Tottenham confirms Son military service in South Korea in April

Take a long, hard look at the header photo of this article, because it’s very likely that you won’t see Son Heung-Min’s hair look that good for a long time. Today, Tottenham Hotspur confirmed previous reports out of Korea that stated that Sonny has returned to South Korea in order to complete a short mandatory period of military service. And yes, that almost certainly means he’s going to be shaving his head.

But wait, you say, didn’t he get an exemption from military service for winning the Asian Games in 2018? He did, but not in full. Sonny winning the Asian Games with a mostly U23 South Korean side did exempt him from his mandatory two year military service term, which is required for all South Korean male citizens between 18-28. However, he’s still required to complete a short period of boot camp with the South Korean marines (!!) for a few weeks. As an athlete he’s then required to participate fully for three years with his team in order to fulfill the service requirement.

Sonny is back in quarantine after returning home, and if you’re counting at home that makes three separate two week quarantines he’s had to endure — one upon returning home before his arm surgery, another upon returning to the UK, and now this one.

This is pretty much a perfect time to complete this requirement, as there’s no football right now. It also serves as a confirmation that his arm is more or less back to normal, since I can’t imagine doing boot camp would be something achievable with your arm in a sling.

Can we hope that his squad mates in the Korean marines can teach Sonny some tips and tricks on how better to shithouse opponents on the pitch without being caught by officials and sent off? Seems like that’d be a pretty useful skill that would transfer well to his primary job. Can’t wait for him to return to London with a bad-ass buzz cut and a hard-edged don’t-take-no-shit attitude.