Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min hurt his finger in an altercation with Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in while on international duty with South Korea. The incident took place on the eve of the national team’s Asian Cup semi-final defeat to Jordan last month.
South Korea caretaker manager Hwang Sun-hong has included the duo in his squad to face Thailand twice in World Cup qualifiers this month. On Wednesday, Hwang Sun-hong said he had held talks with the two players.
Later that day, the Tottenham star attended a press conference and Goal in South Korea have relayed his comments.
The 31-year-old Spurs forward has revealed that his compatriot has issued an apology to the entire team.
“Yesterday, there was a meeting with all the players. He apologised sincerely for what he did and what he did wrong in front of all the players, so they all accepted it well,” he said.
“It takes a lot of courage to apologise, but I think the players were very receptive because he showed a courageous attitude, and I think it gave them a chance to come together. The atmosphere is better than you might think.”
The Tottenham player has also revealed that Lee made a trip to London earlier to issue a personal apology.
“We met separately in England and talked about various things. It takes a lot of courage for someone to apologise first. In that sense, it was courageous for Kang to fly all the way to England and show a gesture of reconciliation,” Son explained.
Since the finger injury, the South Korea captain has featured regularly for Tottenham, scoring two goals and registering three assists from five league games.
Goal say the player’s finger, which he hurt during an altercation with Lee, is ‘still swollen’. However, Son has now played down any injury concerns.
“I don’t think you need to write about my finger anymore. It’s not a serious injury that you should be worried about. As my coach told me, ‘A footballer can be missing a finger’,” he added.
“I appreciate your concern, but I feel sorry for you because it’s causing so much confusion and it’s hard for me to see [fans] suffering.
“Football is a team sport. I’m very uncomfortable with the bad things that are being said about me. I’m fine, and every footballer has this kind of pain. I hope you will stop talking about it in the future.”
Son clearly feels the South Korean media are going too far at this point, but with endless comments to fuel them that’s no surprise.
