Sonny on ‘exceptional’ Klinsmann as Jurgen takes charge of South Korea national team
Wed 22 March 2023, 12:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Heung-Min Son has spoken of the glowing assessment Club representatives gave of his new South Korea Head Coach, Jurgen Klinsmann.
A Spurs legend during his playing days, scoring 38 goals in 66 appearances during two prolific spells in 1994/95 and 1997/98, Jurgen was appointed as the new boss of the Korea Republic earlier this month, ending a three-year hiatus from management.
This week, he has linked up with his new squad for the first time as the March international break commences and that new group includes our number seven and his new captain, Heung-Min Son.
A Spurs legend in his own right with 141 goals in 362 appearances for us to date, when speaking about his new international coach on Tuesday (22 March), Sonny admitted his expectations of Jurgen have only been raised by the references he had been given by members of our staff who had previously worked with the German during his spell in north London.
“At Tottenham, we still have people who spent time with coach Klinsmann back in his playing days, and he has such a sterling reputation," he said.
“I have only had brief conversations with him, but I could already tell he was a great man who cares so much about players. Tottenham officials told me we have an exceptional coach for South Korea, and that only raised my expectations.”
Jurgen will bring strong international coaching experience to the Korea Republic having led Germany to the 2006 World Cup semi-final and coached the United States at the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
Klinsmann’s third foray into international management begins with a home friendly against Davinson Sanchez’s Colombia on Friday before facing Uruguay next Tuesday as he looks to imprint his style on the South Korea squad.
“It feels very important for players to quickly catch onto what style the coach is pursuing while they train,” Sonny added.
“What we especially want from the coach is for him to pay a lot of attention to South Korea and the South Korean football team and to share a lot of information and experiences he has with our players. That will greatly help us. I think right now it is important that we adjust things together rather than expecting too much.”
