The South Korean men’s national team captain and Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min is busy collecting accolades these days. President of SK, Yoon Suk-yeo, awarded Cheongnyong Medal to Son before a friendly match against Brazil. It is the highest order of merit among 5 medals awarded to an individual for their achievement in sports or promoting national sports. SK went on to lose 1-5 to mighty Brazil.
Son Heung-min is the First Asian Player to win Premier League Golden Boot
The award came a week after Son Heung-min became the first Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot. He shared the prestigious award with Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah after both ended the 2021-2022 season with 23 goals each. However, the goals Son scored were all non-penalty goals, unlike other forwards. The underrated Asian had 5 goals edge over any other player in the premier league. He even surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohammed Salah, and Harry Kane if ignoring the penalty goals.
Why was He Snubbed for Player of the Year?
Despite exceptional performance this season, Son Heung-min was not nominated for PFA (Professional Footballers Association) Player of the Year 2022. Fans expressed their rage that Ronaldo was selected instead of him, who scored only 15 non-penalty goals this season. Other 5 nominees are Harry Kane, Virgil Van Dijk, Sadio Mane, Kevin DeBruyne, and Mohammed Salah. Fans believed that Son was way better than some players on this list.
On the Way to Making History
Ever since joining Tottenham in 2015 for 38 million USD (the highest value for an Asian player), Son Heung-min has only gotten stronger. He smoothly transitioned from wide winger to inverted winger for delivering the ball to the strikers like Harry Kane. He has scored around 18 goals in each of his last 6 seasons with the Spurs, including all competitions and cups. He needs to score 7 more goals to reach his 100th Premier League goal and join the ranks of legends like Alan Shearer, Ryan Giggs, and Emile Heskey.
