On Easter Monday, a glimpse for Tottenham came in something that they haven't had for a decade: a future without son Heung-Min.
Nottingham Forest was visiting and Spurs had surrendered the hope in all except the Europa League in this phase of the campaign, but there was another reason for an unusual number of empty seats and it was not lost with those in the boardroom.
Son was excluded, his absence confirmed more than 48 hours earlier by the then head coach Ange Postecoglou. This was the first home game he missed out during a month with a foot injury.
With him, hundreds of South Korean fans who have become such an intrinsic part of the MatchDay experience in N17 in recent years went, perhaps the most lively illustration of the global appeal of the Premier League.
An estimated 5,000 Koreans attend Spurs Home Games to see their favorite player at the shirt of their favorite football team and to participate in their favorite competition.
Many, especially those who stuck on tourist packages to London are dedicated editions in the Clubmegastore and remain digitally involved when they leave.
For the holidays against Forest, however, they were striking because of their absence and the official presence was registered at 59,314, the only time that it fell below 60,000 in the Premier League last season.
Still a decent crowd in the circumstances, and yet there was a memory here. No son, no K-factor. Korean Fandom, although extremely passionate, is firmly tailored to the individual player and not to the club.
Much of the annual SON -related income -estimated by experts from the industry to be in the £ 40-60 million per season in the region -is in balance when he leaves and after 10 years of service, 173 goals in 454 games and those glorious Europa League triumph in May, that moment can be on us soon.
Son is 33. His form last season was disappointing. Injuries ran away. His contract is going next year and there seemed to be no interest from the player's camp to sign an extensive deal during conversations last season.
Chairman Daniel Levy, dislike of players departing on liberties since Sol Campbell de Seven Sisters Road to Arsenal ended in 2001, will consider offers for his captain before the transfer deadline, with serious interest formed from Los Angeles FC.
But first Tottenham starts a new tour of money through Asia, where they have friendly competitions in Hong Kong and South Korea.
Spurs are unusual because they have left the US, where they have not played since 2018, in favor of Asia and a strategy that is built around the twin pillars of son and a 12-year partnership with shirt Sponsors Aia, a life insurance company of Asia.
Two years with Postcoglou who was in charge, gave an Australian element to the reach of the Pacific, but South Korea was the most important attraction with son, a real Megastar in the social media era.
The Coupang series friendly against Newcastle on 3 August in Seoul will be Tottenham's third visit to the country in four years and the matches are much more lucrative as Son – so there was never a prospect of selling him for the Tour.
He gives them extraordinary added value. Without a son, the competition costs would be reduced, a standard contractual clause for all Premier League clubs and their big stars in negotiating in the previous season tours and exhibition competitions, but crucial for the costs that Spurs can recommend in Asia.
AIA research claims that around 12 million South Koreans call Spurs as their favorite football team. That is one in four. This is clear on the competition day in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where they sell a maximum of a thousand official 'son 7' shirts in a rate that overtrophed the 'Kane 10' by five-to-one before the Native Held and England captain left for Bayern Munich.
Every day there are Korean fans at the gates of the training field with gifts for son and requests for signatures and selfies. More online merchandise is sent to South Korea than any country outside the UK, helped by a special rate on shipping costs.
Tottenham's friendly competitions in Seoul and Suwon in 2022, when Son had just won the Premier League Golden Boot, were preceded by 4,800 official shirts that were sold directly to South Korea within six weeks.
More than 100,000 attended the two competitions and online queues meant that the tickets were effectively sold out before they went on sale. The match in Seoul against the K-League All Stars was streamed by more than two million live on the Coupang streaming service.
In addition to touring income and income of the Matchday, Son is a powerful force behind the license income of Tottenham in Asia. From 2024, Spurs alone in South Korea had 15 official licensors, who produce all kinds of everyday items and marketing, ranging from bottle water to sandwiches and cookies to stickers and framed art.
South Korea is a Western consumer society that has a prosperous middle class with disposable income. The national identity is strong and extends through his diaspora, as you would expect from a nation that has been on war for 75 years.
Son himself had a military service in 2020 for three months and was exempt from the full mandatory 21-month program because they were part of the National team of South Korea that claimed the victory in the Asian Games of 2018.
Footballers are among the most important ambassadors of Korea with behavioral standards and respect as important as their football performance. The player is more important, not the club they represent.
They love son and he appreciates their next, and that is why, like the contractual obligations, he did not want to miss what this last tour could be in the colors of the club with which he is synonymous.
Ninety-two percent of Korean Spurs fans identify as son fans, according to Neil Joyce, co-founder of CLV Group, a leading company and insights for sports and entertainment.
“The advantage is that eight percent of Korean fans are first spurs fans, but there is probably a huge drop in Fandom ALS and when the son leaves,” says Joyce. “It will be difficult, but not impossible to keep part of the following.”
Park Ji-Sung spent seven years in Manchester United from 2005, won the Premier League title four times and gave Korean support to Old Trafford. But even the immense global popularity of United could prevent many of them from drifting away before they rely on Spurs when Son arrived from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 and grew in shape.
“Manchester United is a special case,” explains Lee, a South Korean journalist and author. 'At that time they had Sir Alex Ferguson, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and many superstars of the football world.
“They had their Korean fans before and they remained loyal, but most people watched lost interest after he left. Spurs will have a similar situation, I believe. There were Korean Spurs fans for son. They had Lee Young-Pyo, another Korean legend and stars such as Gareth Bale, Dimitar Berbatov and Luka Modric and a reputation for attractive football and this hardcore will not change.
'The broader part of the general Korean football fans, however, will lose interest as soon as Son leaves Spurs. It is not about son and traces, it is because they are more interested in Korean players than in their European clubs. '
A move to Saudi Arabia would have a chance for SON to compete in his native South Korea in the Asian Champions League and Spurs would probably be a handy compensation for the oil-rich clubs banks.
But there was interest from there rejected two years ago by Tottenham and it became clear when Saudi Aarabia did not appeal to Son as a future destination.
The US, on the other hand, does it. In Los Angeles there is the largest Korean population outside of Korea and many lucrative personal commercial possibilities prior to the World Cup final of next year in North America, a tournament for which South Korea has already qualified.
In baseball they are familiar with the pulling power of an Asian sport icon. Lee Jung-Hoo is in the second of a six-year-old deal worth £ 84 million as an outfielder for the San Francisco Giants.
Lee, the son of a Korean baseball legend of the 90s who got the nickname 'Son of the Wind' (Lee Jnr is 'grandson of the wind'), finally gets under the table in the US after a debut with injuries and his shirts sell six times faster than the next most popular.
Part of the stadium has been designated for his fan club, which has the name 'Jung-Hoo Crew', and the marketing team of the Giants is in overdrive, sign deals with sponsors and broadcasters for competitions in South Korea in Live in South Korea.
Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese Megastar at La Dodgers that many people consider most talented on the planet because of its unique ability to both pitch and hit, has a 10 -year contract worth £ 700 million – and will be worth much more for the Dodgers in commercial value about the length of that deal.
Son's exit would encourage Spurs to reduce their focus to areas such as the US, with all digital involvement and laying marketing expertise built up during the second half of his decade in the club.
According to Joyce of the CLV group, data shows that the top 14 clubs in European football leave a billion dollars a year in potential income that are unused in the US by not 'identifying, connecting and making them involved'.
Traces are well set for an offensive about the Atlantic Ocean with the NFL in the heart of the stadium project. At the same time, they will continue to feed their South Korean stronghold.
This summer there was a link with K-Pop Boy Band Stray Kids for two sold-out concerts in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Limited editions of the new Black Away shirts with the Laef Kids logo went on sale for £ 250 each on the occasion of the occasion.
“It enables Spurs to build on connections with those fans, regardless of the son,” says Joyce. “They are a club that does things like this very well, who creatively think about content and their immediate relationships with fans who can't come to the game.”
Then there is their teenage wing Yang Min-Hyeok, signed at Gangwon last year. The 19-year-old spent five months on January on loan at Queen's Park Rangers, who at that time sold more shirts in his name than any other player in the entire season.
He made his debut in South Korea in March, but remains at some distance from a regular place in the Thomas Frank team.
“Korean fans regard Korean players in Europe as the pride of the country,” says journalist Lee. 'They feel happy when those players perform well and poorly if they have difficult times and are criticized.
'This is a reason for their passion and the many Korean flags that you see in the stadiums. There is a strong bond. The Korean players in Europe are a kind of representatives.
'But there is an important point, because some clubs think that they will get the interest and support of Korean fans, simply by buying a Korean player, but it can only work if they are in the first team.
“Otherwise the fans would feel that the Korean player wastes his time in the club, so that the situation could be counterproductive and the Korean fans could have negative views about those clubs.”
But first, another trip East. To Hong Kong and South Korea with son at the vanguard. Prepare for the hysteria. And kerching! Again to the merch, dear friends.