Tottenham’s Son Heung-min has admitted that he agrees with his father’s suggestions that he still needs to put in more work in order to be considered ‘world class’.
Comments from Son Woong-jung in which he doubled down on past claims that his child was not yet ‘world class’ went viral last month, shortly after the forward won his first Premier League Golden Boot.
Son was recently asked about his father’s insinuations and insisted that his assessment was correct.
“It’s my father’s opinion…and I agree with him. I have been trying to be ‘world class’, and a true ‘world class’ player wouldn’t have these debates, which means I still have space to [continue developing],” Son said.
The 29-year-old scored 23 goals – with none from the penalty spot – on his way to splitting the Golden Boot with Mohamed Salah last season.
Son was playing catch-up to the Egyptian for much of the campaign but scored some huge goals down the stretch as Spurs secured a top-four finish, and his brace on the final day of the season against Norwich secured the prestigious accolade.
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Tottenham’s number seven revealed that he received plenty of motivation from teammate Eric Dier along the way.
“[Dier] told me a month ago ‘the Golden Boot is yours’. At that time I had some gap [to catch Salah] so thought ‘what Golden Boot?’, but as I got closer, everyone was excited. After that [before the last game of the season] he told me for the whole week, ‘bring the Golden Boot [home], it’s yours!'” Son added.
Son will return for pre-season training at Tottenham later this week before the club jet off to his native South Korea for a tour of the country.