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LONDON — Ange Postecoglou is hopeful that Tottenham Hotspur and South Korea can work collaboratively to ensure Son Heung-Min‘s long-term fitness but recognises that, ultimately, the attacker’s international workload is the domain of his country’s coach.
Arriving back in London in the early hours of Friday morning after suffering a 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray, Spurs will host Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Sunday, their last game before Son links up with South Korea for World Cup qualifiers against Kuwait and Palestine.
With the star attacker still working to full fitness, Hong Myung-Bo, who was named Jurgen Klinsmann’s permanent replacement as coach of South Korea in July, has vowed to “protect his health,” during the coming international window.
“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,” said Hong.
“I obviously understand he wants to play for the national team but first and foremost we have to protect his health.”
Postecoglou, for his part, has taken a cautious approach to reintroducing his skipper to action and is hopeful that both club and country can work together to optimise the talisman’s performances for both.
“I’m reticent to get involved with national team managers and their plans,” Postecoglou told ESPN. “I certainly didn’t appreciate it when I was [Australia’s] boss if club coaches told me how to handle things.
“But you’d like to think there’s a collaborative approach there; that they’re looking at what he’s been through in recent times for both us and for the national team. We want a healthy Sonny, somebody who’s feeling good physically so he can contribute.
“I think within that sort of context. I’m sure that both of us will get a positive outcome.”
After missing multiple games for Spurs as well as Korea’s wins over Jordan and Iraq, Son re-aggravated a hamstring injury upon his return in a 4-1 win over West Ham last month, a setback that caused him to miss a further three fixtures.
Returning against Aston Villa last week, he played 56 minutes before being subbed off in his side’s 4-1 win and came off at half-time of the loss in Istanbul on Thursday.
“He had the injury, we brought him back and in the first game back he had a relapse,” Postecoglou told media at a news conference on Friday.
“We don’t want to put him into that cycle, it’s very easy to fall into it by pushing players particularly when they’re coming back from injury. We’re managing his minutes and building him up.
“It’s about making sure we get him back and keep him back. We can’t afford more injuries in that position. We’ve already got Wilson [Odobert] with a long-term injury, [Richarlison] with a long-term injury, and Mikey [Moore] out now.”