Son’s “captain side” could also be seen here. Lucas Verbal 18, the Swedish wonderkid, joined the team through the winter transfer window, and it was revealed that Son sent a congratulatory message despite his Asian Cup schedule.
Earlier on the 2nd, Tottenham announced on its website, “We are happy to announce that we have signed Lucas Veribal from the Swedish Jurgodens. Veribal has agreed to a contract that is valid until 2029, and will be with us from July.”
It was the final signing of a hot transfer window that lasted for the 2023-24 season. Tottenham brought in James Maddison, Mickey van der Penn, Brennan Johnson, Manor Solomon, Guglielmo Vicario, Alejo Bellis, and Ashley Phillips to the summer transfer window, while also embracing Timo Werner on loan, Radu Dragucin, and Veribal in the winter transfer window.
Veribal was a promising midfielder resource who played for the yurgodens via brompoycarna, Sweden. He possessed outstanding talent. As a playmaker-style midfielder, he had advantages in many ways, including passing, forward dribbling, de-pressure, vigorous activity, and space cover. His record for games with the yurgodens was three goals and one assist in 29 matches.
Verival was included in the Next Generation 60 selected by the British “Guardian,” and the winter transfer market was flooded with love calls from multiple clubs. About 15 clubs, including Tottenham, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Dortmund, and Manchester United, are known to have joined.
The most active of them were Tottenham and Barcelona, and Tottenham was able to win the competition after a great courtship. First, European transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano said, “Veribal and his family will meet again to reach an agreement following positive contact with Barcelona. Barcelona director Deku wants to reach an agreement on details with Veribal and conclude the deal. Jurgodens has agreed.”
Afterwards, Tottenham launched a “high-jacking.” Tottenham persuaded with technical director Johan Lange, and finally succeeded in winning. Romano said, “Verival is heading to Tottenham! Barcelona has been told by a player that they have changed their mind, and he will join Tottenham. The transfer fee is around £10 million W17 billion,” adding, “Here we go,” his signature comment.
Multiple media outlets explained that Tottenham’s proposed salary, promise of rebates to families and agents, attraction to the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and related facilities, and Kulusevski’s persuasion were crucial.
Later on, on the 6th, Verbal said, “After the decision was made, I felt relieved. Tottenham and Barcelona are both great clubs. It was a very difficult choice, a long 50-50 decision, but I felt like the next step was Tottenham.” He continued, “It was not easy to reject Barcelona, and it took a long time to decide. I thought a lot in my head, but it felt good to settle down here.”
Also, he said, “The conversation with Kulusevski was not convincing. He just said the club was great, which I knew when I got here. We talked a little bit before, and I could hear about how the club was run, how it was trained, and how the day was going on in general. It was a family-like club, and it was a great group of people.”
The U.K.’s Football London released an exclusive interview with Jurgodens sports coordinator Peter Kispaludi on the 7th. Kispaludi was a coach and academy director for Veribal at Bromampoicarna. Kispaludi moved to the Jurgodens in September 2022, and Veribal will later join the Jurgodens.
Kispaludi explained about Veribal, “Veribal is a fantastic person. He is open-minded and warm-hearted, but he becomes a winner when he steps on the field. He has a winning mindset, and his biggest strength is his skill. Veribal’s skill is five stars, and his game intelligence is amazing. Just give him two more years and he will be one of the best players in Europe.”
Veribal weighed in on Tottenham and Barcelona, and ultimately chose Tottenham. Regarding this, Kispaludi said, “It was a really difficult choice. There were reports that Veribal had already signed for Barcelona or was almost done, but it was never true. I told people not to be sure that Veribal would sign for Barcelona because I knew that he really liked Tottenham and loved the Premier League.”
He continued, “Dejan Kulusevskiy played a big role. Kulusevskiy met Veribal at the training ground a week ago and talked for 10 to 15 minutes. In addition, Tottenham manager Enze Postecoglou told Veribal, “I like young and talented players, and if I work hard here, I will give them a chance to play.” It was very important that he said that to the 18-year-old.”
He also told behind-the-scenes stories about Son Heung-min. “When Veribal signed with Tottenham, Son texted from the venue of the Asian Cup. Son Heung-min said, ‘Welcome to Tottenham,’ and Veribal was really happy.”
“I was Veribal’s coach and academy director. I worked with him there for four and a half years. The whole team was really successful. We won in 2019 after beating Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Juventus. Veribal was the best player of the tournament,” he recalled.
He added, “I brought Veribal when I was 9, and I had him until I was 14. He was always the big player and big star that everyone was talking about in tournaments. Veribal is good at dealing with pressure. When we participated in tournaments with 40 teams, everyone was watching him, just 10 years old. But he doesn’t care about that.”
Veribal has a family of sports. Football London in the U.K. stated, “Veribal’s mother played for the Jurgodens women’s first team and his father played high-level soccer as well. Veribal is a talented boy of three sons. At 2, Theo played fullback with Veribal in the Jurgodens first team. At 2, Rasmus will play for Sweden as the central master.”
Veribal has grown into a promising player, drilling through considerable competitiveness. Kispaludi said, “When the kids turn 8, they choose the first team in the age group. They select eight players out of 500 in that age group, and there are 400 to 500 players in every age group. Bromafoicarna has a really good coach who picks the best eight players and trains them technically. If there is a good player at 10, they take him straight to the academy.”
Meanwhile, Son Heung-min, who sent a congratulatory message to Veribal, was eliminated in the semifinals of the Asian Cup and returned to Tottenham. On the 8th, he posted on his SNS account, “The Asian Cup that many people had been looking forward to, and I was so focused on the match that it took too long for me to say thank you. I felt heavy and sad when I came back to London after the match, but I arrived safely. As a captain, I was not good enough, and I think I was not good at leading the team. Despite this, I was so proud to be a Korean soccer player because you showed so much love and support. Thank you and I am sorry.”
Soccer fans said, “I’m a fan of Son Heung-min until I die,” “Don’t forget that we’re always behind you, and I want to see your smile, thinking it’s our pride, rather than the guilt that we’re sorry,” “Our proud captain, we felt the excitement, joy, joy, and happiness because of you,” and “Don’t lower your head. Even if you raise your head and receive applause, you’re not good enough,” and left comments of gratitude.
Son will take the fourth Asian Cup after the 2011 Qatar Asian Cup final third place, the 2015 Australia Asian Cup final second place and the 2019 United Arab Emirates Asian Cup final quarter-final. Korea aimed to regain the top spot in 64 years, and Son led the Taegeuk Warriors to Qatar with the weight of the captain’s armband.
Under “Scarecrow” coach Jurgen Klinsmann, the Korean national team had difficult days. In the group league, Bahrain 3-1 win, Jordan 2-2 draw, and Malaysia 3-3 draw, led the team to the second place with one win and two draws. The team met Saudi Arabia in the round of 16, and secured a penalty shootout after a fierce battle, while in the quarterfinals, it secured a 2-1 victory against Australia. The team’s physical deterioration worsened and it ended the tournament with a 0-2 loss in the semifinal against Jordan.
Son Heung-min played his role as an ace player. He devoted himself to the full-time game six games ago, scoring a total of three goals against Jordan in the group league, one against Malaysia and one against Australia in the quarterfinals. In particular, he scored a penalty kick in the second half of the match against Australia in the quarterfinals, when his team was poised to lose 0-1, allowing the team to advance to extra time. 메이저 토토사이트