Heung-min Son finally released what was a pretty open secret in the early hours of Saturday morning; he will be leaving his beloved Tottenham Hotspur after a decade of service in North London.
Son revealed his exit plans in a Tottenham press conference in South Korea: “I just want to share information that I have decided to leave this club this summer. Respectfully, the club is helping me with this decision.
“It was the most difficult decision I have made in my career. The main reason is that I have achieved everything I can at Tottenham. I need a new environment for a fresh challenge.
“I came to North London as a kid. A boy came to London who couldn’t speak English. I leave this club as a man. Thanks to all the Spurs fans who have given me so much love.”
What better way to celebrate Sonny’s time in the Lilywhite shirt than to look back on his ten greatest moments with Spurs?
Let’s start by casting our minds all the way back to 2015. The day was August 28, and Tottenham had just announced the signing of South Korean forward Heung-min Son from Bayer Leverkusen on a £22 million deal. Sonny made history from his very first day in N17, becoming the most expensive Asian player in football history. Little did Tottenham know, they had also just signed their future captain and one of the greatest modern-day club legends in Spurs history.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Sonny in North London, though. The former Bundesliga goalscorer started just 13 games in his first campaign with Spurs, finding the back of the net on four occasions. In fact, Son admitted in a 2019 interview that he asked Mauricio Pochettino to transfer him back to Germany.
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He said: “I came close to leaving. I went to the gaffer’s office and told him I didn’t feel comfortable and wanted to leave for Germany.”
Fortunately, Pochettino convinced him to stay, and Son followed up on his tricky start to Premier League life with 14 goals and seven assists in the 2016/17 season. The rest, as they say, is history.
‘A touch isolated here, Tottenham’s number seven…’
One of Heung-min Son’s most iconic goals came back in a rare 3-1 win over Chelsea in November 2018, with the South Korean star netting his 50th strike for the Lilywhites in supreme fashion. After blistering past Jorginho on the wing, then cutting past David Luiz like he wasn’t there, Sonny danced his way into the Chelsea box and slotted home to send Wembley into pandemonium.
To make matters even sweeter – as if skinning two Chelsea stars who would also go on to play for Arsenal wasn’t enough – Son had just returned from Asian Cup duties where he lifted the trophy to avoid two years of military service. Who knows what would have happened to his Spurs career had he not tasted victory with his country.
On the subject of solo Son goals, we have to mention the Puskas winner from 2020! Heung-min Son picked the ball up on the edge of his own box before motoring the full length of the pitch to score what was deemed the most iconic goal of the year. But what about that Jan Vertonghen assist?!
When Bruno Fernandes scored a second-minute penalty in an empty Old Trafford during lockdown, Tottenham Hotspur fans would have been fearing the worst. Two minutes later, Tanguy Ndombele equalised to a chorus of fake TV cheers. Three minutes more, and Sonny put Spurs ahead.
Talking of that Kane and Son telepathy, Tottenham’s dynamic duo made history in February 2022 when the former set the latter in behind Leeds’ back line to make it 4-0. The goal itself was insignificant to the result, but it marked the 37th time that Kane and Son has assisted each other in the Premier League – a new all-time record for the competition.
The England and South Korea captains went on to increase that total to a whopping 47, with Kane scoring 23 and Son scoring 24. The previous record was held by Chelsea legends Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba at 36 combinations. It seems unlikely that Kane and Son’s record will be broken for a long, long time.
While Heung-min Son has always been deadly in front of goal for Tottenham, he always played second fiddle to Harry Kane when it came to the end-of-season tallies. However, in the 2021/22 Premier League season, Kane netted just 17 times in his 37 appearances, leaving him fourth in the overall standings. Heung-min Son shared the eventual award with Liverpool’s Mo Salah, with both wingers netting 23 times that season. It was a nervy climax to the race though, as Sonny needed a final-day brace against Norwich City to even match the Egyptian king.
After Pep Guardiola referred to Tottenham as ‘the Harry Kane team’ in the build-up to the iconic 2019 Champions League quarter-final between Spurs and Man City, Heung-min Son took offence. The Spaniard’s words came back to haunt him when Sonny scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win at the newly-opened Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Kane himself could only watch on from the stands after leaving the game early due to injury.
Amidst a passionate celebration with his teammates, Son went up to the cameras and screamed down the lens: ‘Do you know who I am?’ in what has become one of his most iconic moments. It’s fair to say that Pep Guardiola never called Tottenham ‘the Harry Kane team’ again.
After 10 years of Heung-min Son at Tottenham, after 17 years of Spurs fans waiting for a trophy, and after 41 years of waiting for more European glory, it finally happened on May 21, 2025, in Bilbao. After Brennan Johnson bundled home the only goal of the game, Spurs engraved their own name on the Europa League trophy for the third time in the club’s history. Heung-min Son did something that no one had done since Ledley King in 2008 – lift a major piece of silverware as captain of Tottenham Hotspur. Players come and go, but legends stay around forever… which brings us onto our final point.
Heung-min Son was famously reluctant to call himself a Tottenham legend in the build-up to the Europa League final. While the South Korean star had gifted so many moments of joy to Spurs fans and scored so many iconic goals, he was well aware of his lack of silverware in a Lilywhite shirt. When asked whether he was now a Tottenham legend after lifting the Europa League, Son paused for a moment and said: “Let’s say I am a legend.” Yes, Sonny… yes, you are.
A legend not only for his achievements at the football club, and a legend not only for lifting the Europa League trophy, but a legend for everything that he stands for. Fiercely loyal, strikingly humble, and a role model for every young footballer in the game. There is a reason you have to search far and wide to find a pro footballer without a heartwarming Sonny story, let alone a bad thing to say about him.
Every legend has a perfect ending, and Son has written his own. Not only does he sign off as a Europa League winner, leaving N17 on a high, but he does so with full respect for his manager, teammates, and fans. That is a rare legacy that cannot be tarnished, and we wish Sonny all the best for the future. He may not have come through the academy, but Heung-min Son is one of our own.
Nice one, Sonny.