Why Tottenham captain Son Heung-min injury vs Qarabag was inevitable

On Thursday evening in the win over Qarabag, Heung Min-Son was withdrawn from the action with twenty minutes to go, after beginning to move gingerly after playing his part in Dominic Solanke's third goal, with the rebound of Son's curled effort being tapped home by the striker. Sadly, this felt inevitable.

Son even spoke this week about how players are playing too many games, saying they "can play 50-60" games but "not 70". The Spurs captain is someone who needs his minutes managed more than most, and possibly anyone.

He might miss the international break with the injury sustained against Qarabag, although we do not know the extent of the knock yet, but, if he does play in the forthcoming break, let's crunch the mind-blowing numbers.

South Korea will play two games over the break, firstly away to Jordan, before a home game against Iraq. If, to start the break, the national team meets up in Korea, before jetting off to play in Jordan - Son will have racked up a staggering 20,000 miles in traveling over the break, as well as playing two games in that time, and likely 180 minutes.

Why Tottenham captain Son Heung-min injury vs Qarabag was inevitable

There is also the jet lag to consider. Jordan is two hours ahead of BST, and Seoul is a whopping eight hours in front, so there will be a lot of jet lag as well as mileage for Son.

To add to that, Son already has 43,276 career minutes in his legs. For context, 37-year-old Jamie Vardy has 37,296 career minutes, whilst age-mate Pedro has 41,204 minutes played. Ruud Van Nistelrooy played 40,954 minutes in his career. Son, despite being 32, always has more career minutes than all three of those players.

You could tell he looked shattered vs Qarabag too. It was far from his best performance, and a lot of fans were surprised to see him in the starting XI for the game, with a trip to Old Trafford on the horizon. Unlike against Brentford, the 32-year-old stayed quite wide with Udogie tucking inside more, and from Son's point of view, it did not work.

Whilst we should all hope that the Spurs number 7 is not injured, if he is, and misses the forthcoming break as a result, it may not be the worst thing in the world. With his importance to the national team, you cannot help but fear they may call him up regardless, though. Even if they didn't play him, as mentioned above, the traveling in itself is enough to not want it to happen if he is carrying something.