Talking Tactics: Son Heung-Min could be among best in MLS - but only if LAFC use him as MVP candidate, not overpaid role player

It won’t seem right to see Son Heung-Min wearing another color that isn’t the Lilywhite of Tottenham Hotspur. Sure, this is a South Korean, who spent seven years at two different clubs before moving to Spurs as a 23-year-old. But no other player has been so closely associated with the rollercoaster ride that is Tottenham than Son.

He arrived at the club in 2015, and formed an electric partnership with Harry Kane – one that somehow, cruelly, didn’t finish with any silverware. But as others came and went, Son stayed. He outlasted Kane, Hugo Lloris, Toby Alderweild, Jan Vertonghen and Dele Ali.

He was coached by seven different managers and lasted a decade in North London. And when he lifted the Europa League trophy a few months ago, it felt like his forever home had been found. Surely, Son had to retire here, right? Age gracefully, chip in here and there, and then walk away?

أؤكد رغبتي في رؤية محتوى خارجي. قد تُنقل بيانات التعريف الشخصية إلى جهات خارجية. اقرأ المزيد حول هذا الموضوع في سياسة الخصوصية الخاصة بنا.

Apparently not. Son is on the verge of MLS’s highest-profile signing of the season, with LAFC reportedly set to pay north of $20 million to secure his services. If he had to go, it seems a good fit. Los Angeles is a lovely place to live, and such is the culture of the club and the willingness to spend of the ownership that he could spend at least the next 18 months fighting for titles. LAFC are certainly a playoff team, and an MLS Cup is within reach.

Still, what seems to be a perfect move might not be so simple. Son is a wonderful footballer who will make any team, in pretty much any league at any level, immediately better. But should they finalize the deal, LAFC will have to get their tactics right to ensure that they get the most out of what would be a club-record signing – and ensure that they bring in Son, the MVP candidate, rather than Son the overpaid role player.

Still, what seems to be a perfect move might not be so simple. Son is a wonderful footballer who will make any team, in pretty much any league at any level, immediately better. But should they finalize the deal, LAFC will have to get their tactics right to ensure that they get the most out of what would be a u0026nbsp;club-record signing – and ensure that they bring in Son, the MVP candidate, rather than Son the overpaid role player.u0026nbsp;

First it’s worth looking at the football Steve Cherundolo and LAFC already like to play. Olivier Giroud was their last big-money signing from Europe, and he was a remarkably bad fit for the Black and Gold. The manager never quite figured him out. At first, they tried to slow down to serve Giroud’s aging legs. Then Giroud did what Giroud does very well, and missed a load of chances.

Eventually, the manager scrapped it altogether and asked a youthful, quick, team to play with youth and quickness. Giroud couldn’t keep up. It was a disaster, and LAFC, in all honesty, deserve some credit for saving face.u0026nbsp;

But now, they could have someone far more threatening. There is no point remotely thinking about comparing the two players. Giroud is a No .9, through and through. Son is a rapid winger, best used when starting on the left and making jagged runs inside onto his right foot.

But he can also play on the right, or even through the middle as part of a front two. u0026nbsp;He has played in teams, historically, who have pressed high, run for 90 minutes, and hit on the break. MLS is chaotic and transitional. LAFC like that kind of chaos.u0026nbsp;

There are tactical minutiea but the broader picture here is that Son is not only well equipped for a system like Cherundolo’s, but also immensely familiar with it. Early signs, then, are good.u0026nbsp;

What seems to have been forgotten in the chaos of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club over the last 18 months is just how good Son is. He scored double-digit goals in eight of his 10 seasons in the الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز, and had to play second fiddle to Harry Kane in all but two of those. In 2021-22, he split the Golden Boot with Mo Salah, finding the net 23 times. He can assist, too, and has tallied more than five in the league in each one of his seasons in إنجلترا.u0026nbsp;

On an international stage, Son is even better. He has played at three World Cups, and led Korea to the 2018 Asia Games gold medal. Only one player has scored more goals for his country, and with just 10 goals between them, it is likely that Son will surpass that mark. Add in the fact that he captains the side, and Son is certainly the finest footballer Korea has ever produced.

He’s also, more broadly, culturally significant. There is an unfortunate stereotype around Asian footballers that still persists in segments of soccer discourse. Players are praised for being “hardworking”, “diligent”, and “illustrious.” For one, Ji Sung Park, a wonderfully technical footballer who became a personal favorite of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester متحد, was relegated to just being “a good runner” in the eyes of the English media.

ليفربول‘s Wataru Endo is a cultured defensive midfielder. He tends to get more plaudits for his work rate. Son shatters that stereotype to bits. He’s an excellent dribbler, an impossible one-on-one matchup, and a bit of a showman in his own right. Son makes football look fun.u0026nbsp;

Son’s appeal is, indeed, in his versatility. Ask him to play anywhere across the front line, and he will do it to a good level. For Spurs, he operated on either wing, and through the middle.

When the team got really groovy under Mauricio Pochettino, Son drifted from side to side, and made runs in behind from all sorts of chaotic angles – with Kane dropping deep to feed him the ball and Dele Ali serving as a Thomas-Muller-lite Raumdeuter in between.u0026nbsp;

Look through his goal catalogue and you will see a bit of everything. There are long-range strikes, amazing runs, deft flicks and acrobatic scissor kicks. He has every type of finish in his locker – and off both feet.

But there are still some absolutes here. As Son has aged, and worked under different managers, he has become far more efficient. These days he hangs around off the shoulder of the last defender, functioning as an inside forward who likes to cut onto his right foot. Yes, he can still go onto his left and beat a man around the outside, but Son, in his most efficient form, is a player in the mold of Salah or even Thierry Henry.u0026nbsp;

He can, in a pinch, play on the right. But he is not a width-holding touchline winger that this LAFC side might need.u0026nbsp;

And therein lies the problem. LAFC have an array of attacking talent, but the right wing position is under question.u0026nbsp;

Denis Bouanga is certainly a top-five player in MLS, and among the best attacking presences in the league. But there is an issue in his positional versatility – or lack thereof. Bouanga, to a fault, is a left winger. Of Bouanga’s 31 appearances in all competitions this season, 29 have come on the left. Those have yielded 18 goals and seven assists.

Through the middle, he has scored just once – without registering an assist.u0026nbsp;

Look at his MLS career, and much the same picture forms. Last season, 43 of his 46 appearances came on the left. All but two of his 44 goal contributions came from that position. The year before he showed a little more versatility, but was still markedly less effective when playing through the middle or off the right wing.

There was sparse speculations that Bouanga could leave – with Club America reportedly interested in securing his services. But there doesn’t seem to be much behind that other than whispers and agent talk. He’s not going anywhere.

Meanwhile, LAFC’s other attacking options are a little more patchy. Nathan Ordaz has offered promise, but is still young, and not particularly clinical. Jeremy Ebobisse is more of a steady reserve option. David Martinez might be a long-term solution, and showed flashes of quality at right wing, but he’s also 19, and questions about his long-term readiness for the spot are entirely valid.

The most obvious solution, then, would be to play Son on the right, with Ordaz through the middle and Bouanga on the left. There is also a world in which Martinez starts on the right, Son could play through the center and Ordaz comes off the bench. Either way, Cherundolo would have to show some serious tactical chops to get it all working.u0026nbsp;

And, more broadly, this is where LAFC get interesting. Son is a unique genre of designated player in that he operates without ego, and has shown, even at the wrong side of 30 with 45,000 career minutes under his belt, that he is willing to run and put in the hard yards off the ball. He seldom complains, sulks, or, as Americans love to say “takes a play off.”u0026nbsp;

But it is one thing to have an elite footballer and another to use him correctly. There should be no doubts here about Son’s ability to score goals, set others up, or generally help out the team. LAFC are good enough right now so that Son would be allowed to get his legs into gear, adjust to the pace of the game, and familiarize himself with the American heat.

Cherundolo’s side could tick along without him starting, and take what contributions they can get. There are some Marco Reus-لوس أنجلوس جالاكسي 2024 vibes here. Still, $20 million would be a lot of money for a plug-and-play glue guy. Son would need to be used, and used right.

If LAFC put all of the pieces in place, then could have an MVP-level player who makes them MLS contenders. Short of that, such a signing would be considered a disappointment.u0026nbsp;