Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min is one player clad in Lilywhite for whom the future is uncertain. With only a year remaining on his contract, and his name written into Spurs folklore, there’s been a number of sources through the summer transfer window thus far that have given a varied account as to what Sonny chooses to do next.
If he feels his future is elsewhere, however, any move is unlikely to happen until after Spurs’ preseason tour of Asia, where the Lilywhites take on Arsenal in Hong Kong, before heading to Sonny’s home country of South Korea to face Newcastle United. This is due to an apparent “key player clause” in Spurs’ contract for the Coupang Play Series, reported by Matt Law in the Telegraph:
Law buried the lede a little with this one; the piece initially seems like it’s focused on a transfer move for Marc Guehi, but doesn’t say much on the topic, outside of the fact that Spurs have some interest following their late bid in January.
The details around the preseason tour I think are slightly more interesting... because of the implication. If Son is not included in the preseason squad, Spurs could apparently forfeit as much as 75% of their fee; if he doesn’t play, specifically in the Seoul fixture against Newcastle, Spurs could lose half - meaning Spurs would prefer to hold onto him, at least until the squad returns to England.
There are no specific numbers quoted in the piece, but one would imagine the return on these tours would be significant - and giving up a sum of money that size would really be folly. There’s still plenty of time left in the window after the tour if Son wanted to leave, and while we’re not entirely sure that he does, the article does state that the impression within the club following the conclusion of the season was that Sonny did indeed feel his time at Spurs was complete.
Whatever he and the club decide to do - this likely means we get to hold onto our club legend just a bit longer, and that’s something I’m more than okay with.