A lot of Spurs fans have been reminded of the fact that they could be set to lose out on two years of Heung-Min Son’s career to military service if he doesn’t win a medal with South Korea. The World Cup has now been and gone and nobody was surprised when South Korea were not in the last four. However, now Son will be missing the first few weeks of the season to compete in the Asian Games.
BREAKING | Tottenham Hotspur forward Heung Min-Son has now officially been named in the South Korea squad for the upcoming Asian Games.
The attacker will now miss the start of Spurs’ 2018-19 campaign and the club’s opening set of fixtures.#THFC #COYS
— Ricky Sacks (@RickSpur) 16 July 2018
In South Korean law, all able-bodied men must complete mandatory military service before their 28th birthday. Considering Son plays professional football at the highest level it’s fair to say he’s more than able-bodied, meaning that at the age of 25, he doesn’t have many more opportunities to gain an exemption from military service. The only way for the Tottenham forward to be granted exemption would be for him to win a medal at a tournament.
The World Cup was never going to likely but the upcoming Asian Games and then next years Asian Cup provide the best opportunity for the ex-Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen man to win a medal with his country. Th fact that he’ll be competing in the Asian Games means that he will miss the first few weeks of the Premier League season, though, however, that could force the club to be more proactive in the transfer market and actually bring in some new players.
You can read the Lillywhites’ verdict on Son here:
https://twitter.com/magistamax/status/1018791809458278400
He’s gotta be in it to win it. Avoid that national service. That, or can I adopt him? Does that count??
— TTID (@Yiddo8) July 16, 2018
The games finish on the 2nd of September so hopefully he’ll be match fit just in time for the first game in the new stadium on the 15th of September
— The Maltese Falcon (@MattTHFC1882) July 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/indraabakti/status/1018859497798828033
Best wishes to the lad – he is an incredible member of our team and we are lucky to have him. Hope he does well and comes back uninjured
— morgenmuffel (@JeremyPalmer7) July 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/stubatten/status/1018811773128978434
Whilst no Tottenham fan wants to go into a game without Son, the fans are happy to lose out on him for a couple of weeks if it means he doesn’t have to do military service.
