Heung Min Son is a doubt for Tottenham’s Premier League game against Watford on Saturday after arriving back late from international duty.
The Spurs winger played 90 minutes for South Korea in their goalless draw with rivals North Korea on Tuesday and didn’t land back in London until Thursday, which most likely left him jet-lagged after a long flight and just Friday’s training session for him to prepare for the clash against the Hornets at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Mauricio Pochettino has previously left Son on the bench in similar situations, but the Korean forward did start Spurs’ last Premier League game that followed an international break – and Son showed few signs of tiredness that afternoon as he scored twice in the 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace last month.
But Son, who described the meeting with their rivals as ‘an aggressive match,’ was relieved to have got through the game without picking up an injury and should be on the bench if Pochettino doesn’t deem him to be fresh enough to play from the start.
International football is a bane to all top teams and a risk to all young players. They get used up bu nscrupulous national managers who have no real investment in the players health, form or well being. Ideally International teams should be 29 years old or older. Alternatively, while club teams could remai responsible for players training and rehab, they should perhaps have contracts which allowes them to withhold wages while players are training or playing with or recuperating from injury from National team games.