Tottenham Hotspur won their first penalty of the season against Newcastle United on Sunday, and Heung-min Son duly converted. But just how good is the Spurs skipper at taking spot kicks?
Since the departure of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich this summer, Heung-min Son has been the man to step up and fill the void left behind by the talismanic striker.
Son was named the new captain of Tottenham by Ange Postecoglou, an honour that would most certainly have been bestowed upon Kane had he stuck around.
The South Korean has helped ease the loss by scoring plenty of goals, too. Son now has ten goals in 17 matches for Spurs this season, along with four assists (Transfermarkt).
Funnily enough, Tottenham were yet to be awarded a penalty since Kane left the club, until Sunday’s win over Newcastle, that is. Ordinarily, spot-kick duties would fall to the England captain, but Son took on the responsibility this time, and put the ball in the back of the net.
Is Son the best penalty taker at Spurs now?
But how good is Son at penalty kicks? We’ve dived into his career so far to work it out, and also compared him to some of Tottenham’s other players, just in case Postecoglou ever needs an alternative.
Throughout his career, Son has taken 14 penalties for club and country. He has scored nine and missed five, giving him a success rate of 64.3% overall.
Within that tally, Son has scored six penalties for his country while missing three (66% success rate), and has scored three for Spurs while missing two (60% success rate).
Comparing anyone to Harry Kane is unfair, but we will do it anyway. Kane has taken 80 penalties in his career, scoring 69 and missing just 11, giving him a formidable conversion rate of 86.3% overall.
Looking at the current Spurs squad, there are some pretty good penalty-takers waiting in the wings. James Maddison has scored six of the eight he’s taken (75% conversion rate) and Brennan Johnson has converted 11 out of 15 efforts (73.3%).
However, it is Richarlison who beats everyone – the Brazilian has netted seven out of eight spot kicks, which gives him an 87.5% conversion rate.
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Obviously, Richarlison’s sample size is a lot smaller than Kane’s so we’re not about to suggest he’s the best penalty kick taker around, but it is interesting that he’s only missed once.
Still, I wouldn’t want anyone other than the skipper standing there from 12 yards out, and I’m sure that, given the chance, Sonny will continue to convert his penalties.