How Spurs can move on from Son Heung-min: club face daunting contract dilemma

Son Heung-min has been back among the goals for South Korea, scoring in the World Cup qualifiers against Kuwait and Palestine to smash the 50-goal barrier in international football, and move within seven of his country's record held by Cha Bum-kun.

Son is safely in the land of legends when it comes to his achievements and Tottenham boss Ange Posteocglou will be pleased to see his captain hitting the net a couple of times before Saturday's trip to Manchester City.

Spurs could do with a lift after losing at home to Ipswich on their last outing, a defeat which left them wallowing in mid-table and off the pace in the Premier League. They could do with their most reliable source of goals finding his rhythm again, too.

Son has scored more for South Korea (10 in 15 appearances) than for Spurs (8 in 26) in 2024 with a theory forming that at the age of 32, he might have lost a little of his zip.

He has scored in just two Tottenham games this season despite the team scoring freely. His most recent was the fourth of four against West Ham. Previously, there were two in another four-goal romp against Everton.

At the end of last season, he grabbed late consolations in defeats against Arsenal and Liverpool. His last truly decisive goal was against Luton in March, a goal which took him beyond Cliff Jones into the club's top five scorers of all time.

Brennan Johnson on the opposite flank has carried a greater threat with seven in all competitions this season. Johnson's sheer straight-line pace and determination to get in at the back post makes him effective under Postecoglou, who likes his wingers wide to open inside channels for runners from midfield or his full backs.

One of Son's great strengths has always been his ability to go either side of the full back from his position on the left wing, but his tendency has for years been to roll infield and pepper the goal with shots off his right foot or accelerate into the spaces created when Harry Kane dropped deep.

His finest individual season came in 2021-22, sharpening his finishing in a team that became clinical on the counter-attack when Antonio Conte took over from Nuno Espirito Santo. He claimed a Golden Boot with 23 goals and seven assists in the Premier League. Spurs finished fourth and qualified for the Champions League.

Yet under Postecoglou, Son scores or assists every 109 minutes, a better rate than under any of his other managers at the club.

Spurs though are scoring more than they did under Conte or Jose Mourinho and since he left for Bayern Munich there has been no Kane to take the lion's share, and all the penalties.

The goals flow from all areas in Postecoglou's team and last season nobody finished with more than Son's 17. The most basic metrics bear scrutiny. Even when it comes to pure speed, the Premier League speed gun clocked him at a top speed of 21.8mph this season, which is quicker than five years ago when it was first introduced.

Son's season has been disrupted by a hamstring injury. He picked it up late in a Europa League tie against Qarabag in September and a setback forced him to miss most of October and prompted a warning from Postecoglou.

'We've got to be sensible about it,' said the Spurs boss as he conceded injuries among the forwards had led him to play Son more than he would have liked. 'I don't think it's got so much to do with his age because I haven't seen that affect him.

'It's more I just don't think that kind of workload in the modern game is sustainable. We've spoken a lot about fixture overload and part of that responsibility lies with us to try to protect our players and certainly with Sonny we're going to have to be mindful of that.'

On his return, Son was replaced early in the second half against Aston Villa with the game poised at 1-1 and threw a tantrum on the bench after coming off, notable because it was so out of character. Spurs ran out 4-1 winners and with his changes justified Postecoglou calmly dismissed his captain's reaction as just one of those things.

Like all players, Son wants to play. Beyond that, football is his life, such is his dedication to his career. His deep reserves of physical endurance come from punishing training regimes in his youth, designed and overseen by his father. So does his discipline and unflinching focus on his football.

He is a true icon in South Korea, committed to leading them to a World Cup in two years' time in the USA with its large Korean community.

Postecoglou understands what he means to his country and nobody at Spurs expects him to step down from international football, but the stress of long-haul travel will only add to the demands of the relentless nature of AngeBall on his 32-year-old body.

Once again, muscle injuries are piling up on Tottenham. Wilson Odobert has had surgery on a hamstring problem. Micky van de Ven missed the last three games and Richarlison is sidelined, both hamstrings.

Meanwhile, Cristian Romero, who has been playing despite a toe injury, was forced off during Argentina's World Cup qualifier in Paraguay last week and did not feature against Peru on Tuesday.

Woven into the Son debate and arguably as important as his advancing years, fitness or tactics, is the loss of Kane and the fading form of James Maddison. Son and Maddison struck an instant chemistry at the start of last season on the left side of the team.

It helped soften Kane's exit but Maddison is not a guaranteed starter now, with Dejan Kulusevski thriving in a deeper role and Pape Matar Sarr proving important to the midfield balance. The team is evolving in the way teams do.

Then there is the matter of Son's contract, which expires at the end of this season with a clause for one more year which can be exercised unilaterally by the club.

Mail Sport understands it has not yet been triggered although Spurs fully intend to do this when the time is right. It will tie Son down until 2026, then at the end of this season we will be back in the uncertain territory of a Tottenham captain with only a year on his contract.

Daniel Levy has had an aversion to stars walking out on a free ever since Sol Campbell left for Arsenal in the year he became chairman. Kane was not granted his request to leave until grinding his contract into its final year while showing absolutely no hint of signing another.

Would Levy want Son, the most famous footballer in Asia and such a huge commercial asset, to walk out on a free in 2026? Will he look to sell him this summer having protected his value by activating the clause? Or would he be prepared to lavish a new contract on a player who will be 34 at the end of this extra year?

In Mikey Moore, 17, and Odobert, 19, there are wide forwards of exciting potential already in the building.

Spurs could not wish to have a more distinguished role model for them than Son in his twilight years but would this have any appeal for him? He might not want to extend his time at the club by signing another one-year or two-year contract when there are likely to be attractive deals and fresh challenges on offer, possibly in the USA.

These questions will become more prominent in the weeks ahead. It would be remiss of both sides not to be considering their options. Managing a fitting closing chapter for the legends is easy to get wrong.

In the shorter term Postecoglou needs Son scoring goals and winning games again for Tottenham.