Is it time for Tottenham to look beyond skipper Son Heung-min?

Son was criticised by a former Spurs player for not performing at the top level.

In the summer of 2015, Son Heung-min moved from Bayer Leverkusen to Tottenham. As time has gone on, he has become more and more of a team mainstay and has only become stronger. After Harry Kane left the team last summer, he assumed captaincy and went on to have a fantastic 2023–24 season, with 10 assists and 17 goals in 35 league games.

With just two victories in their first five Premier League games, Spurs had a sluggish start to the 2024–25 season, and Son wasn’t playing at his peak. With two assists in their victory over Brentford on Saturday, though, he appears to have relieved some of the strain off himself.

Although the 32-year-old appears to be fit, Jamie O’Hara, a former Tottenham player, believes the South Korean international is done. He even believes that true Tottenham supporters will concur, saying he should go.

O’Hara asked: “How do you feel about Sonny?”

He went on to add: “I feel like I am over the hill with him now. I just think the fans and everyone is finished with him. The proper fans. He’s not doing it.

“The quality in the final third (has gone). He is 33, is he going to go past people? Listen, he has been a great player and an unbelievable player. A Tottenham great.

“But I just feel like when I am watching him now, have you got that sharpness and edge to your game? I don’t think he has. He has gone clean through there one-v-one. The old Sonny, that’s a guaranteed goal. You can’t take him out of the team because there isn’t anyone better than him, but we have to start looking at a new left-winger.”

Is Jamie O’Hara correct?

Although it was an arduous endeavour to replace Harry Kane, last season, Son eagerly embraced the challenge of playing as a central striker. He scored 17 goals and provided 10 assists in 35 league games while playing for Tottenham Hotspur.

Since head coach Ange Postecoglou brought Son on the centre from the left wing, the player has been a revelation. Despite having played on the left for the majority of his career, Son is at ease in the No.9 role.

Over the past eight games, he has mostly touched the ball in central areas, where he is willing to adjust, despite the temptation to move wide.

He has developed a great relationship with floating playmaker James Maddison, who found Son with more passes than any other teammate in the previous campaign.

Son has demonstrated time and again over the last eight years that he is a capable one-man central striker. In other instances, he had filled in for Kane and scored a lot of goals.

Should Spurs look for Son’s replacement?

Son has been brilliant this season as well finding two goals and two assists in five games for Spurs. He hasn’t slowed down but Spurs will need to soon find his replacement. The former Leverkusen player is 32 now and soon he will be reaching the twilight of his career.

The Premier League team can extend his contract for another one or two years but finding his successor will be important for the club. It’s obvious that the forward won’t always deliver.

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