Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min has been nominated for the English Premier League (PL) Player of the Month award for December.
The PL’s governing body announced the eight finalists for the December Player of the Month award on its website on Thursday (July 4), including Son Heung-min.
Son scored his 12th Premier League goal against Bournemouth on December 31. Son’s brace helped Tottenham to a 3-1 victory. Spurs are currently in fifth place in the league. However, Son will now be out for a month as he competes in the Asian Cup.
Jürgen Klinsmann’s men will be looking to win their first title in 64 years at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, which kicks off on January 12 in Doha, Qatar. Drawn in Group E, South Korea will face Bahrain (Jan. 15), Jordan (Jan. 20) and Malaysia (Jan. 25).
South Korea won back-to-back titles in 1956 and 1960. However, South Korea hasn’t won a title in the 63 years since, finishing runner-up four times. It’s been so bad that it’s been dubbed the “curse of the Asian Cup. With world-class players like Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae, and Lee Kang-in in their prime, 2024 is the perfect time for South Korea to reclaim the Asian crown.
Captains Son will now take off his Tottenham jersey and put on the South Korean national team jersey. The team arrived in Dubai on March 3 and traveled to Abu Dhabi. Son will join the UAE straight from London. If South Korea makes it to the Asian Cup final, Son will be gone for more than a month. Spurs could be without him for up to five games.
The goal gives Son 12 league goals, five assists, and 17 attacking points this season. That’s more than his 16 league points (10 goals, 6 assists) from last season. He’s already surpassed his season total after just 20 league games.
In particular, in seven games in December, Son scored four goals and provided four assists. That’s the most offensive points of any PL player in December. He had one goal and one assist against Manchester City, one goal and two assists against Newcastle, one goal against Everton, one assist against Brighton, and one goal against Bournemouth.
In selecting Son, PL wrote: “A whopping eight attacking points in December alone. He led Tottenham to four wins in the injury ward.” In fact, Tottenham managed four wins, one draw, and two losses despite the absence of several players.
Meanwhile, this is the third time this season that Son has been named Player of the Month in September. This is the fourth time he’s won the award, having also won it in September 2016, April 2017, and October 2020.
If Son is named December’s player of the month, he will make history once again by becoming the fifth player of the month in his career. He will join Robin van Persie-Wayne Rooney-Mohamed Salah (5), Cristiano Ronaldo-Steven Gerrard (6) and Sergio Aguero-Harry Kane (7) in PL history.