---
title: "Tottenham: Conte won’t be scared to drop Son Heung-min, says McAvennie"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/tottenham-hotspur-spurs-heung-min-son-news-latest-rumours-gossip-richarlison-conte/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Will Seager"
section: "Premier League News"
published: "2022-09-06T19:36:51Z"
modified: "2022-09-06T19:36:51Z"
---

# Tottenham: Conte won’t be scared to drop Son Heung-min, says McAvennie

**Former top flight striker Frank McAvennie believes [Tottenham Hotspur](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/tottenham-hotspur-news/) star Son Heung-min is safe in Antonio Conte’s first-choice XI amid his goal drought, but insists the manager will have ‘no fears’ about making a change.**

### **The Lowdown: Recent minutes**

Despite having [started all](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/heung-min-son/leistungsdaten/spieler/91845) of Spurs’ [Premier League](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/premier-league-news/) fixtures so far this season, the South Korea superstar is yet to find the back of the net.

The 30-year-old has provided just [one assist](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/heung-min-son/leistungsdaten/spieler/91845) to date, trailing behind new signing Richarlison, who has [doubled his tally](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/richarlison/leistungsdaten/spieler/378710) in limited minutes.

Son finished last season as the league’s [joint top-scorer](https://www.worldfootball.net/goalgetter/eng-premier-league-2021-2022/) alongside Liverpool sensation Mo Salah, bagging a stunning 23 goals without a single penalty.

### **The Latest: McAvennie’s verdict**

Despite a lack of attacking returns, McAvennie thinks Son ought to keep his spot in Conte’s starting XI. However, he also admits that any player is droppable under the Italian.

Speaking with [Football Insider](https://www.footballinsider247.com/antonio-conte-has-no-qualms-dropping-son-heung-min-after-what-pundit-has-spotted-at-tottenham/), the pundit claimed: “I think he does a lot of work, more than what we see.

“His teammates appreciate what he’s doing because he’s not scoring goals but he is taking a lot of pressure off Kane and I don’t know if Richarlison can do that.

“I do not think he’s \[Son\] playing too bad he’s just not scoring goals.

“But Conte will have no fears of dropping anyone, not a chance.

“He’s one of the top managers in the world, there is not a chance that he’ll have any qualms about leaving any player out. I think he’d even drop Kane if he wasn’t doing it.”

[Tottenham latest developments!](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-developments-2/)

### **The Verdict: World-class player**

In the final third, Son is undoubtedly one of the best players in European football – as illustrated by his underlying statistics.

As per [FBRef](https://fbref.com/en/players/92e7e919/Son-Heung-min), compared with positional peers across Europe over the past year, the winger ranks in the top three percent for non-penalty goals and non-penalty expected goals plus expected assists.

\[freshpress-quiz id=”397976″\]

With such incredible numbers, the 30-year-old has earned [statistical comparisons](https://fbref.com/en/players/92e7e919/Son-Heung-min) to the likes of Salah, Christopher Nkunku and Sadio Mane.

Whilst Richarlison is causing a potential selection dilemma for Conte, we find it hard to believe Son is losing his place to the Brazilian any time soon, especially with a trip to the Etihad coming this weekend.