Manchester United legend says Son may be ‘best Asian ever’

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Manchester United legend says Son may be ‘best Asian ever’

Korean football legend Park Ji-sung believes that Son Heung-min could one day become the “best Asian footballer ever.”

In an interview with Goal.com, the former Manchester United midfielder praised Tottenham Hotspur’s Son, saying that he “is giving hope to all Asian players and fans.”

“He is doing an excellent job at the moment for sure,” said Park, who used to be the best Korean footballer to play in the English Premier League before Son took the title. “He is developing season by season and he makes the fans to expect even more for the next season.”

Park, who played for Manchester United between 2005 and 2012, particularly noted Son’s performance against Manchester City, the traditional rivals of United.

“Personally, I never scored a goal against Man City and I felt thanks to Son because Man City lost the game,” Park said. “The goals from Son were very much like himself. He was absolutely brilliant.”

Son was responsible for three of the four goals Spurs scored against Manchester United to earn their spot in the Champions League final against Liverpool on Saturday.

But despite his praise for Son, Park does not believe that the young Spurs forward deserves the title of the best Asian player of all time - at least not yet.

“For me, it’s not me, not him, but Cha Bum-kun,” Park said. “We need to wait and see whether Son can surpass Cha in the future. Personally, I hope Son can go even further than Cha because it would mean South Korea keeps producing the best Asian players. For that, I hope Son to get the title of ‘best Asian player ever’ in the future.”

Cha, nicknamed Tscha Bum, spent 11 seasons in the top German league with three clubs and still holds the record for most career goals by a Korean player in Europe with 121.

With 21 goals during the 2016-2017 season, Son broke Cha’s record for most goals by a Korean in a European season by two.

Cha has long been considered the greatest Korean football player, but a Realmeter poll last night found that 51.5 percent of Koreans over the age of 19 thought the title now belonged to Son, while 30.5 percent picked Cha.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]
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