Sports Nicknames - Sonaldo, Sonny

Son Heung-min is one of the best players in the Premier League at the moment, and most certainly has achieved the status as one of the best players to come out of Asia.



Son started his professional career after being signed for Hamburger SV in Germany, having left the youth academy of FC Seoul's U-18 team. He broke through to the first team in 2011-12, becoming a starter the next season. 12 league goals in 33 matches in the 2012/13 season got him a transfer to Bayer Leverkusen. There he played for 2 seasons and made a minor impact before moving to Tottenham.

It's in England where he became more known. He's had his best ever goal returns in these seasons, particularly the 2020/21 season, in which he's scored 11 league goals in 14 appearances. He has yet to win a trophy with Tottenham, though they did finish runners-up in the Champions League to Liverpool in 2018/19.

On the international stage, Son is very important to his country, having been called up at every level since 2009. He helped his team win the 2018 Asian Games and is currently the captain for his country.

The South Korean is currently helping Tottenham to one of their most promising seasons in recent memory. Who knows? Perhaps he will be the first Korean since Park Ji-Sung to win the Premier League. Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has even given him the nickname "Sonaldo" after he reminded him of the famous Brazilian striker in a 5-0 win over Burnley.

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More recently, Jose Mourinho's preferred name for the Korean international has been "Sonny".


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