Tottenham star Son Heung-min has become a year younger thanks to an unusual ruling in his home country – and it might’ve boosted his transfer value
Tottenham hero Son Heung-min might have just seen his transfer value boosted – after becoming a year younger overnight thanks to South Korean law.
Son, who is 30 according to the international ageing system, had been considered a year older in his native country due to an unorthodox method of age recognition.
President Yoon Suk Yeol passed a law last year that would abolish the previous ruling of children being assigned the age of one at birth – and the age of two as soon at there was a change in year.
That would mean that a baby born in late December would be considered as a two-year old despite only being alive for a matter of days before.
The change was brought it to stop the confusion that surrounded the method of ageing, which had dated back centuries.
Son, who has scored 145 goals for Spurs and won the Premier League golden boot back in 2021/22, will celebrate his 31st birthday on July 8.
The forward, who captains the South Korea national side, is contracted at the club until 2025, which will take him up to his 33rd birthday – not his 34th.
Despite having an impressive goalscoring record in England, Son is yet to win a major trophy in his professional career.
Those chances have been boosted under new boss Ange Postecoglou with the signing of James Maddison, but Harry Kane could yet depart.
The England skipper has been the subject of a bid from Bayern Munich with a year left on the contract he signed back in 2018.
Son himself was also linked to the exit door at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – with an offer of £100million in wages to move to Saudi Arabia.
ESPN reported that Al Ittihad were ready to offer Spurs around £50m as well as the bumper contract to the player.
However, he said while on international duty: “I have many things to do in the Premier League.
“Money doesn’t matter to me now, and the pride of playing football, to play in my favourite league is important. I want to play more for Tottenham.”
