Tottenham ace Son Heung-min continues to shine as he claims ninth Best Footballer in Asia award ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo
Tottenham star Son Heung-min had a memorable 2023 full of milestones, and his brilliance has now been recognised as he scooped the Best Footballer in Asia award for a seventh consecutive year.
While the award has almost become a formality for Son, the competition to claim the prize this year was tougher than ever after one of the sport’s greatest-ever players, Cristiano Ronaldo, spent the year playing in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr.
The prize is awarded to the best Asian footballer or footballer playing in Asia, and Son claimed 22.9 per cent of the vote to win the award for a ninth time (Tottenham Hotspur Official Website, 16 January), beating out Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-Jae, who finished second, and the aforementioned Ronaldo, who came third.
Although the first half of the 2022/23 campaign was one to forget for Spurs’ star forward, he rediscovered his form in the second half of the season and laid down the foundations for what would be an incredible year on a personal level.
His nine league goals after the turn of the year featured a wonder strike against Brighton which saw him become the first ever Asian player to score 100 goals in England’s top flight.
That was only one of many milestones that the 31-year-old would reach throughout the calendar year.
Upon Ange Postecoglou’s arrival at Hotspur Way, the Australian appointed Son as the captain of the Men’s First Team in North London, and the forward has taken that responsibility on board effectively, leading the way with his stellar performances.
He became the first Spurs player to score a brace at the Emirates, in the club’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal (23 September), netting his 150th goal in Tottenham colours that afternoon.
His 12 league goals this season have lifted him to sixth in the club’s all-time goalscoring charts, just two behind Cliff Jones and the top five, while his 115 Premier League goals leave him 23rd in the all-time rankings for that competition.
His overall stats show that he hasn’t just been up there with Asia’s best, but he has in fact been among Europe’s best over the past calendar year.
As per fbref, Son sits in the 96th percentile of his positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues for the number of non-penalty goals he has scored (0.46 per 90) across the past 365 days.
The Tottenham man signed off 2023 in style with a strike in Spurs’ 3-1 home win against Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve.
As seen in the image above, it was a trademark Son goal, with the forward making a run inside the left channel, where he received a pass from Giovani Lo Celso.
His direct run found him inside the Bournemouth penalty area where he prepared to pull the trigger.
His finish was precise, as he rifled the ball into the far corner from a tight angle.
It saw Son end 2023 in fitting fashion, scoring yet another goal just hours before families across the world were celebrating the clock striking midnight to bring in 2024, a year which will hopefully be full of plenty of the same for the South Korea captain.
In other Tottenham news, one Spurs expert is delighted after a transfer announcement today.
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