The name of Heung-Min Son has emerged as a possible signing for Real Madrid and other big clubs for next season. The South Korean, after more than eight seasons at Tottenham, has a desire to live another sporting experience in a club that allows him to fight for major titles.

Furthermore, the striker will enter the last year of his contract, which will facilitate a possible negotiation with the always challenging chairman Daniel Levy. For all these reasons, at the MBP School of Coaches, we are going to analyze Son’s player profile, and what he could bring to the club that decides to go for his signature.

 The Player Profile of Heung-Min Son

 The current Spurs player has a striker profile categorized as a false 9, as his tendency on the pitch is very versatile, occupying a large area of action, as can be seen in the heat map.

On the other hand, forwards classified with this terminology, in addition to their versatility on the attacking front, stand out for having three highly developed structures, which have a very important impact on the player’s behaviour.

1. The first of them is the creative-expressive. One of Son’s great strengths is his improvisation with the ball at his feet, which makes him a very difficult player to mark, as he has a great variety of tools with and without the ball.

2. The second structure that he excels in is his coordination. Despite not being as flashy a player as Neymar, Vinicius or Dembelé, the South Korean is very skilled with the ball at his feet, not only in 1vs1s, but also when working a shot at goal past a defender.

3. Finally, the third most relevant structure in Son is the cognitive The player understands the different situations that are encountered during the game, adapting at all times his position on the pitch and in how to behave.

Which fundamentals does Heung-Min Son master?

Moving on to the individual tactical behaviors most performed by the player, we can see how the forward has a great mastery of the fundamentals of the forward and winger positions.

The first fundamental to highlight, refers to Searching for a game in progression vertically in relation to the attack. Playing as a second striker or winger, and having such a high cognitive capacity, Son knows how to identify which behaviors to perform depending on the situation, always giving priority this order: to passing to a teammate with a greater advantage, driving and/or dribbling to beat the opponent, or playing to the wing.

Thanks to his command of these fundamentals, Sonny is a key player in his teams when it comes to launching the defence-attack transitions. He knows how to position himself in the free spaces to receive the ball once his team wins it, to be the first receiver on the turnover, and thus be the one in charge of starting the counterattack.

The second great fundamental that the player dominates in, refers to finishing in front of goal. In addition to being both footed, Son always looks prioritise accuracy over power in his shots. Thanks to this, he manages to move the ball away from the goalkeeper’s reach, making a save almost impossible.

The data that supports his eye for goal is his xG, i.e., the expected goals per shot. In the last four seasons, he has averaged 0.40 xG per shot. Therefore, almost every second shot is a goal.

Finally, another of Son’s main qualities is his ability to assist his teammates, whether it be from the centre or the wing. The attacking constellation he has formed with Harry Kane in recent years demonstrates the great understanding he can have with his teammates with whom he shares the forward line.

To obtain such good figures in terms of assists as those obtained in recent years, the player has applied different fundamentals such as Crossing for an advantage to the teammate, Playing advantageous passes, and Giving continuity to the progression of teammates. All of them have been executed with perfect precision and timing, allowing him to put his teammates in promising positions.

Conclusion

Heung-Min Son is a complete player, capable of adapting to any position in the attack, and of providing a high contribution to his team. For this reason, it is not surprising that world-class clubs will be looking to sign him next season.