Before you Spurs fan’s start losing your proverbial shit, let me fully explain the shortened headline to this story. It should read Son Hueng-Min, Asia’s Greatest of all Time. Apologies, I couldn’t help myself and thought it would upset a few before we even got started. For the record this is a Son Heung-Min appreciation post.

I have to be completely honest, outside of a red Liverpool shirt, Son is by far my favourite player in the English Premier League. And I would like to put end to the debate of whether he is world class or not. You’re damn straight he is. What a frikkin player. Now, I will admit to the fact that I knew very little about Son before his €30 million arrival at Tottenham after his decision to leave Bayer Leverkusen. But what a pleasure it has been learning about him since his arrival in England.

Son Heung-Min has it all. His speed is electric. His understanding of the game and its intricacies is very impressive. He can score worldies with his left and his right and even pitches in with the odd header too. With the ball at his feet, running full speed at defenders, he is one of the best in the world. I can imagine he has given many a defender sleepless nights. And what is even more impressive is the level of improvement he has managed to achieve in the past 4 seasons. His rise to greatness has been a joy to watch.

A certain amount of credit must go to the Tottenham manager, one of the best in the business at developing talent, Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentinian took what was undoubtedly a great talent and turned it into what we see today, a week in week out world class performer. I actually sat down and watched a video of Son’s best goals in a Spurs shirt, my god he’s scored some crackers.

Now onto the debate of whether he is the GOAT? I have done a little research and in my 30 years of being a football supporter I cannot remember one single player from Asia being anywhere near as good as Son is. And doing some research, I don’t think any player gets even close. Park Ji Sung was a pretty handy player. He spent several years at one of the biggest clubs in the world, Manchester United. He won 4 Premier League titles, 3 league cups and a Champions League during his 7 years at the club. Which is an incredible haul, but he only played 134 times for the club in 7 seasons. While Son has already played 127 times in his almost 4 seasons. I think this shows the difference in both players overall importance to their individual clubs.

Then there is Hidetoshi Nakata. He had a pretty decent career in his own right playing several years in Italy’s top flight. A midfielder who was a real grafter and always gave 1000% for both club and country. Very decent player, but not even close to the talent of Son Hueng-Min. And of course we can’t forget Shinji Kagawa. This is the player who gets closest to Son in terms of ability. He had a very good career with both Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United (admittedly his United stint was not outstanding). But both his skill level and understanding of the game was very good. And at times he could make a real impact on a game. Very good player again, but doesn’t hold a candle to Son.

I think the debate of whether he is the greatest Asian player of all time is a clear one. In my opinion he is and by quite a distant. Some may argue the “world class” status I have placed upon him, especially seeing as he has failed to win any major trophies. But that aside, watching him on the pitch I just get the sense that he is always better than 90% of the players around him, thus for me putting him in the world class bracket. I think that he could easily walk into the starting line up for any team in the world, bar perhaps Liverpool who for me have the best front 3 in world football.

Forget your Harry Kane, get in there Son!!!