Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min is currently a key player for Ange Postecoglou and is widely regarded as one of the club’s modern-day greats, but the South Korean could have been a Liverpool player in the summer of 2022 if Spurs hadn’t secured UEFA Champions League qualification under Antonio Conte.
According to Jason Burt of The Telegraph, Liverpool were ‘sniffing around’ the versatile forward 18 months ago as they scoured the transfer market for a potential replacement for Sadio Mane, who joined Bayern Munich that summer. The report states that Son was considering his options and was ‘interested’ in a move to Liverpool, although the transfer never came to fruition as Spurs dramatically pipped Arsenal during the back end of the 2021-22 campaign to secure UEFA Champions League football. An excerpt from the report reads: “For some time Son had been considering his own options. If Spurs had not made the Champions League in 2022, when they dramatically pipped Arsenal to fourth place under [Antonio] Conte, then Son would likely have left. Liverpool were sniffing around and it is thought he was interested.”
Jurgen Klopp revealed in an interview last year that his failure to sign the 31-year-old would go down as ‘one of the biggest mistakes’ of his life. It’s unclear whether Klopp was referring to the failed transfer during his time at Liverpool or Borussia Dortmund, but his admiration for Son was clear by the way he spoke.
He said (quotes via South Korean outlet KBS news): “One of the biggest mistakes in my life is not signing Son Heung-min. He is fantastic, a sign of Korean football and one of the best strikers in the world.” Son has emerged as Tottenham’s main man after Harry Kane’s departure and has already scored eight Premier League goals this season, including a well-taken finish in the Reds’ controversial 2-1 defeat to the Lillywhites in September.
