Declining Son Heung-min has earned the right to decide his Tottenham future - but Thomas Frank needs one last favour out of South Korean legend before emotional farewell

No matter which way you spin it, Son Heung-min is a Tottenham legend. Goals? Check. Iconic moments? Check. Fan adoration? Check. Global influence? Check. Silverware? At last, check.

The South Korean marked his 10th season at Spurs by bringing home the club’s first trophy since the League Cup of 2008 and he sat at right at the front of the open-top bus which crawled down N17’s High Road for a first celebratory parade since 1991. The ‘nicest man in football’ shed tears when the final whistle sounded at the end of May’s Europa League final as if he were truly one of Tottenham’s own, finally a champion as much as a winner.

And yet, Son’s future at Tottenham is as up in the air as ever. Not since a mini-saga in 2016, when he was offered the chance to return to Germany with Wolfsburg after a quiet debut season, has he been so heavily tipped to leave. One year remains on his contract and this is likely the last chance Spurs will have at selling him for a fee worth their while.

Son, more than any other Spurs player in the 21st century, has earned the right to decide his destiny. If he wants to end his Tottenham career in a blaze of glory and leave before the summer window shuts, then so be it. But if he isn’t exactly itching to get away, he still has a significant part to play in helping new head coach Thomas Frank through a transitional period.

No matter which way you spin it, Son Heung-min is a Tottenham legend. Goals? Check. Iconic moments? Check. Fan adoration? Check. Global influence? Check. Silverware? At last, check.

The South Korean marked his 10th season at Spurs by bringing home the club’s first trophy since the League Cup of 2008, and he sat at right at the front of the open-top bus which crawled down N17’s High Road for a first celebratory parade since 1991. The ‘nicest man in football’ shed tears when the final whistle sounded at the end of May’s Europa League final as if he were truly one of Tottenham’s own, finally a champion as much as a winner.

Son has often been labelled a streaky and inconsistent player by his detractors, though that has hardly ever proved a fair assessment. He recorded eight successive seasons reaching double figures for goals in the الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز, winning the Golden Boot in 2021-22 without scoring a penalty and also tallied double digits in assists in four other campaigns.

However, 2024-25 was the first since his initial 2015-16 season in which Son failed to get to 10 league goals, having to settle for seven in 30 games instead. In all competitions, he grabbed 11 in 46. At age 32, he was also unsuited to playing as a touchline winger as head coach Ange Postecoglou insisted, often found stranded on the touchline and failing to come infield to threaten given his flailing pace and explosiveness.

Son regularly features atop lists of players who have travelled the most miles for international duty and played the most minutes – he clocked over 3,000 at club level alone last season despite battling foot and hamstring injuries. At some point or another, his body was bound to feel the burn of those miles, and it’s testament to his athleticism and work ethic that he’s spent much of his career in top condition, playing 753 games for club and country to date. There’s no shame in feeling the effects of Father Time.

Even despite Spurs and Son’s struggles in a season where they finished 17th and focused their efforts on a different competition, the team tallied the seventh-most goals in the Premier League and even managed to outscore fourth-placed Chelsea.

The attacking potential in the team is huge and has only been added to of late with the £55 million ($74m) acquisition of tricky forward Mohammed Kudus from West Ham, who set the pulses of optimists racing with his fine performance in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Reading in a pre-season friendly. In his introductory press conference on Friday, Frank acknowledged the riches of talent at his disposal.

“I think the front three, four, depending on if we play with a 10 and a front three, with Dominic [Solanke] up there, I think Richarlison is a good striker, I know he’s been struggling with injuries, I think he was having a strong end to the season and was very important for the team to win the Europa League trophy,” he said. “Brennan [Johnson], [Dejan] Kulusevski, I know he’s out for a little bit of a while but he’s still there. [James] Maddison, [Wilson] Odobert, Mathys Tel and now Kudus. I think that’s a strong, creative frontline and I’m 100 percent sure we will score a lot of goals.”

Notably, Frank did not mention Son in his answer, and Tottenham are still being linked to a number of players who can play in the final third, not least Morgan Gibbs-White amid the club’s legal battle with Nottingham Forest.

So what has Frank said about Son, then? During an earlier part of that same press conference, the Dane was quizzed on transfer speculation relating to the 33-year-old and centre-back Cristian Romero, who was courted by Atletico Madrid this summer, but was insistent he is only looking at their short-term futures.

“Two top players,” Frank said. “Sonny, been here 10 years, finally got his his well deserved trophy in the summer. So important for the team and the club. Cristian Romero, World Cup winner, Europa League winner, Copa America winner, very, very important for us as well. Both have trained well, setting the standards out there on the training pitch and both will play [against Reading] so I’m very happy.

“My expectation is all the players are here and they are training well. That is what I am focusing on and again very impressed by them. They set the standards and train hard. As I said, they are playing tomorrow, that’s a good indicator that they are here.”

Not only is Son’s place in the team at risk, but so is his status as club captain. Frank added: “I haven’t decided anything on [the captaincy]. I have a long list of bullet points I need to get through and I take them in the right order. He was the captain last year and when we play two 45s [at Reading], Son and Romero will be the two captains, but I haven’t made a final decision.” Frank also confirmed this decision would be his, and not left to a dressing room vote as is the case at other clubs.

During Postecoglou’s first summer in charge, he continually had to field questions about the uncertain future of Harry Kane, who too was entering the final year of his contract and was targeted by Bayern Munich. The Australian even had to contend with a German reporter presenting him with a ‘Kane 9’ Bayern shirt during their tour of Asia.

The England captain ended up signing for the Bavarian giants about 48 hours before Tottenham began their 2023-24 campaign, which meant losing their best player by far and significantly worsening their chances of winning silverware or qualifying for the Champions League. Frank was further asked if he would prefer to veer clear of such a drawn out saga with Son.

“Yeah. First and foremost, he’s here now. I’m not worried too much about it,” he Frank. “Let’s take that five or six weeks down the line. That will probably be something I get [asked] the following week, so I’ll practice my answers. Right now, he’s here.”

Nevertheless, Son ought to be far from surplus to requirements. Such a central figure to their success doesn’t go from playing 46 matches in a season to a complete outcast over one summer.

Tottenham’s squad was stretched to the very brink in 2024-25 largely due to an injury crisis which, for a long stretch over the winter, saw 10 first-team players or more sidelined at any given point. That was with Postecoglou already making sweeping changes to his line ups to combat the extended first phase of the Europa League.

“No doubt if you want to compete in all tournaments you need a competitive squad, a robust squad,” Frank said pre-Reading. “There’s a lot of competitive players in the squad. It’s an exciting squad. There’s no doubt the club is in the market and looking. I would like to speak when a player comes in and not about the market.

“It’s always a balance, the squad size, how big, how small should it be to compete. I know Tottenham. I know the players, I’ve seen a lot but I need to know them one to one, need to train them and getting input every single day about them to give me more knowledge. But if you want to compete you need to use the squad well.”

A return to the Champions League means Frank won’t have the luxury of simply rotating to a ‘B team’ every other game. He will instead have to manage minutes cleverly or risk facing the same fitness problems which proved the bane of his predecessor. Even with several other players vying for the left wing spot, Son would still play a significant number of matches if he stays, while his ability to fill in as a centre-forward may also prove useful given how injury prone Richarlison – another player linked with an exit – has been over the last year. If Son values playing at the highest level possible, then his best bet to do so comes in remaining at Tottenham.

Frank is expected to favour inside forwards rather than the chalk-on-the-boot wingers that Postecoglou utilised, while Son’s underlying numbers per 90 minutes over the last year – 0.26 expected goals, 2.46 shots, 0.32 assists, 0.31 expected assists and 4.89 shot-creating actions, per FBRef – still ranked him among the most dangerous attackers in all of Europe, even if the eye test was nowhere near as promising. With a playing style more suited to his own of preference, Son could in theory rediscover some more prolific form.

Whenever Tottenham fail to win, the finger of blame can often be found pointed at a lack of leadership. The extent of such a crux is hard to prove from the outside looking in, but it’s not a baseless foundation either. Spurs’ defeats in 2024-25, including a club-record 22 in the league alone, felt incredibly meek and without fight, usually with players failing to take initiative when what was coached of them wasn’t working.

That Frank seemingly has reservations over the captaincy may also suggest he is searching for new leaders to step forward, but ridding Son from his role and the club altogether wouldn’t help that issue. He is one of the last remaining links between their generation of consistent Premier League success and today, a recognisable face all over the world and someone an extremely young squad looks up to. Ben Davies, whose role at the very end of the bench is likely to become even further reduced, is the only other player in Frank’s squad over the age of 30.

Frank was a complete unknown in England when he arrived at Brentford as an assistant manager in 2016 before his promotion to head coach two years later. He had ample time to build a strong relationship with the squad before taking the reins, and even when life as the main man started awfully – the Bees lost eight of his first 10 games – he was supported by the board because of trust in the process. He left the west Londoners as their most successful manager ever.

The challenge at Tottenham is far, far different. Brentford, both in the Championship and Premier League, were not under pressure to win on a consistent basis, nor did they have the magnifying glass of scrutiny so closely pointed at them. Almost all press about the Bees was flattering, a far cry from the rigours of Spurs.

If results are positive, starting with next month’s UEFA Super Cup date with Paris Saint-Germain, then life will be easier for Frank and the adjustment to a club in the public eye will be smoother. He will, however, still need the support of a dressing room who may question his methods a lot more than those in his previous job. Keeping Son and subsequently keeping him onside would be in Frank’s interests as much as the club’s.

There remains the possibility that Tottenham keep Son and extend his contract by a further year to 2027 to prevent losing him for free, but agree to facilitate a transfer in 2026 regardless. Whether it’s through those means or on a Bosman, Son should have the ability to freely decide his next destination.

The usual landing spots for ageing footballing royalty of MLS and the Saudi Pro League have already been touted for Son, but it’s plausible that he will want to carry on playing at an elite level even after he leaves Spurs. Given how cash-strapped a lot of clubs on the continent are in the post-pandemic world, this may be a wish that is easier to come to fruition without a transfer fee.

Wherever Son goes next and whenever that may be, he should be the one in total control, and the club owe him as much to ensure that happens. It would just be best for all parties if that comes in 2026 is all.