Tottenham Hotspur striker Heung-min Son has explained the reason behind his struggles last season in which the 30-year-old admitted were due to injury problems.
The 30-year-old headed into last season having jointly won the Premier League golden boot award along with Liverpool’s Mo Salah having netted 23 times in the English top flight, but came nowhere near to retaining the accolade during the 2022/23 campaign (transfermarkt).
Son could only manage ten Premier League goals last season and found himself having been dropped to the bench by Antonio Conte after he had not scored in his opening six league appearances, registering just one assist.
It was revealed yesterday by the Korea Herald that the forward underwent surgery for a sports hernia a fortnight ago, something which Tottenham are yet to comment on.
Son explains his poor form for Spurs was due to injury
Son has now revealed that the problem caused him pain all season and he deliberated whether he would actually disclose the fact he was not playing at full fitness and instead described his condition as being at 60% instead.
In an interview back in his native South Korea, he told TV Chosun as translated by journalist Steve Han: “I wondered a lot if I should even make this public, but I struggled with pain all season. I played through it for eight to nine months, but couldn’t go on anymore, so I made the decision finally and underwent surgery.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“Even for simple actions like passing or turning, every movement starts from your core muscles, but that’s exactly where my pain was. I was only able to do 60% of what could do at 100% [throughout the season].”
SpursWeb Opinion
It now makes perfect sense as to why Son looked completely short of confidence and appeared to have lost a yard of his electric pace. You can sympathise why he would not want to disclose his injury to the opposition and shows huge personal character to keep working hard for the benefit of the team, rather than admitting he was hurt.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
