Son: Rejecting Liverpool my greatest regret

Son Heung-min has an impressive record against Liverpool and rejected the chance to sign for Jurgen Klopp early in his Career.

Tottenham Hotspur’s son Heung-Min speaks to the press after the equalizer during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Liverpool have several reasons to fear a new Tottenham Hotspur team on Saturday afternoon, but for the first time in a long time Harry Kane will not be among them.

Kane left Spurs this summer to join Bayern Munich and, surprisingly to many, Ange Postecoglu’s men look a better team.However, Kane scored ten goals in seventeen games against the Reds and although he only won one of those games, he was always a danger man when the two teams faced each other.But he wasn’t alone, and Liverpool may have been equally worried about their old partner in crime, the rejuvenated Heung-Min Son.

He may be considered one of the best players in the Premier League, but Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp still have reason to be fed up at the sight of Spurs’ South Korean striker. After all, he has scored five goals in his last eight Premier League starts against Liverpool, while he has scored five goals in five starts against German side Borussia Dortmund.

But while he remained unbeaten against Klopp in the Bundesliga during his time at Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen, that’s a different story to his encounters with the Reds.Spurs’ infamous 4-1 win, in which he scored in October 2017, saw him face Liverpool 15 times and remains the only time Son has been on the winning side against Klopp’s Reds.

And of course, such a run also includes Tottenham’s defeat in the 2019 Champions League final.Yet a total of 10 goals in 16 starts in all competitions against Klopp’s sides ensures the South Korean is a dangerous man who could deal a major blow to their European hopes if he scores such a goal at Anfield on Sunday.

And one that the Germans know is virtually impossible to stop.“I will be prepared for the best possible Tottenham team,” Klopp told reporters before facing Spurs last season. “For years they were by far the best counter-attacking team in Europe.“There were times when you lost the ball, all they had to do was find Harry Kane and the next minute Son was in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper.

I have no idea how to defend him properly, the best way not to lose the ball.”Is it any wonder, then, that Klopp wishes he had signed Son earlier in his career? “One of the biggest mistakes of my life was not signing Son Heung-min,” he told Korean outlet KBS News in November 2021. “Excellent player.

He is fantastic, a hallmark of Korean football and one of the best strikers in the world.”The German failed to sign the striker for Borussia Dortmund when he left Hamburg in 2013, as Son opted to join Bayer Leverkusen in a €10 million deal.

“I wanted to stay in the Bundesliga. Leverkusen and Dortmund wanted me,” the South Korean then recalled, explaining his decision to snub Klopp. “Both teams play in the Champions League, but I thought Dortmund would use rotation more than Leverkusen.“That’s why I chose Leverkusen instead of Dortmund. At my age it is very important to play regularly.”Two years later, after scoring 29 goals in two seasons for Leverkusen, he signed for Spurs for £22 million in the same summer Klopp left the Bundesliga.

Now a Tottenham Premier League legend, he scored 150 goals in 379 appearances over nine seasons. But above all: no trophies. Given Klopp’s admiration for Son, Liverpool have been sporadically linked with his services over the years. Yet that ship, now 31 years old, seems to have set sail a long time ago.But while the German may consider it one of his “biggest mistakes” not to sign the South Korean, Liverpool will not regret it.

After all, Son is the same age as their famous, now dismantled, attacking triumvirate of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané and Salah.Firmino would move from the Bundesliga to the Premier League the same summer as Son, joining the Reds from Hoffenheim for £29m. After Klopp took over as manager in October 2015 and inherited the Brazilian, the striker enjoyed a renewed vigor and became a legend at the club, despite a slow start partly due to injury.

As for Mane, he was signed from Southampton in the summer of 2016 for £34million. Klopp had previously tried to recruit the Senegalese from Dortmund, as he had tried with Son, but then decided against it. He later admitted he could have made such a decision and made sure to make amends at Anfield, righting a mistake he was unable to make towards the South Korean as soon as the player 31 year old became available.

Mané scored 120 goals and 38 assists in 269 appearances for Liverpool before joining Bayern Munich for £35 million last year. Meanwhile, Salah left AS Roma in the summer of 2017 for £43.9 million. He currently has 190 goals and 69 assists in 320 games and the 31-year-old is already considered one of the greatest players in the club’s history.Together, the trio would help transform the Reds’ fortunes under Klopp.

While Firmino and Mané would help Liverpool return to the Champions League, the addition of Salah helped transform them into one of the strongest teams in Europe.All three would go on to win every major honor offered to them under Klopp as the Reds were crowned champions of England, Europe and the world. Of course, if you’re greedy, you could be forgiven for wondering what else Liverpool could have won had they possessed Son’s talents to complement their then-undeniable front line. After all, he is certainly a player who meets Klopp’s standards.

But apart from a few admiring glances, the Kopites never wondered what could have happened with the South Korean. They are more than happy with the hand Liverpool have been dealt.Whether Son himself has any regrets, given his lack of trophies compared to his Reds colleagues, only he can say.

However, it’s worth noting that even if he hadn’t rejected the advances of Klopp and Dortmund in 2013, that doesn’t mean he would have followed the German to Anfield. Likewise, it is impossible to know whether Klopp would have renewed his interest in Son’s services upon his arrival at Anfield had he not left Leverkusen at that time.

Like the South Korean’s influence on Liverpool’s title run last year, it’s all just an if and a but.His could be a big mistake for Klopp, but the Reds have no regrets about him. The South Korean may have been part of that Anfield story, but he’s just an admired opponent, watching from afar as Liverpool win everything there is to win, Europe’s greatest trophy even being won at his expense.