Son Heung-min Expected to Shake Up Major League Soccer
By James Moreau | 20 Aug, 2025

Former Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min makes a blockbuster transfer to MLS’s LAFC, changing the league landscape.

At age 33 Son Heung-min has already achieved a level of international success considered by many to be the greatest of any Asian player in soccer history.

Son carved out his landmark success during a decade in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, becoming the first Asian player to score 100 goals.  He is the fifth highest all-time scorer for the club. In the 2021-22 season he became the first Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot with 23 goals.

Son won the FIFA Puskás Award – awarded to the player who scored the most beautiful goal – for his incredible solo play against Burnley in 2019 in which he covered the entire length of the field dribbling past multiple opposing players.

In May 2025 Son captained Tottenham Hotspur to a victory in the UEFA Europa League final, the club’s first major trophy since 2008.

Over his Tottenham career Son totaled earnings of over $74 million, with his most recent extension putting his annual earnings at just under $10 million, the club’s highest-paid player.

At the height of his Premier League success Son opted to leave in the final year of his contract for Major League Soccer’s LAFC in which his new club footed a record $26.5 million transfer fee.  His two-year contract with the team is estimated at $13 million per year, making him the league’s highest paid player behind the legendary Lionel Messi.

Son made his debut with LAFC on August 9th in Chicago where the away crowd welcomed him to the MLS with a standing ovation, something he noted would never happen in the Premier League.

A native of South Korea, Son moved to Germany at 16 to join Hamburger SV and made his Bundesliga debut in 2010.  Over six years, combined with his time with Hamburger SV and Bayer Leverkusen, Son scored 41 goals.

Son has represented South Korea at the World Cup in 2014, 2018, and 2022 and is the country’s all-time leading scorer with three goals. In 2018 his nation took home the gold medal in the Asian Games.  Son has scored 51 total international goals. Son is fluent in both German and English in addition to his native Korean.