Son Heung-min's Shift: From MLS Skeptic to LAFC Star

Son Heung-min admits it now: Major League Soccer was never part of the plan.

When Los Angeles FC first came calling, the South Korean star had no intention of trading North London for the West Coast. To him, MLS was still the place where big names went to coast toward retirement, not where a forward still capable of tormenting Europe’s best defenders should be spending his prime.

He had grown up in the sharp edges of elite European football — debuting for Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga, then becoming a global star at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League. Against that backdrop, the American league simply did not register as a serious next step.

That perception didn’t last.

From outright refusal to Zoom call

Speaking on the podcast “The Late Run,” in an episode released Friday, Son laid out the story behind his move to LAFC and how his view of MLS flipped.

“When I was in London, my agent told me that LAFC were interested in me,” Son said. “At the time, I thought, ‘Why would I go to MLS already? I’m definitely not going.’”

It was a blunt reaction from a player who, by most accounts, still had plenty to offer in Europe’s top five leagues. When he left Tottenham last summer after a decade at the club, the move to MLS stunned fans in South Korea and abroad for exactly that reason.

The turning point came with the clock ticking on his Spurs contract.

With one year left on his deal at Tottenham, the idea of staying on the same path began to lose its appeal. Son felt a tug toward something different. A new challenge, not just a new shirt.

“When I had one year left on my contract, I felt that I needed a new challenge,” he said. His agent pushed him to at least listen, to sit down with LAFC officials. The meeting happened over Zoom.

That conversation changed everything.

Son realized LAFC had tracked him for a long time, not as a marketing trophy but as a player they genuinely wanted to build around. He said he could feel how serious and sincere their interest was. The skepticism started to crack. The move stopped looking like a step down and started to feel like a project.

“That made me decide to move,” he explained.

A league he barely knew, a reality that surprised him

If his opinion of MLS had been low from afar, the reality on the ground in the United States hit him quickly.

“I didn’t know much about MLS before coming here, but I was surprised and happy to see the stadiums packed for every game,” Son said.

The atmosphere, the full stands, the energy around the league — it all ran counter to the old stereotype he had carried through his years in Germany and England. MLS, in his eyes, no longer looked like a soft landing spot for fading stars. It looked alive.

For Son, who has lived the intensity of World Cup campaigns with South Korea, that matters. He framed the league’s growth as part of a wider responsibility.

“After the World Cup, it is now the responsibility of the players and the league to keep that momentum going,” he said.

From dismissing MLS out of hand to embracing LAFC as his new challenge, Son’s journey is a snapshot of how the league is trying to redefine itself — and how one of Asia’s biggest football icons chose to bet on that evolution.