It is indeed truly heartwarming and a real joy to see a player of the rapidly-growing stature like the current captain of Tottenham Hotspurs, Son Heung-Min, being openly lauded as a contemporary striker among the best in the trade at the highest echelons in global football by none other than Jose Mourinho, a managerial doyen even many players of caliber opt to keep a healthy distance from, due to his reputation for being a demanding taskmaster who is difficult to please.
Mourinho has made a major transfer claim about Son Heung-Min whilst heralding his undeniable stature as one of the best footballers available due to his specialized skills as a ‘modern’ striker with wide-ranging mobility and adaptability anywhere on the pitch. The Portuguese doyen has also referenced Son’s ability to monitor his trade right up there with the best at the highest international and club levels, bar none.
Jose Mourinho has explained why Tottenham Hotspurs star Son Heung-Min has the ability to play for Liverpool.
Mourinho had worked well with Son during his tenure managing Spurs from 2019-21. The following year in 2022, the talented forward won the Golden Boot alongside Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, sealing his stature as one of the game’s contemporary greats. The forward was subsequently accorded the honor of donning the captain’s armband last summer following the departure of teammate and strike partner, Harry Kane, who left for Bayern Munich in his pursuit of that elusive silverware.
Before Kane’s exit to the Bundesliga to front for Bayern Munich, he and Son formed a riveting, formidable partnership in the Premier League that often saw Liverpool stigmatized on the receiving end. Last Sunday again saw the South Korea international score at Anfield, as the Reds claimed a 4-2 victory in Jurgen Klopp’s penultimate home fixture as manager.
The strike was Son’s seventh goal against Liverpool across his career for Spurs. And now Mourinho has gladly come forward to give his take on why the South Korean international certainly has more than enough ability to be able to star prominently for the Reds.
“I don’t look at Son as a Korean player,” Mourinho told EA Sports FC.
“I look at Son as one of the best players in the world. Maybe Tottenham supporters aren’t going to be happy with what I’m going to say, it’s not disrespectful.
“He could win titles, he could play for the best teams. He could be playing in England for Man City, for Liverpool, for Chelsea. It could be abroad playing for one of the top teams.
“He has that modern mobility of the attacking players. He can play through the middle, from the sides, wide to coming inside.”
Buttressing Mourinho’s incredibly high esteem and appreciation for Son, Klopp himself has even admitted in the past that the Spurs captain is a player he would have liked to have signed, having actually made an attempt to sign the forward in 2013 from Hamburg before Bayer Leverkusen swooped in to snatch the forward from Klopp’s grasp in a €10 million deal.
“One of the biggest mistakes in my life is not signing Son Heung-min,” he told Korean outlet KBS News in November 2021. “Outstanding player. He is fantastic, a sign of Korean football and one of the best strikers in the world.”