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Son Heung-min has hailed Tottenham's summer signing Richarlison and admits that the pair have become close friends after just a handful of days.
Son has been back in South Korea with his Spurs team-mates on a tour that has only shown just how popular the 30-year-old is back in his homeland with the club's two matches selling out within minutes with more than a 108,000 fans in attendance across the games and hundreds of supporters gathered outside the club's hotel in Seoul every day and night.
Son's influence means Spurs are the most watched and best supported overseas club in South Korea and surveys suggest that of the 51 million population of the country, 12 million of them are Tottenham fans.
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"It’s incredible. The fans, the love… we’re feeling the love the fans are giving us," said Son. "I’ve been here with Leverkusen and also Hamburg, but with Spurs I think it’s more special because the fans are more interested in our football and the big players. It’s gone too fast for me because it’s really enjoyable. I can’t believe how fast it’s going. I’m just so grateful that everyone loves us, loves the Spurs and loves the team."
Son has a new team-mate in £60 million summer signing Richarlison and last year's Premier League Golden Boot winner has quickly grown attached to the Brazilian and believes his arrival will make everyone better.
"Competition is always good. You improve yourself and also your team-mates. We can rotate, or we can have a different style of football, or we can have different movements," he explained. "Adding players like Richy is incredible. He’s a quality player so I’m really enjoying that.
"I’ve been with him only days but he’s become like a really close friend. It was fantastic to play with him. I really enjoyed it."
Tottenham's two matches in Korea have seen Harry Kane and Son sharing the goals as normal, with both scoring twice in the 6-3 victory against Team K-League on Wednesday evening and then Kane netting in the 1-1 draw with Sevilla on Saturday.
Kane started last season slowly amid question marks over his future that summer, but he hit the heights again under Antonio Conte and Son has no doubts about his partner up front.
"Harry didn’t score at the start of the season but how many goals did he finish with? Goals with Harry I think there is no doubt," he said. "We don’t have to worry about him scoring goals because he is, for me, the best partner, the best striker in the world still. He’s working hard, he’s an unselfish player."
Son himself has hit new heights with his Golden Boot and his Spurs team-mate Lucas Moura delivered the pass against Norwich that brought the goal that sealed that award, which he shared with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah. While out in Korea, Lucas looked back on his thought process that day in helping his friend.
"We were so excited for that game and for that moment. We were expecting Son to score and I had it in my mind that when I came on I would help Sonny to score because he deserves only great things in life. First of all, he’s a great human being, a great person and after he’s a great player, one of the best I’ve played with," he said.
"He deserved that moment. I came on thinking I would give Sonny the ball and he would score and get the Golden Boot because he deserved it. I’m happy it went well."
He added: "Sonny is a bit different because he has all this [dedication] and he is a bit like me because he’s happy every day. He’s smiling. We can see he loves the game. He enjoys every training session, every game, he gives his all and I love him because of this. He’s like a Brazilian."
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