Tottenham ace Son Heung-min has confessed he had to contend with pain as a result of a hernia injury for the entirety of last season.
The news goes some way to explaining why Son found it so difficult last term, with the South Korean international ending the campaign on a hugely underwhelming tally of six goals last season. In the opening 18 games of the league season, Son bagged just one.
Soon after the campaign ended, Son opted to undergo surgery to rectify the issue and has discussed how much it impacted him while on international duty earlier this week. "I wondered a lot if I should even make this public, but I struggled with pain all season," he told TV Chosun.
"I played through it for eight to nine months, but couldn’t go on anymore, so I made the decision finally and underwent surgery.
"Even for simple actions like passing or turning, every movement starts from your core muscles, that’s exactly where my pain was. I was only able to do 60 per cent of what you could [normally] do at 100 per cent."
Remarkably, Son is fit and ready to represent his country in the upcoming fixtures against Peru and El Salvador so soon after going under the knife.
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New Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou will be hoping he can inspire a significant uptick in form from both Son and the club as a collective next term and may do so with Son's partner in crime Harry Kane leading the line.
The north Londoners record goal-scorer has been regularly linked with a move away from the club given he has just one year left to run on his current contract.
And yet, it appears that Spurs are more than willing to let Kane leave for nothing this time next year.
Manchester United had been the side most commonly touted with a move for the England captain, but it has since been reported that the Red Devils are resigned to missing out on Kane and are not interested in entering a lengthy transfer saga with Spurs.
Chairman Daniel Levy may still have to fend off interest from Real Madrid, who are prowling the market for a new striker after Karim Benzema departed earlier in the window.
There are also incomings expected, with Brentford goalkeeper David Raya thought to be keen on a switch to Spurs - all that is left now is for the two sides to agree a fee, with the Bees aiming for £40m.
