How Son Heung-min became destroyer from decorator – and grew up for good at Tottenham

Son Heung-min

What a difference three years can make. Straight off the plane from the Asian Cup and battling jet-lag, Son Heung-min has reinserted himself back into Tottenham’s season at just the right time. He provided the energy in the come-from-behind win over Watford just days after returning and, 72 hours later, was the difference against Newcastle, shimmying on the edge of the box and driving a violent shot through Martin Dubravka to settle a one-goal game.

Within that sequence lay nothing new; nothing which hasn’t been seen before. Son has always been able to knot up a defender and shoot with power. The difference, it seems, lies in his appetite for that kind of situation and this growing propensity to be at his very best when the anxiety around him is at its thickest. It’s not a situation which many would have foreseen, particularly given how his career in England began.

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Seb Stafford-Bloor is a football writer at Tifo Football and member of the Football Writers' Association. He was formerly a regularly columnist for the FourFourTwo website, covering all aspects of the game, including tactical analysis, reaction pieces, longer-term trends and critiquing the increasingly shady business of football's financial side and authorities' decision-making.