Tottenham star Heung-Min Son confirms he turned down offer from Saudi Pro League
Tottenham Hotspur forward Heung-Min Son has opened up about speculation regarding his potential move to Saudi Arabia this summer.
A host of big-name footballers have joined Saudi Arabian clubs in recent times. Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr in January and now, the likes of Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, and Roberto Firmino have all moved to Saudi Arabia this summer.
Recent reports suggested that Tottenham's Heung-Min Son has also received an offer from a Saudi Arabian club but he rejected it. In a press conference during Spurs' pre-season tour in Australia, he opened up about the links, saying (via Football.London):
"Probably if I wanted to go there I would be out there, not here. (Laughs) I love playing football, obviously money is also important. I dream of playing in the Premier League and still a lot of things to do."
Son also opened up about wanting to bounce back from a disappointing 2022-23 campaign. The South Korean star scored just 14 goals and provided six assists in 47 games across competitions for Tottenham.
He said:
"I'm looking forward to it this season and obviously especially last season when I suffered physically. So this is not Sonny that I know. I want to prove this season that I'm the Sonny that we all know. I want to prove that to myself and I want to give back to the club where I belong."
He added:
"Saudi obviously most people are going at the moment which is really, really interesting but it's a dream for me to play in the Premier League and I'm looking forward to this season."
Heung-Min Son is widely considered one of the greatest Asian footballers of all time. Hence, his arrival would have been a big boost for Saudi Arabian football but the South Korean is set to stay at Tottenham.
Tottenham's Heung-Min Son on injury issues during 2022-23 campaign
Heung-Min Son had an underwhelming 2022-23 campaign with Tottenham. The drop in form was accentuated by the fact that he jointly won the Premier League Golden Boot in the 2021-22 season, scoring 23 goals.
He recently revealed that he played a big part of the last season in pain due to an injury. After the season ended, Son underwent surgery for a sports hernia. A few weeks later, he said (via Football.London):
“I wondered a lot if I should even make this public, but I struggled with pain all season. I played through it for eight to nine months, but couldn’t go on anymore, so I made the decision finally and underwent surgery."
He added:
“Even for simple actions like passing or turning, every movement starts from your core muscles, but that’s exactly where my pain was. I was only able to do 60 per cent of what could do at 100 per cent [throughout the season].”
Son joined Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 and has gone on to become a club legend. He has scored 145 goals and provided 80 assists in 372 games for the club.