• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Son Heung-Min

Mitchell is no mug. I did not see many people rating his Southampton signings last summer but they've done the business

Completely agree. Look at the signings that he has made at Southampton. Now, admittedly, it is easier to buy players that would improve their squad than ours, but I think we need to show some faith.

All these people worried that Son is a commercial signing only, I ask you to stop reading this flimflam. 300 extra supporters at a stadium, and extra sponsorship from a company like LG or Samsung? We're already locked in with AIA and 300 supporters at every game does not equate to £18m. Add in extra shirt sales and you're not getting there.

Look at his scoring record. Compare it to names that you know like Robben who play in the same league and similar position. Compare it to players that have come over from Germany to the UK. Look at the chances that he creates. Again compare this with players that you know. Then remember that Mitchell unearthed Mane and Tadic.
 
Completely agree. Look at the signings that he has made at Southampton. Now, admittedly, it is easier to buy players that would improve their squad than ours, but I think we need to show some faith.

All these people worried that Son is a commercial signing only, I ask you to stop reading this hogwash. 300 extra supporters at a stadium, and extra sponsorship from a company like LG or Samsung? We're already locked in with AIA and 300 supporters at every game does not equate to £18m. Add in extra shirt sales and you're not getting there.

Look at his scoring record. Compare it to names that you know like Robben who play in the same league and similar position. Compare it to players that have come over from Germany to the UK. Look at the chances that he creates. Again compare this with players that you know. Then remember that Mitchell unearthed Mane and Tadic.

We sell out practically every home game and have a waiting list for season tickets. 300 people is going to mean nothing to us.
 
We sell out practically every home game and have a waiting list for season tickets. 300 people is going to mean nothing to us.

I know. It's just another example of media trying to create an issue or a drama. It's gonads and I wish that people will see it for what it is which is just to fill up inches and create comments/interest. This so called expert is nothing of the sort if he thinks that a club will sign someone for £18m with not insignificant wages and expect to recoup that in commercial activity!
 
Mitchell is no mug. I did not see many people rating his Southampton signings last summer but they've done the business
Its not mitchell or baldini or levy individually that i am concerned about. Its more about whether the 4 of them can pkay well together.
 
I know. It's just another example of media trying to create an issue or a drama. It's cobblers and I wish that people will see it for what it is which is just to fill up inches and create comments/interest. This so called expert is nothing of the sort if he thinks that a club will sign someone for £18m with not insignificant wages and expect to recoup that in commercial activity!

Rafa Honigstein is probably the foremost journalist on the German game in the British media, so we would be foolish to dismiss his comments but it is just one persons opinion.
 
So anyone got South Korean links to newspapers or TV stuff of them going mental

Although Son Heung-min has yet to be listed for the game, fans of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. welcomed, chanting his name.

Having completed the deal with Tottenham in the English Premier League (EPL), Son Heung-min (aged 23) made his first debut to English viewers of football games. Tottenham had a match against Everton who made the trip to the capital at White Hart Lane on Sunday (KST). Greeting fans in his Spurs’ uniform, Son watched the game in the stand with his father Son Ung-jeong. Prior to this, the club began promoting its new player by posting the video that shows Son’s taking medical check-ups, training and whole process to join the team on its website. Scoring a total of 20 shoots including six shot on goal, the team remained winless, ending the match 0-0 (three draws and one loss).

In the absence of troubleshooter, the expectation gets even higher for Son. “He is young but has played in Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League. We need to maintain the performance, this is the right way and we’re not worried because when Christian Eriksen, Clinton Njie and Son Heung-min are available it’s a strong squad, said manager Mauricio Pochettino. "It doesn’t matter on which position he will play as he can play various roles." Son is expected to make his EPL debut match against Sunderland A.F.C. on September 13.

Returning to Korea on Monday, Son will join national team’s training. As he has to complete some document work for his moving to Spurs, such as issuing English working visa, manager Uli Stielike of Korea national football team decided to appoint Son only for the warm-up match against Laos slated for September 3. For this reason, he will not join the team who visits Lebanon on September 8. On the other hand, Park Joo-ho (aged 28), who has moved from Mainz to Dortmund in the Bundesliga, will not run for Laos match but join the Lebanon game.

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=070000&biid=2015083189588
 
Honigstein was on Second Captains Podcast on thursday talking about Son briefly

around 49 minutes in

"With Son they'd be quite happy to sell him. He wasnt really playing very well recently. 30 million euros is a lot of money for somebody who hasnt quite been the star they expected him to be. He's very commercially viable. There's about 300 South Koreans who turn up at every Leverkusen game. The Sponsor is Korean as well. They might not stick around if he's gone"

And then the person talking goes on to compare Tottenham to Stoke! And says any team not competing in the top 4/5...does he not know where we finished last season?! And describing Stoke as our level?! Sorry, I don't trust this guy to really know what he's banging on about.
 
Rafa Honigstein is probably the foremost journalist on the German game in the British media, so we would be foolish to dismiss his comments but it is just one persons opinion.
I can understand Honigstein's comments actually. I don't agree with his conclusion, but his analysis is based on some valid criticisms... Once SHM starts playing, you'll see some obvious strengths and flaws to his game. I think in Honigstein's view (speculating here), Son has not improved on correcting those flaws at Bayer Leverkusen. And given his form at the end of last season and this preseason/first two matches, he must believe that SHM has regressed and not adapted fully to Schmidt's system.

Honigstein is also bringing up a valid point about his form. His form at the end of last season did worry me. But he played an awful great amount of football without rest. He went straight from the world cup to the champions league playoffs to spending the entire month of January during the bundesliga break playing in the Asian cup during the hot Aussie summer. By the end of the season and during the WCQs in June, he looked shattered. And this pre-seasons/season, he has looked distracted. But physically, he looks fine. And I think with this transfer, he'll be mentally refreshed as well.

In terms of value for the money on the pitch, SHM still needs to work on playing as a target man by developing his upper body. His decision making during slow build up play needs improvement, which includes not dribbling into multiple defenders at times where the opposition parks the bus. When not on form, he could sometimes do this on the counterattack as well.

In terms of his current value now as a footballer, I think Spurs paid fair market value for what he can offer the side right now. At the very least, his value is in no way as inflated as an English footballer that is of comparable age, experience and statistics. And while Honigstein is right to point out that Leverkusen benefitted from the LG sponsorship (the conglomerate stepped in after Leverkusen's previous sponsor became insolvent) and his general popularity in Korea, he's overstating the potential marketing revenue that SHM will bring for a club like Spurs.

I think to be a 30M euro signing in Honigstein's view, SHM needed to be a year or two more seasoned and show that he could score goals in a more spread out fashion. Son tends to go into purple patches where everything he touches turns to goals. And against certain sides like Dortmund, he can't stop scoring.

I personally think Spurs got him at the right time. We'll have to see how he does. I'm hoping for the typical 10+ goal season from SHM with exciting and dynamic play between Eriksen, Kane and Son. But Honigstein's point about frustrating inconsistencies and dip in form may be correct and the transfer doesn't work out. Personally, I am much more optimistic, but that's because I have a vested interest for his continuing to develop and excel so he can continue scoring consistently at the international level.
 
This does not sound to promising at all and after reading the article above this feels a bit like a player brought for commercial reasons.

I pray that's not the case and shows different but I'm worried about Kane leading the line on his own all season
I wouldn't worry. Leverkusen made a huge profit in selling Son. And they needed another midfielder as the Chilean, Aranguiz was lost for the season as soon as he was brought in this season. Roger Schmidt immediately used the funds from SHM's transfer to acquire Kampl (one of his pupils from Schmidt's time at Red Bull Salzburg) on Friday from BVB. And now they're trying to get a striker like Chicharito with the rest of the funds.

As for the shirt sponsorship with LG, I believe this is the final year of the contract. And there's still another young Korean midfielder if that's such an important thing to worry about...

Overall, if Brandt can step up (I think he's fabulously talented and Honigstein probably wants to see him get a chance to fulfill his potential this season with Son out of the picture), this unexpected transfer should be a net positive for both clubs.

Rest assured, this is not at all like Chelsea's attempts to sign the Chinese defender from Guangzhou right now...
 
Rafa Honigstein is probably the foremost journalist on the German game in the British media, so we would be foolish to dismiss his comments but it is just one persons opinion.

yeah but he chats brick every time i listen to the guardian podcast
 
If Rafa Honigstein and freinds were eulogising about Son - we wouldn't have been in a position to buy.

Putting Stoke and Spurs in the same bracket "teams who finish outside the top 5" (sic) shows he's hardly the most insightful. I think we can take more from the Korean Krew who have kindly posted scouting reports on Son recently! More knowledgeable than this jorno.
 
Last edited:
Rafa Honigstein is probably the foremost journalist on the German game in the British media, so we would be foolish to dismiss his comments but it is just one persons opinion.

Perhaps, and I guess only time will tell. Given our sponsorship deals are set for the time being, our ability to take advantage significantly to the tune of the transfer fee is quite limited. If we don't play Son, then his marketing ability is again reduced.

My point is that to get a return on an £18m investment plus the wages would need a fairly huge amount of money to come in. I can only see that being the case if he's successful.
 
Rafa Honigstein is probably the foremost journalist on the German game in the British media, so we would be foolish to dismiss his comments but it is just one persons opinion.

No access to the British media, but I wonder if that is based on his ability to build his brand in Britain or down to actual knowledge of the German game? Is he the only one the British media turn to when they want an opinion about the Bundesliga? The standard of journalism in Norway has really gone to brick the last decade as most journalists are more concerned about building their own brand and click-baiting to increase their own value than actual reporting. Only seen Honigstein on TV once and really was not impressed by his supposed knowledge or opinion.
 
I've never heard of this German journalist before, but you can't put much faith in the opinion of someone who claims that a major motivation for purchasing Son is South Korean merchandising.

Merchandising accounted for £9m of Tottenham Hotspur's turnover during the 2011-12 season (couldn't find anything more recent that listed merch as a separate number, but they won't have changed that much in three years - source). Remember that's the total... the majority of that will come from the UK.

So even if Son's transfer gives us an unrealistically massive merchandising boost in South Korea, and it rose to be 10% of our total merch market... and even if our merch market has doubled in the past 3 years (which it definitely hasn't), that would still only be £1.8m per year in South Korean merchandising revenue.

For a £20m investment? Makes no sense at all.

There are twice as many Koreans living in the UK than in Germany. So when Rafa Honigstein talks about the 300 Koreans who regularly attend Leverkusen games; you could realistically up that number to 600 for Spurs. But an extra 600 people on the season ticket waiting list isn't actually going to affect Tottenham's bottom line significantly.

There's only one type of player that will achieve that. A type of player who would add 30 or 40 times the amount that a Korean fan-base would generate... Players who would improve our league position.

And I know some people will never be convinced of this, but I personally believe Levy is smart enough to understand that. And that he's genuinely trying to buy players that will improve the team. One thing you can be certain of though - he's not spending £20m on a player in the hope of boosting overseas merchandising by a small number, or to attract another 600 local fans. The massive potential jump in income for us comes from improving our league position just one notch. That's got to be the goal of any major investment for Levy.
 
Mitchell is no mug. I did not see many people rating his Southampton signings last summer but they've done the business

who says Mitchell has anything to do with this signing?
 
I've never heard of this German journalist before, but you can't put much faith in the opinion of someone who claims that a major motivation for purchasing Son is South Korean merchandising.

Merchandising accounted for £9m of Tottenham Hotspur's turnover during the 2011-12 season (couldn't find anything more recent that listed merch as a separate number, but they won't have changed that much in three years - source). Remember that's the total... the majority of that will come from the UK.

So even if Son's transfer gives us an unrealistically massive merchandising boost in South Korea, and it rose to be 10% of our total merch market... and even if our merch market has doubled in the past 3 years (which it definitely hasn't), that would still only be £1.8m per year in South Korean merchandising revenue.

For a £20m investment? Makes no sense at all.

There are twice as many Koreans living in the UK than in Germany. So when Rafa Honigstein talks about the 300 Koreans who regularly attend Leverkusen games; you could realistically up that number to 600 for Spurs. But an extra 600 people on the season ticket waiting list isn't actually going to affect Tottenham's bottom line significantly.

There's only one type of player that will achieve that. A type of player who would add 30 or 40 times the amount that a Korean fan-base would generate... Players who would improve our league position.

And I know some people will never be convinced of this, but I personally believe Levy is smart enough to understand that. And that he's genuinely trying to buy players that will improve the team. One thing you can be certain of though - he's not spending £20m on a player in the hope of boosting overseas merchandising by a small number, or to attract another 600 local fans. The massive potential jump in income for us comes from improving our league position just one notch. That's got to be the goal of any major investment for Levy.

maybe the German Journos English isnt so perfect, probably he meant the extra exposure Spurs will get in Korea will increase Tottenham's profile out there and the club might benefit from this with an increase in companies wishing to sponsor Spurs and also get involved in a stadium naming rights deal. Who knows. Surely levy is smart enought to try and exploit this angle and why shouldnt he
 
who says Mitchell has anything to do with this signing?

Who said he doesn't? Given that he has recently been brought in to help identify players, I think that it is safwr to assume that he has had an involvement than he hasn't.
 
Who said he doesn't? Given that he has recently been brought in to help identify players, I think that it is safwr to assume that he has had an involvement than he hasn't.

he is a player we tried to sign long before Mitchell arrived. Of course he may have done his black box analysis, but my guess is he would have been signed if Mitchell was here or not.
 
Back