Tottenham news: Finance guru hails Son Heung-Min after ‘incredible’ deal is struck
Tottenham superstar Son Heung-Min may have been one of the biggest individual drivers of a new and improved Premier League TV deal.
That is the view of finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the new agreement in Japan and South Korea.
Sport Business reported last Thursday (27 January) that Eclat Media Group has acquired the rights to broadcast the top flight from next season.
The deal’s value is understood to have increased since the last three-year rights package was agreed for the region.
Son is the world’s most high profile East Asian footballer, and Spurs have capitalised on the interest through social media and commercial deals.
And Plumley claims that the Premier League will have used the 29-year-old attacker as a selling point when they negotiated the new TV deal.
“You have to look at it in these terms,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“It’s a significant achievement across the board in that market. Everything I’ve seen in that market, the values have been trending down in recent years.
“Now, you’re looking at Asia as a whole and the rights are growing again. That’s an incredible achievement for the Premier League.
“All the while, we know how loved Son is in South Korea. People will come from South Korea just to see him play.
“That’s the leverage you’re looking for. From the league’s perspective, you’d use him as leverage to negotiate the deal.
“It’s a bit of a random example but we’ve seen this in Slovakia with an Indonesian player.
“There’s a Slovakian team called FK Zenica, and for one match they had 20,000 unique viewers and a lot of them were from Indonesia.
“That’s on a much smaller scale but there’s evidence there to support that point.”
Son is currently recovering from an unspecified leg injury and is a doubt for the Fa Cup clash against Brighton on Saturday (5 February).
The forward has chipped in with nine goals and five assists in 25 outings this term.
In other news, this may be real reason Antonio Conte let Giovani Lo Celso leave Tottenham after source reveal.