Son Heung-min told to ‘deal with it’ after ‘nightmare’ Tottenham reveal – expert
Former Tottenham defender Alan Hutton has insisted Son Heung-min should be able to “deal with” his injury.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Spurs right-back said Son’s injury could be a “mental block” but admired how well the forward has coped at the World Cup.
The 30-year-old sustained a fracture around his left eye in the first half of the Lilywhites’ Champions League game at Marseille on 1 November.
The South Korea international’s World Cup plans were thrown into serious doubt but was able to make the tournament after surgery with the help of a protective face mask worn during training and games.
Speaking to beIN SPORTS, relayed by football.london (25 November), the forward said the injury was a “nightmare” but made sure he did everything he could to be ready for the World Cup.
But the attacker has not hit the ground running at the tournament and his side need a win against Portugal on Friday (2 December) to be in with a chance of a place in the last 16.
When asked if the injury could be having an impact on Son’s performances, Hutton told Football Insider: “It is definitely not ideal.
“A face injury, depending on how you feel, you can kind of deal with it. You have got the mask, it is not like you are carrying a hamstring, or a knee or ankle problem where you can’t run. At least it is not affecting physically his body.
“But you can still see the effects of it. His face looks relatively swollen. Mentally it could be a block for him but I think he has dealt with it reasonably well.
“He is the talisman for them, you can hear the crowd screaming when gets the ball so it means a lot to him and the nation. Is it affecting him? Probably a little bit but I think he is doing well with it so far.“
In other news, a pundit has told Tottenham to agree record-breaking Harry Kane deal after source’s ‘extraordinary’ news.