Son Heung-min: A special footballer adored beyond north London

In another world, I may well be preparing to wax lyrical over Saido Berahino.

"After a decade of prolific service, having usurped a burgeoning Harry Kane, who retired from football in 2021 to pursue a career as a kicker in the NFL, Berahino departs as Tottenham's all-time record goalscorer, having established himself as one of the finest strikers of his generation."

But no, Berahino, following spells in Belgium and Cyprus, is now plying his trade in the Slovenian second tier. Venture down to Tabor Sežana's Rajko Štolfa Stadium if you're ever in the area.

Instead, I have the privilege of dedicating the next few hundred words to Son Heung-min. I write with a grin on my face, safe in the knowledge that the Korean superstar will be riding into the Californian sunset, having been one of the very few to enjoy a happy ending in N17.

He departs after ten years of wonder, but Son's relationship with Spurs wasn't always full of glee. After a debut season in which injury thrust him into a sporadic role behind a majestic trio of blossoming stars (and Erik Lamela), Son was keen to give up on his Premier League venture with an offer from Wolfsburg on the table. The Bundesliga comfort zone enticed him, but Mauricio Pochettino convinced the unsure Korean that Tottenham was the place to be.

If the ending of our Berahino pursuit to strike a deal for Son in 2015 wasn't the ultimate sliding doors moment in the forward's career, then perhaps that meeting with Poch takes the cake.

From that moment on, all Son could do was grow. He emerged from the periphery into perennial, cult hero into icon. We quickly learned of the Korean's capacity to devastate in front of goal when handed merely half a yard of space. The ball location when Son opted to let fly was so often irrelevant, with his remarkable consistency off both feet a major reason why he leaves the club with 173 goals, and one of the Premier League's top 20 leading marksman.

He hit double figures in every league campaign between 2016/17 and 2023/24, with his best work arriving when his destructive relationship with partner in crime Harry Kane was at his pomp. Son claimed his one and only Golden Boot in 2021/22 with 23 Premier League goals.

By then, Son had ascended into a realm of superstardom. After his breakthrough sophomore second year, the forward developed a knack for producing the most decisive moments on the biggest stages. It was during our run to the Champions League final in 2019 when Son, a superhero in Korea, donned his cape to save a Spurs outfit forced to run the gauntlet in Kane's absence.

Most memorably, he struck three times over two legs in our unforgettable quarter-final victory over Manchester City—a tie we had no right to win. With our backs against the wall for 90 minutes at the Etihad, Son's two early strikes, which arrived the week after he passionately queried whether Pep Guardiola knew who he was, evoked a sense of destiny. How could anyone finish with such unerring precision in the face of Guardiola-induced suffering?

His peak coincided with the increased prominence of goalscoring metrics, but Son has only been able to smile widely in the face of "xG" and the like. His relentless defiance of data has baffled the boffins, and the forward fittingly saved his one high-profile miss to ensure Arsenal wouldn't get their hands on the Premier League title in 2024.

All the superlatives that have been dished out to describe Son fit.

His ten years proved to be a decade of exciting tumult in N17, when Spurs teased to be something great under Pochettino, but hopelessly lost their way in the subsequent years, wading their way through short-term highs that eventually forced supporters to nihilism.

Son's relationship with Harry Kane was the saving grace. The former's infectious personality, distinct from his first day at Hotspur Way ten summers ago, functioned as a fallback in times of strife. We were never too far away from the next devastating connection between our telepathic tandem to make us believe again.

But then Son lost Kane, too. He'd seen Christian Eriksen move to Inter in 2020, Dele Alli drift, and Lamela pick up his final booking. Not to mention the drastic turnover which took place behind him. Son, through admirable loyalty, remained a constant. In 2023, he was named club captain by Ange Postecoglou, who aptly described the loveable Korean as a "unifier", and his two years with the armband concluded with that glorious night in Bilbao.

As Jack Pitt-Brooke of The Athletic puts it, Son's tears on 21 May, 2025, "were Tottenham’s tears," such was the lack of distinction between player and club.

Nobody deserved it more. For suffering through a tough debut season, the cruel demise of Pochettino, "We're going to make you proud", Cristian Stellini, and Ryan Mason's 34 interim spells. Son's experienced this bonkers club like no other. Well, maybe best friend Ben Davies will eventually be able to tell a similar tale.

"“I came to north London as a kid — 23 years old, a very young age, a boy who couldn’t speak English. I leave this club as a man. Thank you to all the Spurs fans who have given me so much love. It felt like it was my home.""

Son Heung-min

Son was not the inevitable superstar of his lengthy apex in 2024/25, and there is a sense that this is the right time. Bilbao was the perfect finale, but that doesn't mean it hurts any less.

A special footballer, but perhaps an even more impressive human being. Son Heung-min: universally beloved. Erewhon has him now.