Tottenham Hotspur have appointed Son Heung-min as their new club captain for the 2023-24 campaign.
The 31-year-old - who also wears the armband for South Korea - takes over the skipper's responsibilities from Hugo Lloris, who is expected to leave the club before the end of the summer window.
Harry Kane had been named as Ange Postecoglou's captain during Spurs' period of summer friendlies, but the England striker completed his highly-anticipated move to Bayern Munich earlier on Saturday.
As a result, the Lilywhites have turned to Son to act as their on-field leader for the upcoming season, while Cristian Romero and new signing James Maddison will act as vice-captains.
"It's such a big honour to captain this huge club. It was big surprise and a very proud moment. I've already said to the players that everyone should feel like a captain, on and off the pitch," Son told the official Tottenham website. "It's a new season, a fresh start and I will give everything for this shirt and this armband."
Ready for 2023/24 🤩 pic.twitter.com/WnZAy6bznX
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 12, 2023
Son joined Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen in a £25.9m deal in 2015 and has since made 372 appearances for the club in all tournaments, scoring 145 goals and providing 80 assists.
The former Hamburg youngster has never won a major team trophy in North London, but he took home a share of the Golden Boot in the 2021-22 Premier League season, netting a joint-high 23 goals alongside Mohamed Salah.
In doing so, Son became the first-ever Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot, while he is also the only man from the continent to net 100 goals in the English top flight.
The 2022-23 campaign was a more challenging affair for Son as Spurs finished in a lowly eighth place, but he still came up with a respectable 14 goals and six assists from 47 matches across all competitions.
Head coach Postecoglou paid tribute to the South Korea skipper after his appointment was confirmed, adding: "Sonny has great leadership qualities, both on and off the pitch, and is the ideal choice to become our new captain.
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"Everyone knows he is a world class player, and he has enormous respect from everyone in the dressing room. He transcends groups within the squad. That's not just because he's popular - it's because of what he has achieved in the game, both here and as captain of South Korea."
Son's first game as Tottenham captain will come on Sunday afternoon, as Spurs open their new Premier League campaign away to London rivals Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The Lilywhites will travel to meet Thomas Frank's side without all of Ryan Sessegnon, Rodrigo Bentancur and Bryan Gil, while goalkeeper Fraser Forster is also nursing a back issue.
Competitive debuts are expected to come the way of Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, Manor Solomon and Maddison, but it remains to be seen if Micky van de Ven will be deemed fit enough to play after his arrival from Wolfsburg.
Ben Knapton
