Son Heung-min was at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to bid farewell to his old supporters last night. He left Spurs after 10 years of service at the end of last season. He made over 400 appearances for Tottenham, but was at the club during a drought when it came to trophies.
The South Korean was a runner-up with Spurs in the Champions League and the EFL Cup. They were also challengers for the Premier League title under Mauricio Pochettino. Son finally won a trophy in the Europa League final to cap off all his service to the club.
Now Son plays in MLS with Los Angeles FC. His side made it to the Conference semi-finals before losing to eventual MLS Cup runners-up, the Vancouver Whitecaps. Son's form in MLS has shown that he still has it at the age of 33. In 13 games for LAFC, he scored 12 goals and made four assists.
Son's replacement at Spurs was Xavi Simons, who has taken his famous no. 7 shirt. They are, however, different players with Son favoring playing on the left, whilst Simons is more of an attacking midfielder. Inevitably, as they wear the same shirt number, they will be compared to each other.
Can Xavi Simons live up to expectations at Tottenham Hotspur?
Simons may only be 22, but he has packed a lot into his career so far. He has had two spells with Paris Saint-Germain, which sandwiched a stint with PSV Eindhoven. The Netherlands international also impressed at RB Leipzig, which led to Tottenham paying £51.8 million for his services.
His tenure at Spurs got off to a slow start, despite making an assist in his Premier League debut against West Ham United. Following the match with the Hammers, Simons did not have a goal involvement in 10 successive league games. This run was finally ended with a goal and an assist in Spurs' 2-0 win over Brentford last weekend. This result was crucial for the under-fire Tottenham manager, Thomas Frank.
Simons then backed this up by getting on the scoresheet in Tottenham's 3-0 win over Slavia Prague in the Champions League last night. He has a long-term contract at Spurs until 2030, so he will have the time to emulate Son. However, the Dutchman will be hoping for more silverware than his predecessor at Tottenham. This should be very achievable in a post-Daniel Levy era at Tottenham.