Son Heung-min to leave Tottenham this summer after decade with Spurs
The 33-year-old attacker joined the Premier League side from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 and went on to play more than 450 times for Spurs.
In May he lifted the Europa League trophy, but he had a poor season overall by his high standards and struggled with injury.
"Before we start the press conference I wanted to say I have decided to leave the club this summer," the South Korean told reporters in Seoul, where Tottenham is on a preseason tour.
"Respectfully the club is helping me with this decision."
Son, who has scored 173 goals for Spurs, did not say where he intends to go next and cut an emotional figure.
"It was the most difficult decision I have made in my career. Such amazing memories. It was so hard to make the decision," he said, flanked by new Tottenham boss Thomas Frank.
"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 this club as a grown man, a very proud man."
Frank, who joined Spurs from Brentford this summer, paid tribute to the South Korean skipper.
"For me, personally, I would have loved to have worked with this fantastic person and player," said the Dane, who took over from the sacked Ange Postecoglou.
"He is a true Spurs legend in every aspect, one of the greatest players to play in the Premier League.
"It is never easy to find the perfect timing and me coming in from the side, it makes it a bit easier to end on a high."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
LAFC agrees to terms with Tottenham's Son Heung-min, say reports
Son Heung-min, who spent 10 seasons with Tottenham Hotspur and stars for the South Korea national team, has a deal in place to join Los Angeles FC, according to multiple reports. LAFC will pay a transfer fee of around $26 million, GiveMeSport and ESPN reported, which would break the Major League Soccer record of $22 million that Atlanta United paid to acquire Emmanuel Latte Lath last offseason. Son, 33, announced over the weekend that he planned to leave Tottenham, saying he achieved everything that he could with the North London club and he was interested in a new challenge. Tottenham faced Newcastle United in a friendly in Seoul on Sunday, which served as Son's farewell match. He received a standing ovation and a guard of honor and said he had "a huge respect and am very grateful" to his old club. Son scored 172 goals and added 94 assists in 451 matches for Tottenham across all competitions, with 127 coming in Premier League play. A team captain, he helped the Spurs win the 2025 Europa League for the first major trophy of his career. He previously played in Bundesliga for Hamburger SV and Bayer Leverkusen. Son has also scored 51 goals in 134 matches for South Korea, making him the country's second-leading goalscorer of all time. Son played in the past three World Cups. In LAFC — who also acquired defender Ryan Porteous from Watford on Monday — Son is joining a decorated MLS team that's vying for another playoff berth. Los Angeles (10-6-6, 36 points) is sixth in the Western Conference.
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
England faces searching Ashes questions after India series thriller
England suffered an agonizing six-run loss to India at the Oval on Monday as one of the most dramatic Test series of recent times ended in a 2-2 draw. The next major red-ball assignment is a five-match Ashes series away to arch-rivals Australia — where England has gone 15 Tests without a win — starting in November. What England gains from having Ben Stokes in the side was never more evident than when its inspirational captain missed the fifth Test with a shoulder injury — a fresh worry following his history of hamstring trouble. The 34-year-old all-rounder was the most threatening member of England's attack against India, taking 17 wickets at 25 in 140 overs — the most he has bowled in a series. Stokes also looked back to his best with the bat, scoring 141 in England's mammoth total of 669 in the drawn fourth Test at Old Trafford. By contrast specialist opener Zak Crawley failed to reach three figures in nine innings. And at the Oval, the sight of vice-captain Ollie Pope running off to the dressing room to receive what appeared to be tactical guidance from Stokes did not say much for England's depth of leadership. England limited-overs captain Harry Brook, also a mainstay of the Test team and a lively skipper in the Stokes mould, could yet prove a better fit as vice-captain against Australia. England has long believed a battery of genuinely fast bowlers is essential if it is to win an Ashes series in Australia for the first time since 2010/11. But fitness issues could blight the best-laid plans. Jofra Archer made an encouraging return to Test cricket against India but played just two matches as England looked to manage the express paceman's workload. Mark Wood, another bowler with genuine pace, has not played Test cricket for nearly 12 months and had knee surgery earlier this year. The inconsistent Josh Tongue's return of 19 wickets at under 30 in the India series could well see him selected for Ashes duty, with Gus Atkinson's five-wicket haul on his return to Test duty at the Oval doing his cause no harm. England, and Stokes in particular, have shown huge faith in Shoaib Bashir, a 21-year-old off-spinner unable to hold down a regular place in a county side but who has now taken 68 wickets in 19 Tests at 39. In the India series, Bashir's 10 wickets came at an expensive average of 54.1, before a finger injury ruled him out of the last two Tests. But Hampshire stalwart Liam Dawson failed to seize his chance in the drawn fourth Test, with Stokes appearing to tell the left-armer where he should be bowling on the Old Trafford pitch. Leicestershire's 20-year-old leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, already England's youngest Test cricketer, is another option. England, however, didn't bother with a specialist spinner at the Oval, deploying Joe Root and Jacob Bethell — clean bowled following a reckless charge down the pitch during a second-innings collapse — for a mere 11 overs combined. But former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes England should stick with Bashir for the Ashes because of his similarity to outstanding Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon. "Australia will have probably three or four left-handers in their line-up which will aid the right-arm off-spinner as well," Ponting told Sky Sports. "And it's the over-spin that you need in Australia."
Japan Today
15 hours ago
- Japan Today
India wins test series finale by 6 runs against England in Oval classic
India's players celebrate their win against England on day five of the fifth cricket test match between England and India at The Kia Oval in London, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) cricket A gloomy, drizzly London morning. The final day of a fifth test. Just 35 runs or four wickets away from victory. Those are not usually temptations for selling a bunch of match tickets. But the Oval was sold out on Monday in goosebump anticipation of a dramatic end to the England-India series, and a buzzing crowd of 27,000 wasn't disappointed. The action lasted for only an hour and 8.5 overs but every ball drew a roller-coaster of emotions as India won by a measly six runs in a fitting climax to a series that finished in a 2-2 draw. Adding to the drama, England allrounder Chris Woakes came out to bat one-handed with a dislocated left shoulder tucked in a sling under his jersey. Woakes ran a bye in obvious agony — his left arm fell out of the sling — and was protected by teammate Gus Atkinson from facing a ball. But Atkinson couldn't safeguard his own wicket for long and was the last man out, missing his attempted sweep and bowled by a Mohammed Siraj full toss. England, in pursuit of an Oval-record 374, was all out for 367. Siraj took off running with arms out in airplane mode; his third wicket in the hour gave him five wickets in the innings and nine in the match. 'Siraj is a captain's dream,' India captain Shubman Gill said. 'Gave it his all every ball and every spell he bowled.' Gill, the first-time captain who became the all-time leading run-scorer in any single England-India series, was named co-player of the series beside Harry Brook, whose 111 on Sunday lifted England in sight of clinching the series 3-1. 'To rock up with a crowd like this today when we needed 30-odd runs to win is phenomenal,' Brook said. "I don't think we could get support like that in any other series, other than the Ashes. 'We have not left anything out on that pitch. We have been absolutely knackered. A very intense test series, but a very enjoyable one.' Woakes arguably had the biggest effect on the Oval test by his absence, after hurting his shoulder while fielding on day one Thursday. He didn't bat when England replied to India's 224 with 247 for a 23-run lead on the first innings. He also didn't bowl as India racked up 396 to set the target of 374, requiring England to achieve its second highest successful run chase, eclipsing the 371 rundown in Leeds in the series opener. By the time Woakes walked out on Monday to a standing ovation, England was nine down and 17 runs from winning. Atkinson farmed the strike. When he swept Siraj, the ball popped out of Akash Deep's hands and over the cow corner boundary for a six, to reduce the runs required to 11. Atkinson kept Woakes off strike for two consecutive overs but at the start of the third he was dismissed by Siraj and the series was over. India took time out of its on-field celebrations to approach Woakes and applaud his pluck, another fitting end to a series in which emotions bubbled over from the drawn third test at Lord's onwards. India, trying to win a series in England for the first time since 2007, lost the toss in all five tests but exceeded expectations by winning more sessions. It was a tribute to Gill and his inexperienced team that the fight they put up diminished talk about the pre-series retirements of India greats Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin. 'Before the series we spoke about how we didn't want to be looked at as a young team,' Gill said. 'We wanted to be a gun team and I think we showed that today." Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Lokesh Rahul put Sharma in the shade, and Gill met the No. 4 traditions of Sachin Tendulkar and Kohli. Gill was questioned about his lack of scores overseas and began preparing for the series during the Indian Premier League. He stamped his authority in India's first bat with 147, the first of his four centuries in the series. 'We weren't given a chance but we've fought in every game and got 2-2,' 11-year test veteran Rahul said. "For Indian test cricket this will rank right at the top and this is where change begins. The India test team will win a lot more series. 'Not having Rohit, Virat, Ashwin hit me two weeks in. Everyone was coming to me to ask about English conditions. Then it hit me, I've stepped into a different role now. Gill's been phenomenal. He's formed connections. Tactically good, changes have gotten us wickets. He'll go on to become a good test captain.' Gill was the series leading run-scorer with 754, more than 200 more than Joe Root, and Siraj was the leading wicket-taker with 23, playing all five tests and still bowling at 90 mph (145 kph) on the final day. Also remarkably, premier bowler Jasprit Bumrah was restricted for workload reasons to three tests and India's two wins were without him. For England, Root's 500-plus runs lifted him to second on the all-time test runs list behind only Tendulkar. Fast bowler Jofra Archer returned after four years with venom and was keen to be available for the year-ending Ashes. Captain Ben Stokes was England's most effective bowler but exhausted himself into a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the Oval test. He was looking forward to being well rested for the first Ashes test against Australia starting on Nov. 21 in Perth. Stokes praised his Oval seam attack — depleted of himself, Archer and Woakes — for running India so close. 'When one of your bowlers goes down so early in the game, the role of the other seamers changes,' Stokes told the BBC. "Even in the second innings, the heart and desire they showed was amazing. There were many what-ifs in the last five days, makes the game great, but all (coach) Brendon (McCullum) and I asked was to give it everything. (Josh) Tongue, Atkinson and (Jamie) Overton showed it. 'The way in which we've been able to perform throughout the series, I'm looking forward to getting to Australia and doing what we want to go out there and do.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
