South Korea manager Jurgen Klinsmann has been discussing Heung-min Son’s recovery from injury, and said he hopes to see the national team captain on the field again in the next game.
Tottenham Hotspur endured a difficult season both on and off the pitch last season. Of all the Spurs squad, it was perhaps Son who suffered the sharpest decline in form in the 2022/23 campaign.
The 30-year-old ended the season with 14 goals and six assists in all competitions (Transfermarkt).
Admittedly, Son did show some improvement in the final few games of the season. However, for much of the campaign, he looked a shadow of the player who won the Premier League Golden Boot award the year previous.
The root of the problems displayed by Son last term may well be the fact the player was suffering from injury for much of the season. Son himself confirmed this to TV Chosun recently [translated by Steve Han].
He said: “I wondered a lot if I should even make this public, but I struggled with pain all season. I played through it for eight to nine months, but couldn’t go on anymore, so I made the decision finally and underwent surgery.
“Even for simple actions like passing or turning, every movement starts from your core muscles, but that’s exactly where my pain was. I was only able to do 60% of what could do at 100% [throughout the season].”
After missing out on the game against Peru last week, Son is on the bench for today’s international fixture against El Salvador as he continues his recovery from the surgery on his sports hernia.
Spurs’ Heung-min Son is getting better every day
South Korea manager Jurgen Klinsmann has provided an update on his Heung-min Son‘s fitness ahead of the game.
He told the press [via Sungmo Lee]: “Son looks better every day. He’ll not start tomorrow’s game, but I’m very positive he will come on as the game goes on.
“Son’s role is not only important on the field. Of course, he’s a goalscorer and we want goals, but his role is very important to carry this team for the Asian Cup in Qatar. His role off the field is as much as important for us, coaches.
Klinsmann on Son
"Son's role is not only important on the field. Of course he's a goal scorer and we want goals. But his role is very important to carry this team for Asian Cup in Qatar. His role off the field is as much as important for us, coaches." (1, continued) pic.twitter.com/JD8WM6pA1v
— Sungmo Lee (@Sungmo_Lee) June 19, 2023
“We have many situations to deal with, for example, Kim Min-jae is having military training, so to deal with these kinds of process, you need somebody like Sonny with experience to guide the players from a player’s perspective, so to have him on the side is crucial.”
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I have every faith that when Son comes back from this injury he will be on fire again next season. Something clearly wasn’t right last year and getting over this fitness issue should be the key to Son getting back to his best.
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