(Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min said he would have moved to Saudi Arabia to continue his career if he wanted to but opted to stay with the Premier League club to redeem himself after a disappointing 2022-23 campaign.
Son won the Premier League Golden Boot for most goals in the 2021-22 season with 23 strikes but injuries and a loss of form saw the South Korea international score only 10 times last season as Spurs finished eighth.
The 31-year-old had been linked with a lucrative transfer to Saudi Arabia but at a press conference in Perth ahead of a pre-season friendly against West Ham United, he vowed to stay with the north London side.
“Probably if I wanted to go there (Saudi Arabia) I would be out there, not here,” he said with a laugh. “I love playing football. Obviously money is also important, but I dream of playing in the Premier League and still a lot of things to do.
“Especially last season I suffered physically. This is not the Sonny that I know. So I want to prove that this season that I’m the Sonny that we all know. I want to prove that to myself and I want to give back to the club where I belong.
“Saudi, obviously most people are going at the moment which is really, really interesting. But the Premier League is still a dream for me to play (in) and I’m looking forward to this season.”
Son’s strike partner Harry Kane has also been the subject of transfer rumours as the England captain enters the final year of his contract, with the 29-year-old linked to Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.
Spurs’ new manager Ange Postecoglou said he had spoken to Kane but did not have anything “earth-shattering” to share regarding his future.
“The reality of it is we’ve got a month or so before the season starts, a bit less actually. And the transfer window’s still on for a while, so we’ll see how it all transpires,” he said.
“There are a lot of people that know Harry better than me, but he’s not going to get fazed by anything. He’s here and while he’s here, he’s totally committed to what we’re doing.”
(Reporting by Stefan Haskins in Sydney and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
