Son Heung-min has ended his 10-year stay at Tottenham after making the "hardest decision ever" to leave for Los Angeles FC in a record Major League Soccer transfer.
It was revealed on Saturday that Son would depart Spurs following 173 goals in 454 appearances and months after he captained the club to Europa League glory.
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
After an agreement between Tottenham and LAFC was struck for a deal in excess of £20million, the 33-year-old arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday and a day later he has finalised his transfer, which is the highest fee paid by an MLS club for a player.
In a post to Spurs fans on Instagram, Son, who has signed an initial two-year deal with LAFC with options for a further two, wrote: "How to find the right words for this? I don't know. I have been thinking for days. It's impossible. But here I go.
"It's time for me to say goodbye to Tottenham Hotspur. My home for the past decade. When I arrived in 2015, I didn't speak English, I didn't know London, but you welcomed me with open arms, believed in me, and stood by me through every high and low.
"I was just a boy from Korea with big dreams who was supposed to have no chance. And now, 10 years later, North London is in my heart forever.
"I've made friends for life here, had the honour of becoming a godfather here, and had the privilege of captaining our special club here. I've poured my heart and soul into this club, which makes this the hardest decision ever.
"I thought if I was ever going to leave, it would have to be on my terms, on the best terms, when our mission had been accomplished together. With pride and honour."
Son joined Spurs in 2015 from Bayer Leverkusen. After a tough debut campaign the South Korea captain went on to become one of the club's best ever players and made himself a Premier League great in the process.
Alongside old partner in crime Harry Kane, Son holds the record for the most goal involvements by a duo in the Premier League, with the pair assisting each other on a record 47 occasions in the competition.
The Chuncheon-born attacker also won the league's Golden Boot award in the 2021-22 season after scoring 23 times and he sits 17th in the list of all-time scorers in the division with 127 goals.
Under former boss Mauricio Pochettino, Son's consistent displays helped turn Tottenham into genuine title contenders but silverware continued to allude them after a second-placed finish in 2017 was followed by a Champions League runner-up spot two years later.
Whilst various members of Pochettino's team left not long after the Argentinian's winter departure in 2019, Son stayed to work under Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte before he was tasked with leading a new era by Ange Postecoglou.
Postecoglou named Son as his captain in the wake of Kane's high-profile switch to Bayern Munich and Hugo Lloris' departure from the first team and after a roller coaster two seasons under the Australian, they achieved the holy grail together on May 21.
Son was consigned to a place on the bench in Bilbao for the Europa League final against Manchester United following an injury-affected campaign, but was introduced to make his final competitive appearance for Spurs to help them win 1-0 and end a 17-year wait for silverware.
It etched Son's name into the history books as he became only the fourth captain in Spurs' history to lift a European trophy after Danny Blanchflower, Alan Mullery and Steve Perryman.
The popular South Korean will renew acquaintances with Lloris and move to Los Angeles, which boasts one of the largest Korean populations in the world, ahead of next summer's World Cup in the United States.