The South Korean star isn’t expected to leave Tottenham Spurs anytime soon after a strong start to the season. He already scored eleven goals and made four assists in fourteen matches played this season.
Jose Mourinho is convinced Son Heung-min wants to end his career at Tottenham and is therefore unconcerned about delayed contract negotiations.
Son has already spent over five years at Spurs and has been a key player for the majority of that time. His goal against Arsenal in the recent north London derby saw him reach double figures for a fifth successive Premier League season.
The difference this term, however, is he has reached that point in just 12 matches and also got four assists, while his haul of 18 league goals under Mourinho is remarkably almost double his expected goals (xG)* parameter of 9.3.
For the 28-year-old South Korean footballer, the game with Leicester was the 250th in the London club.
His relationship with Harry Kane has been particularly notable, as the pair have already combined for 12 goals in the Premier League this term – that is one less than the record for a single campaign (Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton in 1994-95).
Son is contracted to Spurs until 2023, meaning there is no rush for the club to tie the 28-year-old down, though rumours in recent months have suggested a new deal is desired by both parties.
Mourinho is not expecting that to come soon, though, given the financial implications of the coronavirus pandemic – not that he is overly concerned.
“No, I don’t have any news,” Mourinho said when asked about talks over fresh terms for the winger, who on Tuesday won the South Korean Footballer of the Year award once again.
“To be honest, this instability around society, clubs and football…we have 2,000 people [in the stands], we are expecting more people, more income certainly a couple of weeks later, then 2,000 goes back zero people a couple of weeks later.”
“I’m not a money man but wouldn’t like to be an owner or CEO of one of the big clubs with all this instability. How can you sign a new contract with a player?”
Son Heung Min was announced as the best player in South Korea in 2020.
“We are living in the Son Heung Min era !
“We are proud of our captain and Tottenham player”, – wrote the press service of the South Korean Football Federation on Twitter.
*Expected goals (xG) measures the quality of a shot based on several variables such as assist type, shot angle and distance from goal, whether it was a headed shot and whether it was defined as a big chance.
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