The biggest Asian Player of all time. Every time such goat conversations arise, there will surely be debate and disagreement.
It is purely subjective and differs depending on the primary criteria of an individual: either the success of the IT team or individual praise.
Even so, his son Heung-Min has an excellent case to be labeled as the best Asian football player of all time.
At least, he is one of the main candidates.
And his legend, both in Asia and among the faithful of Tottenham Hotspur, is now directed to America.
After an emotional farewell to the Spurs, the next chapter of the Son race was confirmed on Wednesday when he completed a transfer to theFC so the sources told ESPN that it was a MLS registration transfer rate of $ 26 million.
Even for global standards, South Korea's captain is an A-Lister in good faith.
During the last decade, he has starred in one of the most prominent clubs in England and Europe, even if he took him to the last spring finally get a first piece of cutlery of the club in the form of the Europa League.
If the Premier League will be recognized as the most competitive national competition in the world, then the 2021-22 Golden Boot winner season (which he shared with Mohamed Salah in 23 goals) surely saw him reach world class status.
Only in his first and last seasons with the Spurs did not hit the two digits in the goals of the League and, he has to remember, that many of those campaigns saw him play and not as the focal point in the attack, which only became the departure of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich.
However, if consistency is one of its strongest attributes, its inclination for the spectacular is perhaps what has become an icon in the eyes of its many followers.
Trophy cabinet of the son of the awards of the goal of the season. A lot of long -range shouts and solo efforts that would leave fans who still marvel until today when they see a repetition.
One, however, was good enough to win the Puskás FIFA Award as the best objective worldwide in 2020: an impressive load of 70 yards that began from outside its own penalty area that saw him leave the entire Burnley team in his path before finishing calmly beyond the goalkeeper.
Such iconic moments are what LAFC and MLS, Hope are bringing with him in the United States.
The son's talent is indisputable.
But perhaps what really raised it to the player in which he has become is what happens behind the scene that few are aware.
He has told how his father, a former player, made him juggled with the ball for four hours in a row in his youth. While it was probably not the most orthodox of training methods, he certainly perfected the technique and ball control now renowned, and also instilled a certain level of commitment to his trade.
Tolgay Arslan, a close friend who arrived in the ranks with a son in Hamburg, has no doubt in his mind that the South Korean captain would not have come so far based only on natural ability.
“You could see that 'Sonny' had a really special gift. I had a lot of talent [but] You can see many talented players in Europe, “Arslan told ESPN in an interview last October.
“His father did a lot for him. Hard work, even with his father, took him, in my opinion, to another level. Therefore, he is the best Asian player who has played football.
“It's a talent but also hard and hard work.”
The belief that they are had what was needed to succeed professionally would have been a key factor behind their parents, allowing him to leave high school in Seoul to join the Hamburg Academy at the age of 16.
When I was 18, they were impressed enough to win their professional debut.
Comparisons are immediately attracted to compatriot Cha Bum-Kun, a pioneer who won two UEFA glasses (as the Europa League was previously known) in the 1980s with other German clubs Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen.
Son would eventually follow the steps of Cha to join Leverkusen in 2013. Two years later, Tottenham would vomit a call and the rest, as they often say, it is history.
The Premier League He is not always kind to new foreign signings. It can be hard and relentless.
Three summers before the moving of Son northern London, another Asian prospectus prodigiously talented had also impressed enough in the Bundesliga to gain a great movement to the Premier League.
Shinji Kagawa's transfer to Manchester United, just arrived from him playing a fundamental role in the consecutive bundesliga titles of Borussia Dortmund under Jürgen Klopp, possibly arrived with greater exaggeration. Although the Premier League won in his first year, which coincided with the last season of Sir Alex Ferguson to the helm, he could never establish himself completely and he left even before the arrival of Son.
Many, such as Dong Fangzhuo and Junichi Inamoto, were considered pure marketing movements. Others worked admirably, but in less enlightened clubs such as Shinji Okazaki, who certainly won the Premier League in that season of fairy tale with Leicester City.
Hidetoshi Nakata, the only player who arrived before are that he probably had a similar global profile as an Asian player, only moved to Bolton Wanderers at a time when his powers and interest in the professional game, decreased.
They are suffering similar obstacles to adapt to the Premier League. He scored only four times in his debut campaign.
With the determination and commitment to the trade that now embodies what brings to the field, he persevered.
His second season would see him with 14 goals in the league and 21 in all the competition. He has never looked back since then.
So, who really Is it the best Asian soccer player of all time? Is he the one who has just moved to the MLS?
Purely from a team's success point of view, Park Ji-Sung would be a popular alternative response, and he is one to which they have referred in the past as a model to follow.
The Park trophies -loaded spell with United saw him claim four Premier League titles, three league cups and a UEFA Champions League crown. It could even have been two continental titles given Ferguson's suspicion that the 2011 final against Barcelona was lost because he did not change his South Korean anulatory to play with Lionel Messi in the part-time, when the tie was still balanced in 1-1.
Nakata did not enjoy much longevity in his career, but, at its peak, he boasted of irrefutable quality. With six rounds to play in the 2000-01 season of Serie A, his excellent cameo, where he left the bench and played a hand in both goals when Rome arrived from behind to attract 2-2 with Juventus, effectively said the Escudón For Capital Club, since it meant that they passed their real final test in the race home with a six -point advantage still within its reach.
Although it is less familiar for many, Ali Daei of Iran also has a case. The Bayern striker of 108 international goals was a male record until Cristiano Ronaldo eclipsed him in 2021.
There are also the pioneers like Cha, whose 308 appearances in the Bundesliga were a record as an Asian import that would represent for 30 years.
However, none of them can claim to be among the best players in the world at a given time. Son could possibly.
However, perhaps the debate surrounding the best Asian footballer of all time is not one that must be responded to this conversation.
Among some very estimated companions, you can simply remember what they are is a legend in their own right.
And that is the brilliant legacy that will bring with him to LAFC and MLS.
