It should not really be much of a surprise that Son Heung-min has stepped up and then some in his new role as Tottenham Hotspur captain, yet some have been struck by just how comfortably he has taken on the armband.
Outside of Spurs, the South Korean star was the seemingly obvious choice to become the club’s next captain with Hugo Lloris set to depart and Harry Kane having made the switch to the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich. Son is the skipper of his national side and carries the hopes of his country on his shoulders every single week, regardless of whether he’s playing international or club football, and he is one of Spurs’ longest serving first teamers and their biggest star.
Yet there was still surprise among some within Tottenham and those who have departed, despite relishing working and playing with Son over the years, that Ange Postecoglou had decided to give him the armband to lead the club forward into a very different new era.
For Son has always been immensely popular within the club and well respected by everyone, yet not too many saw him as a leader at Tottenham. That was demonstrated most notably by the fact that despite being one of the team’s older players, the 31-year-old was not part of Spurs’ leadership group in recent years, a group which contained Lloris, Kane, Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Before that Mauricio Pochettino would mostly go through Lloris to discuss the overall mood of the group but the leadership group was borne after the Argentine’s exit as a way for the players to have their voice within the club. Even the young players were represented with Oliver Skipp becoming involved towards the end of the Antonio Conte era in an experience-gaining role as their representative.
But there was no Son. So there was some surprise within the club and among those who have left in recent years when Postecoglou announced his new captain would be the South Korean star and that his vice-captains would be new arrival James Maddison and Argentine centre-back Cristian Romero. None of the squad’s previous leaders were involved. It was a clean sweep of the broom by the new Tottenham boss.
There was a little pause in the team meeting as Son’s name was said by Postecoglou before the players all began to turn with smiles and applauded their new skipper.
All three members of the new captaincy group were surprised. Postecoglou had given them no prior heads-up, so Son suddenly found himself called up to make a quick speech in front of his team-mates and the club’s cameraman as they were tipped off that the captaincy announcement was to come in that pre-match team meeting.
Son even politely asked if he should make a speech after Postecoglou gave him a handshake and a hug. Off the cuff he spoke about the huge season ahead, the need to be disciplined, to train hard and most importantly for all of them to be together. He punctuated the impromptu speech with a regular beat by clapping his hands together at the end of each sentence. The pride was clear in the grin on his face.
Postecoglou made it clear during that team meeting that leadership can come from anywhere. “Leadership can come from the youngest players in the team. Leadership is about behaviour,” he said. “That’s it. It’s the example you set. If you train well and if you do something in the game that inspires everyone else then that’s leadership. It’s about everyone buying into it.”
Postecoglou wants the dressing room to very much be the players’ space with no intrusion from the coaching staff and how that environment looks needs to be driven by the squad rather than him or his staff. He told the players that they would create the environment that decides whether Spurs are successful.
That’s why Son was the obvious choice despite that surprise for some. Like Kane, he sets an example through his professionalism and his training levels and what he does during matches often drives on the team. Last season was more difficult because, by his own admission, he spent much of it in his own half or in positions where his threat was nullified and that appeared to eat into his confidence.
Before that though Son was the one who would step up in Kane’s absence and drag the team through most of the matches the England captain missed through injury for his club.
Now he is stepping up once again and even those who did not see him as a leader at club level have been taken aback by just how much Sonny – as he is known by everyone – has relished this new challenge and how much effort he has already put into repaying Postecoglou’s faith in him.
Those behind the scenes have noticed him grow quickly with the responsibility and he has become an active leader when before he was simply a popular member of the squad. That popularity has helped though as nobody wants to let down a player who has always been there for them.
