Son Heung-min's Journey: From Skepticism to MLS Star
Son Heung-min sat in London and shook his head.
“Why would I go to MLS already? I’m definitely not going.”
That was his instinctive reaction when his agent first mentioned Los Angeles FC’s interest. For a player who had come through Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga and then become a star in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, Major League Soccer looked like the final stop, not the next step.
To Son, MLS was where careers wound down, not where they were reignited.
From skepticism to a new challenge
By the time he had one year left on his contract at Tottenham, the picture started to blur. Ten years in North London had brought goals, adoration and captaincy, but also a nagging feeling that he needed something different.
“When I had one year left on my contract, I felt that I needed a new challenge,” Son said on the podcast “The Late Run,” whose latest episode was released Friday.
The idea of MLS was still a stretch. The badge on the offer — LAFC — and their persistence began to change that.
His agent pushed for at least a conversation. A Zoom call was arranged. On the other end of the screen, Son found more than a sales pitch.
“I realized that LAFC had been following me for a long time, and I could feel how genuine their interest was,” he said. That sincerity cut through his skepticism. It was not a retirement plan; it was a project built around him.
That was the moment the door to MLS truly opened.
A surprise move that shook expectations
Son left Tottenham last summer, closing a decade-long chapter with one of England’s biggest clubs. His switch to LAFC stunned fans in South Korea and across Europe. Many still saw him as a player capable of influencing matches in any of Europe’s top five leagues.
Yet for Son, the timing felt right. The new challenge he had spoken about on “The Late Run” had a name, a city, and a black-and-gold shirt.
What started as a firm “I’m definitely not going” had turned into a deliberate decision to cross the Atlantic.
MLS, up close and different
If his perception of MLS had been shaped from afar, reality hit the moment he walked into American stadiums as an LAFC player.
“I didn’t know much about MLS before coming here, but I was surprised and happy to see the stadiums packed for every game,” he said.
The atmosphere contradicted the old stereotype he had carried with him in Europe. This was not a sleepy league. It was loud, full, and hungry.
The World Cup had helped push the sport into a new space in the United States. Son knows that wave cannot carry itself.
“After the World Cup, it is now the responsibility of the players and the league to keep that momentum going,” he said.
From a reluctant listener in London to a leading figure in Los Angeles, Son’s MLS story began with doubt and ended with conviction — and now the task is to prove that his leap was not a step down, but a step into something still rising.
