Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min still has it in him to produce Mohamed Salah levels of output.
Son is one of the most prolific forwards in club history, fifth on Tottenham‘s all-time list of top scorers and second only to Harry Kane (45) for goals in European competition (24).
However, the start of this season has been a struggle for the South Korea international, who has just four goals and four assists to his name in 14 appearances across all competitions.
Injuries have disrupted this campaign so far and Son is now four Premier League games without a goal — although he did net against Roma in his most recent Europa League outing.
At 32 years old, some are wondering if it’s time to write off Son as past his best and whether it would be better for Spurs to move on to a younger player as their talisman.
Of course, there is another iconic 32-year-old forward doing the business in the Premier League right now.
Ange Postecoglou warns of writing off Son Heung-min
Mohamed Salah faced questions about his own form last season, despite still registering 25 goals across all competitions.
The Egyptian has set about proving any remaining doubters wrong at the start of this campaign, netting 15 goals and assisting another 12 in 21 appearances across all competitions.
In the Premier League, that record stands at 13 goals and eight assists in 14 games, leaving him top in the former and second only to Bukayo Saka (10) in the latter.
Postecoglou has used Salah’s case study as an example of why you shouldn’t write a senior player off and has backed Son to rediscover his best form soon.
“I think there were questions about Mo [Salah] maybe a year or so ago,” said the Australian (via Football.London). “I would be wary about doing that, go for it! It might help me if you write him off!
“I don’t get that sense. I still feel from a physical output and the quality he has and certainly from a mentality point of view, I haven’t seen it. What I do know is, from my own experience, the end comes pretty quickly. It’s not falling off a cliff but you find with a lot of great players that all of a sudden it’s gone from bang to bang, it’s not a slow deterioration.
“I don’t see that in Sonny, I still think he’s got a hell of a lot of quality and from a physical standpoint, the way he looks after himself; I don’t see his abilities diminishing just due to the age factor at the moment. I don’t see that. You weigh up the output of it and he is not at the level so far this year that he has been in previous years but that’s a pretty high standard he’s had in the past.
“Can he get there this year? I still think he can. I think a lot of that is down to consistent game time. He’s had a bit of a disrupted start this year where he’s had a couple of setbacks where he hasn’t played regularly. I think with Sonny the more regularly he plays, so the increase in that output. So the answer is no, I don’t think so, and I’d be wary about writing him off.”
Regardless of his form, Spurs will always get 100% from Son.
Postecoglou says the forward brings that sort of commitment to training as well as matchdays in his search for the highest standards.
“He’s no different in training. With Sonny, what you see is what you get on a daily basis. He’s a very optimistic and very energetic and enthusiastic kind of person and you know when he’s down because it stands out like a sore thumb, but that rarely happens,” said Postecoglou.
“He tackles things pretty determinedly and optimistically and I don’t have an issue with that. Sometimes as a manager, you get annoyed when you know that players are just putting things on for a crowd, for a reaction when it’s not really them. That annoys me more than someone just being themselves. Sonny, like I said, is what you see is what you get. Exactly the same person on a daily basis.”
