Jurgen Klinsmann has confirmed that Son Heung-min will not start South Korea's second friendly of the summer as he continues his recovery from his surgery.
This week it was revealed that Son had been dealing with a problem that required him to have an operation for a sports hernia after the final match of the season at Leeds United last month, before returning home to South Korea. It has now been a few weeks since the surgery and the Korean FA confirmed that the problem was not serious and Son has been undertaking recovery training sessions. However, he remained an unused substitute in Friday's 1-0 friendly defeat at home to Peru.
Now his international boss - and former Spurs attacker himself - Klinsmann has said he hopes Son will play some part in Tuesday's friendly against El Salvador.
"Son looks better every day. He'll not start tomorrow's game, but I'm very positive he will come on as the game goes on," he said in his press conference, as quoted by Korean sports reporter Sungmo Lee.
"Son's role is not only important on the field. Of course he's a goalscorer and we want goals, but his role is very important to carry this team for the Asian Cup in Qatar. His role off the field is as much as important for us, coaches.
"We have many situations to deal with, for example Kim Min-jae is having military training, so to deal with these kinds of process, you need somebody like Sonny with experience. to guide the players from a player's perspective, so to have him on the side is crucial."
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Son spoke about the problem, which he has been struggling with for much of the season, to the Korean media last week.
“I wondered a lot if I should even make this public, but I struggled with pain all season. I played through it for eight to nine months, but couldn’t go on anymore, so I made the decision finally and underwent surgery,” he said during an interview with TV Chosun, as quoted by Korean football writer Steve Han.
“Even for simple actions like passing or turning, every movement starts from your core muscles, but that’s exactly where my pain was. I was only able to do 60 per cent of what could do at 100 per cent [throughout the season].”
On why he's insisting on playing in their friendly matches despite only recently undergoing surgery, he added: “If we don’t win in June, the boss [Jurgen Klinsmann] won’t have a chance to win his first game with us until September. I have a strong desire to be with him to celebrate his first win."
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