LONDON — Ange Postecoglou has said that it is not sustainable for Son Heung-Min to feature in every match for Tottenham this season and that the forward has already played more than was initially planned in the opening weeks of the new campaign.
The 32-year-old limped off the pitch after receiving treatment in the 71st minute of Spurs’ Europa League victory over Qarabag on Thursday and is a doubt for the team’s match against Manchester United this weekend with what his coach described as “fatigue in his hamstring.”
Son has made 415 appearances for Spurs in all competitions since signing for the club in 2015 and has featured in every game this season, including the Carabao Cup third-round win over Coventry City on Sep. 18.
On Wednesday, Son spoke out against the volume of games that elite footballers are now being asked to play, saying that it is “sometimes very hard” and that “the risk of injury is massive.”
Asked whether it is “sustainable” for Son to continue playing so many minutes for Spurs at the age of 32, Postecoglou said: “No, no … I would have wanted to ease his sort of workload in this early part of the year. But we lost [due to injury] Richy [Richarlison], then we lost Dominic [Solanke], then we lost Wilson [Odobert]. Invariably in football sometimes it’s not the amount of injuries, it’s the kind of injuries you get. So, he’s played more than I think I certainly want him to.
“And the idea, like I said, of signing Dom and bringing in Wilson and extending Timo’s [Werner] loan was that we could sort of manage his load because he’s got international football as well. It’s something that I’m mindful of is just the circumstances so far. And Sonny always wants to play. That’s his attitude, but we’ve got to be sensible about it.
“I don’t think it’s got to do so much with his age. I haven’t seen that affect him. It’s more, I just don’t think that kind of workload in the modern game is sustainable. We’ve spoken a lot about fixture overload. Well, I think I said last week that part of that responsibility I guess lies with us, whilst the calendar is like this, to try and protect our players and certainly with Sonny we’re going to have to be mindful of it.”
Postecoglou admitted that while Son wants to play as many games as possible, he does not think he needs to sit down with his captain over “a cup of tea” to explain his decisions.
“I think when you’ve got a player like Sonny, I’ve had experience with guys like that before. They’re always just going to want to play,” the Spurs boss said. “And do I want to dull that competitiveness by having a reasoned discussion over it with a cup of tea? Saying: ‘Sonny, this is going to be great for you, great for me’ — no. I’d rather I leave him out and he’s disappointed with me because I think that’s what you want in him.”
Son is also the star of South Korea’s national team and makes himself available to play for his country at every opportunity. Postecoglou said that he would never ask the winger to retire from internationals to focus on his club football.
“Oh, mate. No. No chance,” he said. “No. I understand how important it is for him. We can look at these things in sort of just a cold, harsh light of ‘his club football will benefit if he doesn’t play for his country,’ but one day he won’t be able to play for his country. And the last thing I’d want is for him to have regrets that he missed out on an opportunity to play as much as he could and represent it.
“I think all these decisions are better off being left to the player themselves. They know themselves how they’re feeling about their career. It doesn’t matter how long you play for, the lifespan of a professional footballer is still fairly short in terms of how long you live your life. So that time you have, you want to try and get as fulfilled as you possibly can.
“You’re trying to create as much of a basket of memories as you can because one day you won’t have that opportunity. So, I would never be the one to say to him: ‘Look for selfish reasons for us as a club, it’d be great if you didn’t play for your country.’ I just wouldn’t do it.”
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