Son Heung-min admits he was 'so upset' by Jose Mourinho 'telling off' that saw him belittled in front of whole Tottenham squad

The South Korean forward has been one of the key figures in the Tottenham squad over the years and was named club captain after Hugo Lloris departed for MLS side LAFC last summer. Since 2015, Son has appeared in 408 matches for the north London side, scoring 162 goals, and was also a talismanic figure during Jose Mourinho's reign, but they didn't always see eye-to-eye.

Son has opened up on an incident that saw him belittled by Mourinho during a game at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. The forward admitted that he was left shaken by the manager's outburst in front of all of his team-mates, but he cooled down after receiving an apology text.

Speaking in an interview with EAFC, the 32-year-old said: "One time Mourinho told me off during the game. [He said] 'I don't think you want to be in a game with a team like Burnley or Stoke (rough game)' in front of all the players and I was so upset about it, I'm not even an 18-19-year-old to be treated like that.

"Later after the match, the coach texted me, 'I know you understand that it wasn't my intention to target and hurt you. But I need to make sure that other players are not being lazy, and I need to show them by telling off the best player in the team, and for me, that player is you.' And after reading that text, I feel good."

Son will next be seen in action for Tottenham, who are now coached by Ange Postecoglou, on August 10 as they play their final pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich. The north London side will kick off their 2024-25 season on August 19 against newly promoted Leicester City.