With a number of key players absent through injury at the beginning of the season, Spurs have had to rely on the outer reaches of their squad. One player who has come in from the cold to star for Tottenham in their solid start is Heung Min Son. The South Korean forward scored the winner in Spurs’ 1-0 Champions League victory away at CSKA Moscow and bagged a brace at Middlesbrough last weekend.
In the absence of Harry Kane, Mauricio Pochettino needs to find a collective solution to replace his goals, and Spurs could do with finding their range at home. In their last five league games at White Hart Lane they have scored just five goals, and that run contained games against West Brom, Crystal Palace and Sunderland. The Daily Telegraph are reporting however that Son’s future could be complicated by South Korea’s mandatory military service:
“But the failure of South Korea’s football team to win a medal at this summer’s Rio Olympics has increased the chances of 24-year-old Son eventually having to complete military service.
“South Korean men are required to complete at least 21 months of military service before they turn 28, meaning Son can play abroad until July 2019, although there have been examples of delays and exemptions being granted.
“Current conscription laws stipulate that athletes and sportsmen who win medals in the Olympic Games or gold medals in the Asian Games are handed exemptions but are still required to do four weeks of basic training.”
South Korea were eliminated by Honduras at the quarter-final stage of the Olympics in Rio, meaning they narrowly missed out at a shot at a medal. This is not a pressing matter for Spurs, but it is a situation they will want clarified as they begin to make plans for the move into their new stadium.
Elsewhere, the fact that Spurs are playing their home Champions League games at Wembley has enabled them to have the cheapest tickets of all the British clubs competing in the competition. More than 85,000 fans attended their opening group game against Monaco, a figure which broke three British attendance records. The increased capacity means Spurs fans can buy a ticket for as little as £23 which is £3 less than the average ticket price across the whole competition. Neighbours Arsenal pay the third highest prices of all Champions League teams, with only Barcelona and Juventus charging more than the Gunners.
Finally, according Forza Italian Football, AC Milan are lining up a €85 million bid for Spurs striker Harry Kane. This is an immensely ambitious bid, and Spurs have recently tied down all their long-term assets on big contracts. Serie A is not quite as attractive as it used to be, and even if Kane was seeking a move, other destinations would be higher on his list of desirable moves.
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