Speaking to the press ahead of the upcoming international fixtures, South Korea boss Jurgen Klinsmann revealed he has no plans to rest Heung-min Son despite the Tottenham Hotspur star struggling for fitness lately.
Heung-min Son has enjoyed a fantastic start to his life as the new Tottenham captain. Not only is his side now sitting at the top of the Premier League table after going eight games unbeaten, but he himself has been at the heart of that success.
Under Ange Postecoglou, Son appears to be back to his best, and has contributed six goals already this campaign as he leads the line for the Lilywhites (Transfermarkt).
There are concerns over the 31-year-old’s fitness, however. After suffering through much of last season with injury issues, Son has been playing through the pain again this year, it seems.
Son has been substituted in the last few games, and Postecoglou admitted this is because he is ‘monitoring’ his skipper’s fitness levels (Football.London).
Son will play for South Korea as normal
Now on international duty with South Korea for the games against Tunisia and Vietnam, many expected Son to be used sparingly, but that will not be the case according to his manager, Jurgen Klinsmann.
Klinsmann told Sportal Korea: “It is natural for European players to feel fatigued. It will be difficult to adjust to the time difference. Son Heung-min will be less tired, [as he has] no European competition [to play].
“The national team is the greatest honour a player can enjoy. I think overseas players will play 90 minutes just because of the anticipation of coming to Korea and playing a game.
“I will control it for a day or two, but I will give 100% in preparation and adjust the amount of training to give a good performance to the fans.”
On the idea of rotation, he added: “When I was a player, being called up to the national team felt like a holiday. If you talk to the players, none of them want to rest.
“It is important because they want to participate even a little bit… We will understand it carefully and make them give everything on the field. There is no rotation.”
Spurs Web Opinion
We could really do without any injuries from this international break, as we already have a few out. If anything were to happen to Sonny, we would be lacking real quality up top, but let’s just hope Klinsmann and Son know what they are doing.