Ange Postecoglou has said that Son Heung-min deserves to be commended for his determination to play for South Korea during the international break despite potentially not being 100 per cent.
It has been widely reported over the last couple of weeks that Son has been carrying a groin injury, which is why his game time has been managed carefully by Postecoglou (The Athletic).
While the forward did not play any part in South Korea’s 4-0 win over Tunisia, he did start their clash against Vietnam last week.
Spurs fans would have had their hearts in their mouths when they saw the 31-year-old limping into the dressing room at half-time at Suwon but thankfully, the forward completed the 90 minutes without any problem and even got on the scoresheet in the second half.
The Spurs star subsequently revealed that he had made it clear to South Korea boss Jurgen Klinsmann before the game that he wanted to be involved against the Vietnamese and that he could not forgive himself if he did not play for his country during the international break (Sungmo Lee).
Postecoglou is a big admirer of Heung-min Son
Postecoglou has insisted that Son’s determination to play every game is a characteristic to be admired and that it has helped him get to the level he has.
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When asked if he would advise the forward to occasionally have a breather and not take risks over his fitness, the Spurs head coach told Football.London: “Sonny is who he is and he’s got to where he is because of the person he is and I’m certainly not going to change any part of that mate.
“Because you take all these things in context: sometimes we want to change people but we don’t understand that the thing that has brought them to where they are is because of the people they are.
“So I’m not changing anything in Sonny. If anything you can learn from people like that. That’s the beauty of being in the position I am in – you come across different people every time you go on this kind of journey and you learn from all of them.
“The way he takes on the responsibility of not just his whole nation and he takes it very seriously, I think it’s commendable. Beyond commendable. It’s great.
“We’ve seen and we have evidence of players who go the other way with fame and fortune and kind of lose their way a bit. But Sonny’s still very, very grounded. He knows what’s important to him and that’s his country, his football club, his career.
“In terms of physical wellbeing, he’s well looked after here. He knows his body well. And he’ll continue to perform at the highest level.”
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Sonny has never been injury-prone in his career and has never really been out for an extended period since arriving at the club over eight years ago. So, I do not have that much fear about the 31-year-old pushing himself as I do about someone like Romero doing the same.
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