Ange Postecoglou hails ‘natural leader’ Son Heung-min and insists he had ‘no hesitation’ handing the South Korean the armband at Spurs after Harry Kane’s exit
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Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min has emerged as a natural leader after a high-profile departure from the Premier League club and has consistently performed well this season, manager Ange Postecoglou said on Monday.
Son, Spurs’ top scorer this season with 15 goals and eight assists, took over the captaincy after Tottenham’s record goalscorer Harry Kane moved to Bayern Munich last year.
Spurs also lost French World Cup-winning goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who joined Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC after an 11-year spell in north London.
“It wasn’t a big decision to make Son skipper,” Postecoglou told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s visit to West Ham United.
‘Because Hugo has a big influence, as does Harry and also Eric Dier, there are others who have been at the club for a long time. Part of it was that I felt all the time that we needed to change something to show that we are making a new decision.
Ange Postecoglou has praised Son Heung-min’s performances since making him captain
Postecoglou described the forward as a ‘natural leader’ based on his experience in international football
‘I felt that Son was a natural talent and that he was a leader within his national team. I didn’t hesitate to put him in that position. Sometimes it can be a burden when you get the official title, but his performance has been outstanding.”
The Australian coach’s attacking philosophy has won plaudits since he took over the Spurs job in June and led his side to the top of the standings after going unbeaten through their opening 10 games.
Spurs are now fifth and three points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, who have played a game more.
“We want to finish the season strong and continue to build the foundation of a team that will hopefully see people look at us differently and talk about us differently in twelve months’ time,” Postecoglou said.
Son has scored fifteen goals and eight assists in 26 games for Spurs this season
‘To do that it can’t just be about where you finish and how many points you get, it has to be more than that. If we finish strong we will obviously finish in a decent position and we will see where that takes us.”
Postecoglou said he would continue to work hard with his young squad.
‘(Dejan) Kulusevski or Brennan (Johnson), Micky van de Ven or Destiny Udogie, or Pape Matar Sarr. All these guys are in their early twenties, in their first or second year in the Premier League. Our job is to improve them all,” he added.