As Son Heung-min (32) made no progress regarding the renewal of his contract with Tottenham, ‘Big Hand’ Al Ittihad made a move.
British ‘Team Talk’ reported on June 6, 2024, “Saudi ‘big money’ Al Ittihad is preparing an extremely large offer to recruit Salah.
“The world’s top wingers Son Heung-min and Federico Chiesa (Juventus) were also finalists,” he said.
He continued, “If the recruitment of Salah fails, the plan is to recruit Son Heung-min.
“If this fails, we will target Chiesa,” he explained.
Al Ittihad coach Marcelo Gallardo confirmed to be sacked
Marcelo Gallardo, currently leading Al Ittihad, is left with only an official announcement left after his dismissal was confirmed.
Last year, in November 2023, he took over as manager Nuno Santo’s successor, but lost the trust of the club’s management within half a year as he remained in 5th place in the league.
According to Spain’s Marca, Al Ittihad plans to pay the full penalty amounting to 30 million euros (about 44.4 billion won).
‘Team Talk’ said, “Rather than finding a new coach, Al Ittihad is looking for a top-level winger to strengthen the attack.
“There are three players on the recruitment list: Salah, Son Heung-min, and Chiesa,” he said.
Son Heung-min receives attention from Turkye’s big team Fenerbahce
Regarding Son Heung-min, the media said, “He is receiving interest from not only Al Ittihad but also Turkye’s big team Fenerbahce.
However, Tottenham wants to extend Son Heung-min’s contract and is optimistic about it,” he said. “Al Ittihad has not yet made official contact with Son Heung-min.
However, if the contract with Salah does not go smoothly, he will approach Son Heung-min and negotiate a transfer,” he explained.
Currently, some European media outlets are predicting that Tottenham and Son Heung-min will sign a long-term contract renewal, but the outlook is not all that bright.
This is because the British newspaper ‘The Athletic’ recently reported that Tottenham is planning to activate the one-year extension option with Son Heung-min first, rather than signing a long-term contract.
Whether or not he renews his contract with Tottenham may serve as a variable in Son Heung-min’s consideration of going to Saudi Arabia.
Son Heung-min’s contract with Tottenham originally expires in June of next year.
In 2021, he signed a four-year extension with Tottenham.
At the time, both parties included an option to extend the contract for another year.
If Tottenham activates this option as reported, Son Heung-min will only play for Tottenham until 2026.
Saudi Arabian League clubs love call to Son Heung-min
Son Heung-min moved to Tottenham in 2015 and has already played for 9 seasons.
He played a total of 408 matches and scored 162 goals.
He ranks 5th in Tottenham’s all-time scoring following Kane (273 goals), 2nd place Jimmy Greaves (266 goals), 3rd place Bobby Smith (208 goals), and Martin Chivers (174 goals).
There was speculation that Tottenham could offer a long-term contract renewal to Son Heung-min, who has established himself as Tottenham’s iconic player.
However, if Son Heung-min, who has the highest weekly salary in the team at 190,000 pounds per week (approximately 330 million won), is renewed, he will have to pay more than the current amount.
Although Son Heung-min is still performing well as the team’s ace, offering a high salary to a player who is well over 30 puts a burden on Tottenham.
Tottenham is interpreted as an approach to secure Son Heung-min until 2026 by activating the extension option and then find an agreement thereafter.
This is also related to the reason why Saudi Arabian league clubs have been sending love calls to Son Heung-min with a large amount of oil money since last season.
It is common for European clubs not to sign long-term contracts with players over 30.
Saudi Arabian clubs are planning to recruit Son Heung-min, who is still in his prime but has difficulty renewing his long-term contract in Europe, and use him for at least two more years.
by 메이저놀이터