Son did, however, admit that he was scared when he first visited England in 2009 and hailed Park for having paved the way for Asian footballers to succeed in Europe.
Son has established himself as an important and respected player of the Spurs team and has come to be regarded as arguably the best Asian footballer at the moment.
He first visited England in 2009 to undergo trials after being released by Hamburg.
When recalling that experience, he said (as quoted by
ESPN ):
“Yeah, I had no friends there, no family with me and I couldn’t speak the language. I didn’t know a single word.
I was on my own and I was scared, you know. It was tough. “I had a trial at Portsmouth and one at Blackburn, too.
They put me in a guest house. But I was a kid and I didn’t know anything. “So that is my first memory of England and it is a bad one.”Son eventually ended up re-joining Hamburg where he went on to spend the next three years. After that, he went to Bayer Leverkusen where he spent two years and blossomed into a different player before linking up with Spurs.
When asked if he feels established at Spurs, he said:
