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'A 33-year-old player who played only 10 games is a candidate for the Rookie of the Year award?'
The U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS) seems to want to put Son Heung-min (LAFC) at the forefront somehow. This is because he wants to use Son Heung-min's influence and star quality in a short period of time as a boon for the league's success. In the end, the 33-year-old Son Heung-min, who played only 10 games, was named the "2025 Rookie of the Year" candidate.
On the 24th (Korea time), the MLS Secretariat released the list of candidates for the MLS Rookie of the Year in the 2025 season on its official website. Son Heung-min was included in this. Son Heung-min joined Philip Zinkenagel (Chicago Fire) and Anders Drayer (San Diego FC) in 'Three New King Candidates'.
Among the three players, Son Heung-min is the oldest. Zincernagel was born in 1994 and is 31 years old, while Dreyer is the only one in her 20s (27) born in 1998. From a career point of view, Son Heung-min and 'New King title' are somewhat awkward. Son Heung-min has played for 10 years in the English Premier League (EPL) alone and has become the top scorer in the league.
However, based on the 'first player to play in the league', he is a rookie. After all, Jinkenagal is also a second-hand rookie. Jinkenagel also made his professional debut in the Danish league in 2012 and moved to Watford in the English Championship (second division) to help him win promotion to the EPL. Afterwards, he joined Chicago in January after passing through Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos FC in the Greek League. If Jinkenagal is a candidate for the Rookie of the Year, there's nothing that Son Heung-min can't do.
However, unlike Jinkenagel, who played in MLS from the start of the season, Son Heung-min joined the team in the middle of the season and played only 10 games, which can be seen as a quite surprising decision.
Son Heung-min left Tottenham in early August and signed with LA FC. The MLS stage was narrow for Son Heung-min, who spent 10 years in the EPL alone and was a key player and captain of Tottenham. Son Heung-min played only 10 games, but scored a whopping 9 goals and 3 assists. It's an amazing pace. LA FC advanced to the MLS Cup playoffs thanks to Son Heung-min's strong performance. The MLS secretariat seems to have taken into account Son Heung-min's influence.
However, it is unlikely that he will actually receive the Rookie of the Year award. Since the number of games played was so small, it is incomparable in performance with other competitors.
Jinkenagel appeared in 33 games this season, scoring 15 goals and 13 assists, ranking second in the team and first in assists. Dreyer's performance is also excellent. He appeared in 34 MLS games and scored 19 goals-17 assists. He is the number one player in the league. In terms of grades alone, Dreyer's award is likely. Son Heung-min can be evaluated as having a successful MLS debut season just because he entered the candidate group.
Meanwhile, Son Heung-min is also on the list of candidates for the 'goal of the year' in addition to the"Rookie of the Year" On the 21st, MLS included Son Heung-min's debut goal as a candidate for the '2025 MLS Goal of the Year'. Son Heung-min scored his MLS debut goal with a fantastic free-kick goal in the 30th round of the MLS against FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium in Dallas, Texas on August 24. This goal was shortlisted.
Reporter Lee Won-man wman@sportschosun.com
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
