Report: Spurs may travel to Korea for summer preseason matches

Tottenham Hotspur have more or less abandoned the idea of travel to far-flung locales during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that may change this coming summer. Korean news outlet Hangkyun (via football-asian.com) is reporting that South Korean over-the-top streaming service and retail company Coupang is in negotiations to bring Son Heung-Min (and the rest of Tottenham I guess) to the country for two exhibition matches in front of Son’s home fans.

Son is, of course, the best Asian footballer in the world — he has the trophies to prove it — and is a national hero in his home country, with a fame level that approaches K-pop Band Member-level of fame and notoriety. Spurs have been to Asia a couple of times over the past decade, but never to Korea: they traveled to Singapore and Shanghai in the summer of 2019, and played a Malaysian XI in Kuala Lumpur in 2015.

A trip to Korea makes a ton of sense, and so does one of Tottenham’s suggested opponents: Mallorca, which features Spurs’ Korea teammate Lee Kang-in. Korean fans flock to London to watch Sonny and Spurs play, and it only seems right to return the favor. The report makes it sound as though it’s not a done deal by any stretch, and that the ongoing pandemic could throw a wrench into the works at any point. There also isn’t information over streaming/broadcast options for any potential matches, which frankly makes sense since this all sounds very much like an up in the air kind of thing, but I can’t imagine that overseas fans won’t have an option to stream it somehow, even if the matches happen at 3 a.m. local time.

As much as I love the idea of Tottenham returning to the United States in the summer so I have a chance to watch them in person (maybe), I can’t begrudge Korean fans hosting this competition. Let’s see if it happens.