Son Heung-min bids farewell to Tottenham; who will become the next Asian football king?

Written by: Han Bing After ten years at Tottenham, Son Heung-min announced on August 1 at a press conference in South Korea that he would leave the Premier League club this summer. While he has not secured titles in the top five leagues or the Champions League, he stands out among predecessors like Cha Bum-kun, Park Ji-sung, and Hidetoshi Nakata, who have won important trophies in the top five leagues. Son Heung-min is rightfully regarded as the "Asian football king," excelling in tenure, team status, performance metrics, and market value. He has set a pinnacle for Asian players in Europe's top five leagues, achieving heights that future players may find hard to reach. Despite the unprecedented number of Asian players in the top five leagues today, there is currently no one who seems likely to catch up to or surpass Son Heung-min.

Among Korean players before Son Heung-min, Park Ji-sung won the most trophies, including one FIFA Club World Cup, one Champions League title, and four Premier League titles with Manchester United. However, he only spent seven seasons at Manchester United, with four of those not as a starter; during the 2007/08 season, when Manchester United clinched both the Champions League and Premier League, he only made 18 appearances. Cha Bum-kun also won two UEFA Cup titles, but Bayer Leverkusen is hardly considered a giant. Son Heung-min holds records for appearances (619), goals (223), and assists (115) among Asian players in the top five leagues. He has won the Tottenham Player of the Season award three times, tying with Robbie Keane and Harry Kane for the most, ranking seventh in all-time appearances, fifth in total goals, and second in European competition goals—achievements that no Asian player has ever reached at a top club in the top five leagues.

Son Heung-min led Tottenham to the Champions League final, won the UEFA Europa League title, and ended a 17-year trophy drought for the club. In the 2021/22 season, he also became the first Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot. By the end of 2020, his market value peaked at €90 million, the highest for an Asian player in history, which is 1.5 times that of Kim Min-jae and Takefusa Kubo (both valued at €60 million). In the 2022 Ballon d'Or voting, he ranked 11th, the highest for an Asian player. In 2024, the authoritative British magazine FourFourTwo named Son Heung-min the best Asian player of all time, even before he had won the UEFA Europa League title with his team. He has also won the Asian Footballer of the Year award seven times and the Asian Best Overseas Player award four times, making him the player with the most wins in both categories.

Son Heung-min's status as the "Asian football king" is also due to his massive following on social media. His Instagram account boasts 14.48 million followers, just 3 million fewer than the official Tottenham account. Additionally, his Facebook account has over 5.12 million followers, and combined with his presence on Twitter (X) and TikTok, his total social media following exceeds 20.7 million. Tottenham has become the Premier League club with the most followers on TikTok (41.8 million), largely thanks to Son Heung-min. The commercial value of Tottenham in the Asian market is at least 70% attributable to the presence of this Asian football king. Originally, Son Heung-min had confirmed his departure from Tottenham in July, but he delayed the announcement until the team arrived in South Korea to ensure the commercial benefits of Tottenham's summer tour in Asia.

Whether Son Heung-min's future lies with LAFC or in Saudi Arabia, this "Asian football king" has already become a thing of the past after leaving the top five leagues. For Asian football, this also signifies the end of an era. Looking at the top five leagues, who will be the next Son Heung-min? The benchmark set by Son Heung-min as the "Asian football king" is indeed very high, and it will be challenging for any Asian player to reach his level for a considerable time to come.

Currently, the number of Asian players in the top five leagues has reached a historic high, but very few can establish themselves at top clubs. Kim Min-jae (valued at €40 million) and Ito Junya (valued at €25 million) at Bayern Munich, and Husanov (valued at €35 million) at Manchester City, as well as Lee Kang-in (valued at €25 million) at Paris Saint-Germain, are the current Asian players making their mark in top five league clubs. However, Kim Min-jae, who has won titles in both Serie A and the Bundesliga, is now 28 years old. Although his chances of winning the Bundesliga again with Bayern are high, his age and tactical position limit his ability to reach Son Heung-min's heights. Japanese winger Mitoma Kaoru, who is the same age and market value as Kim Min-jae, missed the best opportunity to join a top club, and his market value has already passed its peak (€50 million, from October to December 2023).

Lee Kang-in, who won a quadruple with Paris Saint-Germain last season at the age of 24, unfortunately became a substitute starting in February this year. His contemporaries, Kubo Takefusa (also 24) and Mitoma Kaoru, face similar challenges in securing a platform at top clubs. Uzbek center-back Husanov, who joined Manchester City for €40 million earlier this year, is still a backup player at City, and the upcoming season will be crucial for him to determine if he can remain with the team. As for Liang Mingge, the 19-year-old winger signed from South Korea by Tottenham because of Son Heung-min, he has not yet joined a top club, but Suzuki Yoshito (Freiburg, Bundesliga), who is also young, has promising potential, although time will tell if he can prove himself.

Hidetoshi Nakata is regarded as the first top star of Asian football in the 21st century. In 2004, he was selected as one of FIFA's "100 Greatest Players" alongside Hong Myung-bo, making him one of only two Asian players to be included. However, it took 20 years for Asian football to produce a new world-class superstar. Perhaps we will have to wait another 20 years for the next Son Heung-min in Asian football?