'Son Heung-min is not a world-class player yet,' says father

Football

Published: 14 Jun. 2022, 15:26

'Son Heung-min is not a world-class player yet,' says father

Son Woong-jung, right, trains with Son Heung-min in Chuncheon, Gangwon in 2011. [JOONANG ILBO]

"[Son] Heung-min is not a world-class player yet," the Tottenham Hotspur striker's father Son Woong-jung told the JoongAng Ilbo on Saturday.

Son Woong-jung, father of the star footballer and head coach of SON Football Academy, sat down with the JoongAng Ilbo at Son Heung-min Sports Park in Chuncheon, Gangwon on Saturday.

Four years ago, Son Heung-min made headlines after scoring a crucial goal against Germany in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup, eliminating the defending champions and four-time winners from the tournament.

That was the young Son's second goal of the group stage, having already scored one against Mexico in a 2-1 loss. He added on to his already explosive year at the Jakarta Palembang 2018 Asian Games, scoring a goal in a 1-0 group stage win against Kyrgyzstan with Korea eventually winning the Asiad trophy.

But even then, Son Woong-jung said the same thing about his son: "Heung-min is absolutely not a world-class player."

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min holds the Premier League's Golden Boot award after a match against Norwich City at Carrow Road in Norwich, England on May 22. [AP/YONHAP]

Since then, Son Heung-min's footballing career has really taken off and the achievements keep piling on.

This May, Son scored two goals on the final day of the 2021-22 Premier League season to become the first Asian player ever to win the Premier League's Golden Boot. He ended the season with 23 goals, splitting the award with Liverpool's Mo Salah.

As the first Asian footballer to win a Premier League Golden Boot award, Son made Korea the 13th country to provide a winner, after Britain, the Netherlands, France, Argentina, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Bulgaria, Gabon, Portugal, Senegal, Uruguay and Trinidad and Tobago.

In celebration of this achievement, President Yoon Suk-yeol awarded Son Heung-min with the Cheongnyong Medal, Korea's highest sporting honor, on June 2.

All those things might, you would think, persuade anybody that the younger Son is decidedly a world-class player.

But Son Woong-jung has not changed his mind.

"I still don't think any differently," Son Woong-jung said when asked if his opinion on Son Heung-min's world-class status had changed.

"I think the standard of being a world-class player is whether you are able to play an integral role as a starting player in any one of the world's best football clubs. If Heung-min can improve 10 percent in every aspect, then maybe.

"Singers practice aiming for a higher D note to get the right G note. Me and Heung-min, we also try to aim for that 10 percent improvement, we play it out in our heads and try to emulate in real life."

When Son Heung-min flew back to Korea to join the national team two weeks ago, he received a hero's welcome with his Golden Boot in hand. Son was greeted by a crowd of fans and reporters at Incheon International Airport, all congratulating him on his huge success.

Growing up, whenever Son Heung-min brought home a trophy or prize, Son Woong-jung was quick to congratulate him, but equally quick to throw the trophies away in a bid to keep his son grounded and humble.

"The reason I threw away the trophies was because I was afraid he would forget the basics, what made him play football in the first place," said Son Woong-jung. "This time, we brought the Golden Boot back for the fans to enjoy at the airport. It's put away at home."

Son Woong-jung, left, trains with Son Heung-min at Songam Sports Town in Chuncheon, Gangwon on June 19. 2011. [YONHAP]

Son Woong-jung has always reminded Son Heung-min that good always comes with bad, fearful that his son's success would give him a chip on his shoulder.

"I was as afraid as the day he scored his first Bundesliga goal," Son Woong-jung said when asked how he felt the day Son Heung-min became the top scorer in the Premier League.

In 2010, 18-year-old Son Heung-min scored his first Bundesliga goal with Hamburg SV in a match against FC Köln. That night, Son Woong-jung was so worried that Son Heung-min would get too excited that he took away his laptop and hoped that he would somehow forget about the victorious day.

"I always tell him that the all good comes with bad, that every hill has its valley," said Son Woong-jung.

"There can't just be good things in life. To take the example of farming, just because there was a good harvest one year does not guarantee that you will get good crops the next. So on a rich year, its important to prepare for a lean year."

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min, right, and Brighton and Hove Albion's Tariq Lamptey vie for the ball during a Premier League match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on April 16. [AP/YONHAP]

Son Heung-min is not only the top scorer in the Premier League, but also the best two-footed scorer in the league. Son Heung-min has scored a total of 93 goals in the Premier League. Of those 93 goals, 89 were scored with his feet and 38 of those were with his left, meaning that 43 percent of his goals were scored with his non-dominant foot.

In terms of proportion, Son has the highest proportion of goals scored with his weaker foot of all players in the Premier League.

His two-footedness comes from his formative years when he trained with his father. Son Woong-jung, himself a former footballer, trained Son Heung-min and his brother Son Heung-yun to master their basic skills before joining any team. The rigorous regimen involved hours of keep-ups everyday, as well as dribbling, passing, controlling and shooting, all with both feet.

Tottenham's Son Heung-min, left, shares a moment with Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte as he walks off the field during a match against Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London on May 1. [AP/YONHAP]

On May 1, the Spurs forward proved that on the football field scoring two goals in a match against Leicester City. After pulling off the tour-de-force, Son was taken off the field with eight minutes left on the clock with Tottenham coach Antonio Conte seen embracing the double scorer and asking him something.

Later, Conte revealed in a post-match interview that he had asked Son Heung-min, "Which is your favorite foot — right or left?"

"Heach coach Conte must have watched the Tottenham documentary," said Son Woong-jung. "Heung-min doesn't relay much, but he did once tell me that Conte had asked him if he really did keep-ups with me and his brother for four hours every day and asked him to introduce me."

However, in the end, it's not about how many goals Son Heung-min scores with which foot or what league he plays for or even winning the Golden Boot for Son's father. It's his son's happiness that matters the most.

"Even when Heung-min first started playing football, I never wished for a second that he would turn pro someday, or thought about which league he will play for in the future, anything of the sort," said Son Woong-jung.

"I only wished for happiness. He was so happy when he played football so that made me happy while training with him. That is the only thing that I wish for. Whatever league and whatever club Heung-min plays for, for whatever salary, I only wish him to be able to play football happily until he retires and that is also what I tell him all the time. That will never change."

BY PARK RIN, YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]