Son Heung-min has been one of Tottenham’s most important players over the past decade – but that hasn’t stopped him being a target for criticism from Jose Mourinho.
Reflecting on the management he received under manager Jose Mourinho, Son Heung-min recalled being reprimanded by the Portuguese in front of his Spurs teammates.
Mourinho sent Son off the pitch because he thought he did not want to participate in a more physical match, which made Son very upset.
However, the South Korea captain revealed that Mourinho texted him afterwards to apologise and explain what he meant when he scolded him, which cleared the air between the two and made Son feel more at ease, with the Portuguese captain calling him Tottenham’s best player.
Speaking in Korean to EAFC, Son said: “Mourinho once yelled at me during a match.”
“‘I don’t think you want to play a game against teams like Burnley or Stoke (a tough game)’ in front of all the players and I was upset about that, I’m not even an 18-19 year old kid to be treated like that.”
“After the game, the coach texted me. ‘I know you understand that I didn’t mean to pick on you and hurt you. But I need to make sure the other players aren’t being lazy, and I need to show them by reprimanding the best player on the team, and for me, that player is you.’”
The South Korean joined Spurs in 2015 from Bayer Leverkusen for a reported £22m. The fee has proven to be well worth the money, with Son scoring 162 goals in 408 appearances for the North London club in all competitions.
During that time, despite his great personal achievements, he still could not win any titles with the club. The most recent achievement that the Korean striker achieved was the runner-up medal in the League Cup and UEFA Champions League.
Son has played under a number of different managers during his time at Spurs, including being managed by Mourinho from 2019 to 2021.
Mourinho has achieved success at most of the clubs he has managed, including Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Roma.
But the ‘special one’ was sacked by Spurs on the eve of the 2021 League Cup final against Manchester City, if he were in charge of this match, who knows whether Tottenham could end their title drought that has lasted since 2008.
