Son wins sixth ‘Best Footballer in Asia’ award

Heung-Min Son has been named ‘Best Footballer in Asia’ for the sixth time in his career.

The annual award, presented by Chinese sports newspaper Titan Sports, is voted for by a panel of journalists and, once again, our South Korean forward's incredible performances for both club and country have been recognised.

Having already won the award in 2014 and 2016, Sonny has now gone on to pick up the prize in each of the last four years (2017-2020) and in six of the eight years that it has been presented.

Despite the difficulties of the past 12 months, Sonny still managed to shine in our colours, hitting 22 goals for us in 2020 as well as providing 10 assists. 21 of those 32 total goal combinations have come in the current campaign in which our number seven has hit an astounding purple patch and just last month, he picked up FIFA’s coveted Puskas Award in recognition of his stunning December, 2019, strike against Burnley.

2020 began in scintillating fashion for the former Bayer Leverkusen man as he scored six goals in his first nine games of the calendar year, including his 50^th Premier League goal as part of a match-winning brace in our 3-2 triumph over Aston Villa in February.

Injury, however, saw him miss our next six games before the campaign was suspended in March following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In that pause to proceedings, Sonny returned home to South Korea to continue his rehabilitation and complete his mandatory military service in his homeland before returning to north London in May.

A month later, with Coronavirus cases falling and the national situation improving, the Premier League was allowed to return and complete the 2019/20 campaign – Sonny scored twice and assisted three times in the final nine games of the season including a delightful dinked finish in July’s 2-1 north London derby win over Arsenal.

And since we have moved into this current campaign, the forward has managed to raise his game to an even higher level – he rounded off the year with another 14 goals and eight assists in all competitions for us as we continue to fight for silverware on four fronts. That striking return has included a four-goal haul in our 5-2 win over Southampton, a brace in our 6-1 victory over Manchester United as well as another stunning effort against Arsenal as he curled home from distance against the Gunners in a 2-1 triumph last month.

Since the turn of the year, that form has continued for Sonny as he has already been involved in three goals with just two games having been played so far in 2021 – and that has included scoring his 100^th Spurs goal as well as being on target last time out with a fine strike in our 2-0 win over Brentford on Tuesday as we booked our place in April's Carabao Cup Final.