The former Tottenham Hotspur captain arrived in Los Angeles with a global résumé. Now he says MLS has been bigger, more serious and more passionate than he expected.
Heung-min Son says he did not realize how big and serious Major League Soccer is before joining LAFC, the Los Angeles club he moved to in 2025 after a long career in Europe. The former Tottenham Hotspur forward, who developed in Germany and spent 10 years in England with Spurs, had 173 goals and 101 assists before his reported £20m-plus MLS transfer.
Son’s comments, made ahead of the July 29 MLS All-Star Game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, matter because they reveal how MLS can still surprise even a Premier League Golden Boot winner. His view changed after he joined LAFC and saw the league’s scale, intensity and fan investment up close.
Son found a bigger league
Asked about MLS since his move, Son said he had underestimated the league before arriving. In comments reported from All-Star media availability, he said he did not realize “how big” MLS was or “how seriously” people take it.
That is the part that lands. Son did not arrive as an unknown import learning the sport’s business for the first time. He came from Tottenham Hotspur, one of England’s most visible clubs, after a decade in the Premier League and years as one of South Korea’s most famous athletes.
His point was less about one stadium or one matchday and more about a perception gap. From outside North America, MLS is often treated as a destination defined by lifestyle, late-career moves and long flights. Son is now describing something more demanding: a league with attention, pressure and a fan base that expects stars to perform immediately.
He also spoke about South Korean interest in MLS and the possibility of more players from his country following the path. That matters for a league that does not just want famous names; it wants global attention that sticks after the signing announcement fades.
Why his words carry weight
Son’s résumé gives the quote unusual force. MLSsoccer.com lists him as a 2021-22 English Premier League Golden Boot winner, a two-time Tottenham Player of the Year, a 2019 FIFA Puskás Award winner and Spurs captain from 2023 to 2025.
He was also part of one of the Premier League’s most productive attacking partnerships with Harry Kane. MLSsoccer.com notes that the pair provided 47 assists to one another and scored 340 total goals. That is the profile of a player who has seen elite environments, not someone easily impressed by basic professionalism.
That is why the league will welcome the sound bite. MLS has spent years fighting the idea that it is less intense than Europe’s top divisions. When a player who lived inside the Premier League’s spotlight says the league is taken seriously, it becomes useful validation.
There is a catch, though. Praise from a superstar does not erase the league’s unevenness. MLS can be serious and still have roster quirks, travel burdens, different salary rules and competitive rhythms that make it hard to compare directly with England, Germany or Spain. Son’s comments help the league’s image, but they do not settle the argument over where MLS fits globally.
LAFC got more than a name
Son’s move to Los Angeles was always going to be judged by more than shirt sales. The early returns have been productive. The Yardbarker/HITC report cited 37 LAFC appearances, 17 goals and 21 assists since his arrival, plus three goals and 10 assists in 16 matches in the current MLS campaign.
MLSsoccer.com’s player profile also shows how quickly he made an impact in 2025. It lists his MLS debut at Chicago on Aug. 9, 2025, three days after joining LAFC, his first MLS assist on Aug. 16 at New England, and his first MLS goal on Aug. 23 at FC Dallas.
That first goal became more than an icebreaker. MLSsoccer.com notes it won 2025 MLS Goal of the Year. The league site also credits Son with 12 goals and four assists in 13 games in 2025, including playoffs, a goal contribution every 68.9 minutes. Only Lionel Messi had a better rate, according to the profile.
Those details explain why Son’s perception changed. He did not simply land in a marketing role. He entered a team trying to win, took on Designated Player and international roster status, and was expected to alter LAFC’s attack immediately.
The standings add pressure
LAFC’s position in the Western Conference gives Son’s remarks a competitive edge. The report places LAFC second in the West, behind Vancouver Whitecaps on goal difference, with Vancouver holding two matches in hand.
That means the table may flatter LAFC slightly. If Vancouver wins both games in hand, the gap could stretch to six points. For LAFC, Son’s production is not decorative; it is central to keeping pace in a conference where margins are already tight.
MLS is also built to complicate dominance. Travel can be brutal. Conditions vary. The salary structure creates strong top-end talent but also tests depth. A club with Son and Denis Bouanga can still find itself pulled into close games by teams with less global name recognition but well-drilled systems.
That is one reason players coming from Europe often need time to adjust. The league’s challenges are not always the same as the Premier League’s, but they are real: cross-country trips, artificial surfaces in some venues, summer heat, unfamiliar refereeing patterns and opponents with no interest in treating a superstar gently.
MLS gains a different kind of endorsement
For MLS, Son’s comment is valuable because it does not sound like a slogan. “The league is bigger than I realized” is more persuasive than a polished campaign line because it suggests a genuine before-and-after shift.
It also reaches audiences MLS wants. Son’s South Korean following is enormous, and LAFC’s games now carry extra relevance for fans who may not have watched the league before. If those fans stay for the soccer rather than only the novelty, that is the real win.
There is another layer: players talk to players. If Son publicly says MLS is serious, that can influence how other top professionals think about a move. The league does not need every European star to arrive in his prime to keep growing, but it does need to be seen as competitive enough for ambitious players to take seriously.
Still, the league’s next step cannot be built only on celebrity arrivals. Star power opens doors. Sustained credibility comes from playoff quality, academy development, continental success, smart roster building and the ability to keep high-level players engaged beyond the first wave of attention.
What remains unanswered
Son’s remarks show respect for MLS, but they also leave open the bigger question: how much can one signing change a league’s global reputation? Lionel Messi, Son and other major names bring visibility, yet reputation shifts slowly and depends on what neutral viewers see week after week.
There is also the question of competitive balance versus star concentration. MLS wants elite attacking talent, but it also sells unpredictability. If a handful of clubs become the obvious homes for global stars, the league will have to balance ambition with the parity model that has shaped its identity.
For LAFC, the more immediate issue is simpler. Son has already changed the conversation around the club, but the season will be measured by trophies and playoff performance. His comments about MLS being bigger and more serious will age best if LAFC’s campaign proves the point on the field.
The clean takeaway is that Son did not arrive in Los Angeles and find a soft landing. He found a league more passionate, more watched and more competitive than he expected. For MLS, that may be the endorsement that matters most: not that a superstar came, but that he was surprised by what he found.
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