Son Heung-min Becomes First Asian Player Chosen to Be Part of EPL ‘Team of the Year’

Son Heung-min became the first Asian player to make the elite list of English Premier League’s “Team of the Year,” selected by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).

Super striker: PFA announced its “Team of the Year” list on social media last Saturday, which included the 28-year-old star of Tottenham Hotspur in the striker category, reported the Dong-A Ilbo.

Son made the list after a successful 2020-2021 EPL season, where he tied for fourth overall in both goals and assists.
The player scored 17 goals, the most scored by an individual player during the regular season, with 10 assists within 37 matches.
Son has now achieved the “10-goal, 10-assist milestone” in two consecutive seasons while playing for Tottenham.
Son, who joined Tottenham in 2015 under a £22.1 million ($31.3 million) five-year contract, also became the first Asian footballer to hit 100 EPL goals and assists in January, according to Joong Ang Daily.

Left out of tweet: While Son was included in the actual “Team of the Year” list, fans noticed that he was the only player out of 11 that was left out of PFA’s congratulatory tweet, reported South China Morning Post.

The tweet tagged: Ederson, João Cancelo, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Luke Shaw, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Bruno Fernandes, Harry Kane, and Mohamed Salah.
While Son doesn’t appear to have a Twitter account, a user noted that some of the other players without accounts were listed.

Hours after the first congratulatory post, PFA’s Twitter account posted another list that included Son’s name.
Earlier this year while playing for Tottenham, Son was targeted with racial abuse on social media following a team loss, NextShark previously reported.

Son was recently announced as captain for the South Korean men’s national football team, representing the country in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers this month.

Featured Image via Getty

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