FILE – Tottenham’s Son Heung-min celebrates scoring his side’s third goal in the course of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, March 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
LOS ANGELES — Son Heung-min agreed to a contract with Los Angeles FC on Tuesday, finalizing his move to Major League Soccer after a decade at Tottenham Hotspur.
The 33-year-old South Korean superstar forward is joining LAFC three days after he formally announced his decision to depart Tottenham.
READ: Departing Son Heung-min in tears as Tottenham draws in Seoul
Son attended LAFC’s Leagues Cup match against Tigres at BMO Stadium on Tuesday night, watching from a luxury suite. LAFC will formally introduce Son at a news conference Wednesday, however the club showed the forward on the stadium video board late in the primary half as he waved to roaring fans thrilled by their team’s landmark acquisition.
LAFC, a deep-pocketed club with significant team success in its first eight seasons of existence, reportedly paid a transfer fee of greater than $20 million, which could find yourself being essentially the most ever for an MLS move.
Son was a beloved presence at Spurs, scoring 173 goals in 454 competitive appearances for the North London club while rising to global prominence together with his combination of speed, playmaking skill and ending acumen.
The captain was given a memorable farewell last week in Seoul during Tottenham’s exhibition match against Newcastle, getting a guard of honor from each teams and tearfully exiting within the second half while nearly 65,000 fans roared.
But South Korea’s hottest athlete — and almost actually the best Asian football player in history — has chosen an auspicious stage for the following chapter of his groundbreaking profession.
READ: Son Heung-min to depart Tottenham this summer after a decade
Los Angeles has the world’s largest ethnic Korean population outside Korea, with town’s vibrant Koreatown district sitting just a few miles from LAFC’s BMO Stadium.
LAFC is undoubtedly hoping to market Son as a soccer counterpart to the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, albeit on a smaller scale. Ohtani, the three-time MLB MVP from Japan who’s on a trajectory to grow to be the best Asian player in baseball history, draws fans from across the Pacific Rim to Dodger Stadium while attracting hundreds of thousands in sponsorships and partnerships for the Dodgers.
Son’s move to California also puts him in position to make an impact on and off the sector on the World Cup, which shall be held across North America in 2026. Son, the captain of his national team, already has said he’ll play in his fourth World Cup.
After leading Tottenham to its first European trophy in a long time by winning the Europa League in May in a fitting cap to his English profession, Son will go straight into the MLS Cup race when suits up for his latest club. LAFC currently sits sixth within the Western Conference at 10-6-6, but with multiple games in hand on every team in front of it due to its participation within the Club World Cup.
Son’s seven Premier League goals last season were his fewest since his Tottenham debut, but he still appears to have the pace and skill mandatory to be a difference-maker at any level. He also turned 33 only a month ago, putting him on the younger end of the worldwide stars recently arriving in MLS.
READ: Tottenham to increase Son Heung-min’s contract until 2026
Lionel Messi and Marco Reus were 35 and Luis Suárez was 37 after they went stateside lately, while Olivier Giroud and Hugo Lloris were each 37 after they joined LAFC last 12 months.
Son shall be reunited in Los Angeles with longtime Tottenham teammate Lloris, who has been outstanding since becoming LAFC’s goalkeeper last season.
High-scoring French forward Denis Bouanga is the one designated player currently under contract for LAFC, and general manager John Thorrington has been criticized by some fans for not using the total power of his financial resources this season. LAFC spent months on an ultimately failed try to get France’s Antoine Griezmann to depart Atlético Madrid.
Bouanga and Son have each thrived on the left wing during their careers, but Son likely has more positional versatility than Bouanga, making him a candidate to line up in the center and even on the fitting wing.
Son appears to be an infinitely higher fit for LAFC than Giroud, who moved to Lille last month after one disappointing 12 months in California. LAFC plays a counterattacking, speed-based style that didn’t suit Giroud’s goal-scoring strengths, while Son ought to be right at home in such a system.
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But LAFC also could alter its style within the winter after coach Steve Cherundolo departs for Germany following 4 largely successful seasons highlighted by an MLS Cup championship.