Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Peter Crouch has claimed that current star Son Heung-Min is helping to change football forever.
In a column for the Daily Mail, Crouch explains how the game has begun to change because of hard-working forwards such as Son and Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino.
“Football has altered dramatically due to the relentless workrate of men such as Firmino and Son Heung-min of Tottenham, who is one of the top players in the League. He would improve any of the best teams.
“These are forwards who won’t stop. Look at Firmino. He is a top goalscorer, but the thing that blows me away is what happens when he loses the ball. Straight away he’s on his feet and gets it back. He must be an absolute nightmare for defenders to handle.
“It says everything about how much he runs that he’s covered 165 miles in the Premier League this season. It’s the same with Son (129 miles), who is so underrated. He shouldn’t be because he’s every bit as important to Tottenham as Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen. They are part of a new breed of footballers who are changing expectations.”
Son has been a brilliant signing for Spurs since his £22million move from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2015.
The South Korea international has made 129 appearances in all competitions for Spurs, scoring 45 goals and laying on 24 assists.
After a tough first season he came to life for the club last campaign, scoring 21 goals and providing 10 assists in all competitions.
He is on course to match or even eclipse those tallies this season, with 16 goals and nine assists in all competitions so far.
OPINION
This is brilliant insight from Crouch, and not something that many people would really think about. If you hark back 10 years or so you can see that Crouch is absolutely spot on. Forwards very rarely used to defend in the numbers they do now, and players like Son are helping to change that. This phenomena is however also down to managers such as Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp, whose high intensity pressing games demand much of every single player on the pitch.