-year contract extension option, posted that he was "happy to stay at Tottenham for another year." He joined Tottenham in August 2015 and will have played for Tottenham for 11 years by next year. Son expressed his determination to do his best to raise the team's ranking, which has recently been slowing. As of Tuesday, Tottenham ranked 12th among 20 EPL clubs. “(Our team) needs to kick off the ground and rise again,” said Son at a press conference held a day before the first leg of the English Football League Cup (Carabao Cup) semi-final against Liverpool. “Son Heung-min’s goal will be to finish his Tottenham career with a trophy,” said manager Postecoglou. Son has yet to win a title at Tottenham.


Yun-Cheol Jeong trigger@donga.com