Son Heung-min leaves Spurs: Where he ranks in list of Tottenham’s greatest players
Son Heung-min, the Tottenham Hotspur captain, has revealed he will leave the club this summer.
Son has spent the last decade at Spurs, making 454 appearances and scoring 173 goals for the north London club.
He achieved his goal of silverware in May, when he helped the Premier League team to Europa League success with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United, ending a 17-year trophy drought for the club.
The South Korean said he was ready for a “fresh challenge” as he explained his decision during a press conference in Seoul, ahead of Tottenham’s pre-season friendly with Newcastle United on Sunday.
MLS outfit Los Angeles FC are leading the race for his signature, it is understood.
Son told a press conference: “Before we start, I wanted to say I have decided to leave the club this summer. Respectfully, the club is helping me with this decision.
“It was the most difficult decision I have made in my career, such amazing memories. It was so hard to make this decision.”
He continued: “I need a new environment to push myself. I need a little bit of change – 10 years is a long time.
“I came to north London as a kid, 23 years old, such a young age. I leave the club as a grown man, a very proud man.
“I want to say thanks to all the Spurs fans for giving me so much love. I hope the goodbye is also good timing and this is the right time to make that decision. I hope everyone can accept and respect that.”
Thomas Frank, the new Tottenham head coach, confirmed Son would start and be captain in Sunday’s friendly with Newcastle at Seoul’s World Cup Stadium.
Telegraph Sport reported last week that Spurs would miss out on as much as 75 per cent of their fee for playing in Seoul if Son was not part of the touring squad. It is believed the fee would be halved were he to travel but not play in the game.
It could be Son’s final appearance for Spurs, despite the Uefa Super Cup fixture with Paris St-Germain in Udine on the horizon on August 13.
Tottenham’s greatest ever players ranked
Son Heung-min’s decision to leave Tottenham Hotspur after a decade of brilliant service makes you wonder: where does he fit in the list of the club’s finest players? It is some collection he has to compete with to gain inclusion. But here is our top 20.
20. Jurgen Klinsmann (1994-95 and 1997-98)
In his only full season at White Hart Lane, the German scored 29 goals and was named the Football Writers’ Association player of the year. After netting the winner on his debut, he delivered the finest goal celebration of all time with his self-mocking dive. He returned on loan in 1997-98 and helped Spurs avoid relegation.
19. Martin Chivers (1968-76)
Scoring in the finals of the League Cup in both 1971 and 1973 and the Uefa Cup in between, Chivers, the tall, agile centre-forward, was the man for the big occasion. In all he netted 202 times for Spurs in 415 appearances.
18. Cyril Knowles (1964-75)
The left-back missed only one league match between 1965 and 1969. And in his time he picked up four winner’s medals in the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup. Nice one Cyril.
17. Bobby Smith (1955-64)
Still Tottenham’s third highest goalscorer of all time, he was a strong, battling centre-forward, the perfect foil for the young Jimmy Greaves. The league’s leading marksman in 1957-58, he was the top scorer in the 1961 Double-winning side, scoring twice in the FA Cup final that year.
16. Alan Gilzean (1964-74)
After signing from Dundee – he was bought to replace Smith – it was some partnership he formed with Greaves, such a perfect alignment of guts and guile that the two of them became known as the G-Men.
15. Steve Perryman (1969-86)
No one has turned out more often for Spurs than Perryman: his 854 appearances is a record unlikely ever to be beaten. Plus he lifted more trophies than any other Spurs captain, hoisting aloft the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup.
14. Gary Mabbutt (1982-98)
The very definition of the club servant, Mabbutt arrived in north London from Bristol Rovers and was almost immediately made captain. It was a post he held with dignity and distinction across almost all of his more than 600 appearances for the club.
13. Gary Lineker (1989-92)
Of the 80 goals the jet-heeled finisher scored for the club, none were more ecstatically acclaimed by the fans than the two he poached against Arsenal in the 1991 FA Cup semi-final.
12. Ossie Ardiles (1978-88)
Bought after the 1978 World Cup, he was the Argentine midfielder with the perfect temperament for the English game. Skilled, smart and streetwise, his affection for the club he called “Tottingham” was reciprocated by fans who loved his every move.
11. Cliff Jones (1958-68)
Signed from Swansea for a then-record fee of £35,000, the crafty, quicksilver winger was central to the 1961 Double-winning side. He picked up further medals in the 1962 FA Cup and 1963 Cup Winners’ Cup. Still an active ambassador for the club, he is often seen at home games, looking fit enough at 90 to get a game.
10. Ledley King (1999-2012)
Calm, quick and determined, King, who only ever wanted to play for Spurs, was beloved by the club’s faithful as their representative on the pitch. And what an ambassador: hard but wholly decent, he ended his career having only been booked eight times across more than 320 competitive appearances.
9. Pat Jennings (1964-77)
Reckoned the finest goalkeeper of his generation, Jennings was beloved by the Spurs faithful for his athleticism, strength and calm. Across 591 appearances, it always took something special to beat him. So admired was he by the regulars, they even forgave him for signing for Arsenal when he left White Hart Lane.
8. Son Heung-min (2015-2025)
Bought for what now seems a snip at £22m from Bayer Leverkusen, for a decade Son was a stalwart of the side, scoring 173 goals in 454 appearances. Forging a brilliant strike partnership with Harry Kane, he took over as principal striker when his mate left for Munich. He will also be remembered for attracting huge numbers of South Korean fans to the new Tottenham Stadium.
7. Paul Gascoigne (1988-1991)
Spurs fans were blessed to see the very best of the mercurial midfielder. Quick, clever and relentlessly hard-working, he was capable of winning a match on his own. As he proved in the 1991 FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, when his howitzer free-kick lodged itself in the memories of every Spurs fan as perhaps the finest goal ever scored for the club.
6. Gareth Bale (2007-13 and 2020-21)
Signed as a full-back from Southampton, he was converted by Harry Redknapp into the most brilliant winger. In his first spell at Spurs, he won every individual award going, from PFA Young Player to the FWA Footballer of the Year. And he endeared himself to Spurs fans for his astonishing “Taxi for Maicon” performance in the 3-1 victory over Inter Milan in the 2010 Champions League.
5. Dave Mackay (1959-68)
Every great side needs its hard man, and Mackay was the fearsome enforcer during Spurs’ finest trophy-gathering period. A ferocious midfield presence, he terrified his colleagues as much as opponents. That photograph of him grabbing Billy Bremner’s shirt and roaring in his face is typical of the man’s indomitable bravery, spirit and determination. Not to mention his temper.
4. Danny Blanchflower (1954-64)
The captain of the Double-winning side, he was the embodiment of their approach. Twice the FWA Footballer of the Year, he was a dynamic, hugely influential figure at the club. “The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish,” he once said, a quote that became the place’s presiding philosophy.
3. Glenn Hoddle (1975-87)
There is no argument: Hoddle was the most technically gifted player ever to wear a Spurs shirt. At his best, as in the glorious chipped goal he scored against Watford in 1983, he could do things with a football that would have turned Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona and Pelé green with envy.
2. Jimmy Greaves (1961-70)
There is one statistic that insists Greaves must be included in each and every list of England’s finest players: he was the leading marksman in the Football League in six seasons. Sublime in front of goal, his ability to read space would make him a winner in any generation of the game. Bought by Spurs from Milan after the Double season, he nonetheless picked up two FA Cup and a European Cup Winner’s Cup medal. And the 266 goals in 379 appearances for Spurs is a record of consistency that speaks loudly of his genius.
1. Harry Kane (2009-23)
He may not have picked up any winner’s medals in his time with Spurs, but Kane’s contribution was beyond exemplary. The club’s all-time leading goalscorer (and that was some feat to beat Greaves) in the 2017-18 season alone he scored 41 goals across all competitions. Whatever his ability in front of goal, clever, skilled, prepared to drop deep in search of the ball, he was way more than a simple poacher for Spurs: he was the heartbeat of the side for a decade. Now immortalised in a mural opposite the new stadium, Kane came to epitomise the club he joined as an 11-year-old in 2004. He scored 280 goals in 435 appearances.