Tottenham Hotspur are willing to sell Son Heung-min, but he is highly unlikely to leave before the club’s lucrative pre-season tour to his native South Korea in August.
The club are commercially contracted for their captain to play in a friendly against Newcastle United at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on August 3. Son has one year left on his contract and has been the subject of renewed interest from the Saudi Pro League as well as being linked with Fenerbahce, managed by José Mourinho, under whom Son played at Spurs.
This summer will realistically be the last opportunity for Tottenham to generate a transfer fee for Son, who earns £200,000 a week and turns 33 next month, while Thomas Frank is keen to revamp his squad after his appointment as head coach.
Son was appointed club captain by Postecoglou but the head coach’s successor Frank is eager to make changes
MASASHI HARA/GETTY IMAGES
Son scored seven goals and contributed ten assists this season in the Premier League, the first time he had not reached double figures for goals in the competition since 2015-16, his first campaign at the club.
However, he ended his decade-long wait for a trophy since his £22million move from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 by winning the Europa League last month. He lifted the trophy after the 1-0 win over Manchester United in Bilbao, having been appointed the club captain by Frank’s predecessor, Ange Postecoglou.
Tottenham will be tour South Korea for a fifth time in the past decade and have scheduled an open training session to include Son and Yang Min-hyeok, their South Korea winger who was on loan at Queens Park Rangers last season, at Goyang Stadium on August 2.
Clubs in Saudi Arabia are keen to attract stars from certain countries this summer, in part to help them sell television rights to international audiences, including in the Far East. Son would also command a premium because of the rules in the Asian Champions League that require at least one of the six foreign players in a starting line-up to be from another Asian country. Son has been linked with Al-Hilal, the Saudi Pro League runners-up now coached by Simone Inzaghi, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr, who finished third.
Spurs will head to South Korea for the fifth time in the past decade
JUNG YEON-JE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Son, who has scored 173 goals in 454 games for Spurs, previously rejected advances from Saudi Arabia but is said to be more open to leaving the club. In 2023 he turned down a move to Al-Ittihad, who were willing to pay Tottenham £55million and had offered him a four-year contract worth about £25million.
Tottenham exercised the option to extend his contract until 2026 in January and had wanted him to commit himself to a longer deal — largely owing to his commercial value — but he refused. They settled on a one-year extension to avoid losing him for free.
The club will travel to Hong Kong to play Arsenal in the first north London derby held outside of the UK at the 50,000-seater Kai Tak Stadium on July 31. They also face Bayern Munich in Germany on August 7 and Paris Saint-Germain in the Super Cup final in Udine, Italy, on August 13.
Son was recently the subject of a blackmail attempt from a woman, who falsely claimed she was pregnant by him. The woman in her 20s and a man in his 40s are alleged to have tried to extort money from the footballer, and the woman is said to have sent Son an ultrasound image of the alleged foetus. They are due to stand trial in Seoul from July 10.