Son Heung-min South Korea fitness stance ahead of Tottenham exit for November internationals

South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo has stated that the national team need to protect Son Heung-min's health following his return to the Tottenham side. The 32-year-old made his Tottenham comeback in Sunday's 4-1 win over Aston Villa after missing the previous three games due to injury.

Son would only play 56 minutes of the contest and looked rather puzzled when Ange Postecoglou decided to substitute him so early in the second half. The attacker did appear a tad frustrated once sat in the dugout and was caught on camera chuntering to himself and biting down on his shirt.

Postecoglou quite clearly didn't want to push his star man too much upon his return from injury, with his decision proving to be the right one as Spurs ran out 4-1 winners on the day. Speaking in his post-match press conference, the Spurs boss indicated that Son "was never going to play more than sort of 55/60 minutes irrespective of how the game was going".

Now facing another busy week with Galatasaray coming up in the Europa League on Thursday evening before they host Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, Son's minutes could once again be limited prior to the final international break of 2024. The forward has been included in South Korea's squad for their international games in November after missing out last month through injury.

Kuwait and Palestine are on the agenda for Son and Co. as they take part in qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. Spurs fans will be hopeful that the player's minutes are restricted in the international fixtures as they will not want to lose him ahead of a busy period of games from late November onwards.

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Speaking at a press conference following the latest squad reveal, South Korea boss Hong was asked about his captain and how he plans to use him in their two fixtures.

"We will see how much his playing time increases in the next two matches, and that will be part of our preparation for the two November games," explained Hong (via Yonhap News Agency). "I don't think it's appropriate for us to push him hard on the national team just because he has returned to action for his club. We'll first have to see how much he plays in his next club match, and we'll go from there."

He added: "I obviously understand he wants to play for the national team. But first and foremost, we have to protect his health."

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