Tottenham fans have quickly forgotten about Harry Kane this season as Son Heung-Min has moved up a level since leaving for Bayern Munich.
Ange Postecoglou quickly made the South Korean superstar his captain and was rewarded with some sensational performances to take the Spurs forward.
Despite this enthusiasm, a rather large speed bump is fast approaching in North London as the Asian Cup will take away the club’s major Premier League advantage.
Son may fly to Asia to join his international team-mates in Abu Dhabi after the game against Bournemouth on 31 December.
This means that the captain could miss the third and fourth rounds of the FA Cup and some key Premier League matches, such as Manchester United’s game at Old Trafford.
South Korea will not play their first game until 15 January, but training could start much earlier as his departure date has not yet been set, and if it all goes to plan, Son could miss the final on 10 February.
Daniel Levy will be following developments very closely.
Son is probably Tottenham’s highest earning player now that Kane has left, with a salary of £192,000 a week in 2022-23 and a contract until 2025 [The Sun].
The Telegraph reported that there is an option to extend his contract for an extra year, which Spurs are expected to trigger soon, and it is not known whether this will also increase his salary.
Taking the initial figure of £192,000 a week, Spurs and Levy could spend £768,000 on wages alone if Son was out for four weeks.
Of course Postecoglou will not look at it that way and will want his star player back as soon as possible, but it is interesting to see the effect of these tournaments in the middle of the season when the African Cup of Nations is also taking place at the same time.
With Yves Bissouma [£75 251 per week] and Pape Sarr [£14 047 per week] also absent, the cost of the wasted funds would probably be more than £1 million.
Levy will not be happy, but there is nothing he can do about it, and neither can Tottenham.