Son Heung-min has revealed that he "struggled with pain all season" which eventually led to him getting surgery on a sports hernia injury after Tottenham's final match of the campaign. Going into the 2022/23 season on the back of winning the Premier League Golden Boot, the South Korean international really struggled for form in the opening weeks and it wasn't until their seventh league game when he finally netted for the first time.
Despite a strong international break after scoring in both of South Korea's games against Costa Rica and Cameroon, the 30-year-old's woes in front of goal for Tottenham continued until his form started to pick up towards the end of the campaign. Not on the scoresheet in the 4-1 win over Leeds on the final day but managing to get an assist after teeing up Harry Kane, Son underwent surgery on the issue that had plagued him before returning to his home country.
football.london understands that the attacker was playing with the injury but managing it throughout the season, as he didn't want to miss any matches.
Now two weeks on from going under the knife, the player is currently with his national team but he is undertaking recovery training sessions and they are monitoring his situation ahead of their international games against Peru and El Salvador. Speaking to the media prior to their summer fixtures, the Tottenham man discussed his injury issues and how it restricted him in games.
“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.”
Son will be hoping that his recent surgery can help him return to top form under new Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou next season. The South Korean ace finished the 2022/23 campaign with 14 goals and six assists to his name from 47 appearances in all competitions.
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