Son Heung-min leaves Spurs a statue-worthy legend who did two things Kane couldn’t

Son Heung-min was a world-class forward who dedicated those peak years to the ridiculousness of Spurs without a single Gary Neville golf course interview.

It’s a rare transfer that leaves us certain absolutely everyone should be absolutely delighted with it. And even our cold, cynical heart can’t help but be warmed by Son Heung-min and Tottenham deciding correctly and amicably that the time is right for them to part.

Really is just a lovely, lovely thing, with the kind of serendipitous timing that so few manage to get from the end of their careers at a particular club.

The last such transfer involving Spurs was Kyle Walker’s move to Man City, when the consensus was that the £50m Spurs received for ‘just a right-back’ meant they could be just as happy with the deal as City and Walker were.

That turned out to be bullsh*t.

But Walker recently admitting that he would trade one of his City Premier League titles to have been part of the Europa League-winning squad at Spurs tells you just how big a deal that night in Bilbao was. Even for a player who left Spurs eight years ago and has gone on to rack up trophy after trophy domestic and continental, it still stings.

Imagine how it felt for a star who stayed.

Son’s last meaningful act in a competitive game was to lift the Europa League trophy, the vindication for 10 years of sterling service above and beyond the call of duty for one of the world’s best players at one of the world’s most ludicrous banter clubs.

His last act in a Spurs shirt full stop was to lead them out against Newcastle in Seoul, walking off with 20 minutes to go to a huge ovation and hugs from every one of his team-mates and plenty of appreciation from his opponents too. A proper farewell at Spurs will surely follow once the season is under way, and the tears will flow again.

But they should be happy tears.

Son was not as good a player as Harry Kane, with whom his name will be indelibly linked forever in Spurs history. But he may just go down as a bigger legend at this club.

Normally, that would seem unthinkable. Kane was, famously, one of Spurs’ own who grew to become one of the world’s leading strikers.

Son arrived in 2015, just as Kane was establishing himself in the Spurs first team, and rapidly fell in love with this ridiculous club. It’s a love that was massively reciprocated.

He may have been the junior partner in that superb relationship, but he may well now be the one more fondly remembered by Spurs fans.

If that sounds jarring, then consider this. Who is more likely to get a statue outside the stadium first? Kane with one of his golden boots, or Son with his gleefully cathartic trophy lift in Bilbao?

It always seemed incongruous that for so many years this club could boast two of the very finest attacking talents in the world game. But while Kane was constantly linked with – and at times agitated for – a move away to bigger clubs and greater chance of glory, Son remained.

It’s not a new observation, but it’s nevertheless striking that a player of Son’s ability spent so long at Spurs and everybody just… accepted this was the natural order of things. That this was right and correct.

You would never find Son on the golf course with Gary Neville trying to engineer a move. Son didn’t employ his idiot brother as an agent to tell The Sun’s showbiz editor that he was definitely off to Man City at a society wedding.

He just smiled and got on with being the best he could be, and desperately trying to drag this recalcitrant club along with him.

Like Kane, Son so often saved his best work for games against Arsenal which is never a bad idea. But above all else, whatever praise you’ll hear from his Spurs team-mates past and present for Son the footballer will be dwarfed by the praise for him as a human being.

The affection he has for team-mates and colleagues has never seemed forced, always genuine. He was a tougher competitor than that smiling demeanour and dreamy skills might suggest, but there are plenty of defenders who can attest that Son at times absolutely was That Kind Of Player.

It’s not just the fact he finally got the trophy that he felt entitled him to the Spurs legend label that makes the timing of this so right.

The uncomfortable truth is that Son has been clearly on the wane for some time. The speed of both foot and mind just wasn’t there last season. It’s testament to his enduring ability and energy and unstinting effort that his bald numbers in 24/25 were broadly fine, with seven Premier League goals and 10 assists from 30 appearances.

But the returns were diminishing. His only Premier League goal after January was a penalty against Bournemouth. And he was failing the eye test. If you watched him, you knew. Something had gone. The speed and certainty with which Son had operated for so long from that starting position out on the left, one from which he could do defenders on either side.

At his best – and that was a time that spanned a good eight years – there was almost nobody you’d rather see bearing down on a keeper one-on-one, unless you were an Arsenal fan hoping for a title-salvaging favour.

Son was lethal in those positions. Quick enough to leave defenders trailing and instantly sure in his mind how and when he would beat the keeper.

He was a wonderful, beguiling player to watch. And last season that had gone. He was ponderous and unsure of himself. Niggling injuries took a toll on his speed, which seemed to have a knock-on effect on the certainty in the mind that had been his hallmark.

The man who had led so many rampaging Tottenham counter-attacks under managers many and varied from Pochettino to Postecoglou via Nuno, Mourinho and Conte was now slowing Spurs down.

The crispness and precision was replaced by uncertainty and indecision.

In every possible way, this was the time for Son to go. He gets to leave on his own terms having ticked off the one thing that could possibly be held against his all-time legend status at the club he loved. And by deciding for himself that he wants to go and try something new he’s also done exactly the right thing for Spurs.

Just as he has for the last decade.