November 7, 2023 (KST) will be a special day for Son Heung-min, 31, Tottenham, and Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino, 51.
The Tottenham captain and striker will welcome Pochettino to Chelsea in the 11th round of the 2023-2024 English Premier League (EPL) at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.
Son and "Pochi" (Pochettino's nickname) are inseparable. Son was recruited by Pochettino in 2015 and joined Tottenham from Leverkusen to fulfill a childhood dream of playing in the EPL.
In an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Doha, Qatar, last December, Pochettino said, "I wanted to bring Son Heung-min since 2013, when I was at Southampton. I met with him and his family. At the time, he was too young and I wanted him to stay at Leverkusen. After that, I kept watching him and saw how he grew." Pochettino reflected.
Pochettino added: "He was the first player I wanted to sign when I arrived at Tottenham and I had the opportunity to work with him at Spurs. We saw his potential and his development has been fantastic," Pochettino explained.
After struggling to find his feet in his first season, Son had planned to return to his native Germany after the 2016 Rio Olympics, but Pochettino persuaded him to stay. It was a 'Godsend' Establishing himself as a regular flanker for Pochettino's side from the 2016-2017 season, Son went on to score double figures in the EPL for seven consecutive seasons until last season. In 2021-2022, he became the first Asian player to lead the EPL in goals.
Pochettino has built an attacking-minded team with young, promising players like Son, Harry Kane, and Dele Alli, and has achieved great things, such as finishing second in the English Premier League (EPL) in 2016-2017 and runner-up in the European Champions League in 2018-2019. A perennial mid-table team, Tottenham evolved under Pochettino to challenge the big four, and their move to a new stadium, the largest in the EPL, gave them big club status.
The relationship between Son and Pochettino didn't last long. Pochettino, who looked set to become the Ferguson of Tottenham, was sacked in 2019 following poor results. Pochettino later reiterated that his sacking was not his choice, but a decision by the hierarchy, saying, "I'm not trying to criticize the owner and chairman. Me and my coaching staff are just grateful to Daniel Levy for giving us a chance for six years."
While Son has made his mark at Tottenham, Pochettino's career hasn't gone as well as expected. He took over at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in January 2021 and stepped down in the summer of 2022 after just a year and a half. He was repeatedly linked with a return to Tottenham before taking charge of Spurs' London rivals Chelsea in May after a year-long break, but in Pochettino's words, "the timing wasn't right". 호텔카지노
Facing Tottenham for the first time as an opposition manager after his sacking, Pochettino was naturally asked in his pre-match press conference about Son Heung-min, who is second on the scoring charts with eight goals at an "unbelievable pace". He replied, "I can't play as a center back. My center back has to stop him," he joked, before adding, "We know he's a fantastic player, one of the best players in the EPL. I hope it's not a good night for him."
A lot has changed for Son since Pochettino's departure. First, his partner of eight years, Kane, left for Bayern Munich last summer. Tottenham manager Enzi Postecoglou's transformation of Son into a striker has been a huge success. Postecoglou has also handed Son the captain's armband. It was after Pochettino's departure that Heung-min performed the 'clicker'.
While Son and Pochettino will likely share a warm embrace before and after the game, they'll have to fight tooth and nail during the match. The urgency is on Pochettino's side. Pochettino, who holds the key to Chelsea's generational transformation, has just three wins (three draws and four losses) in his first 10 games, leaving the Blues in 12th place. Tottenham, on the other hand, is the EPL's only unbeaten team (8W2D) and is chasing its first EPL title.