Thohir wanted Son to be Inter’s Asian poster boy
According to Gazzetta Dello Sport, Inter president Erick Thohir wanted to sign Spurs star Heung Min Son, in an attempt to bring Inter to prominence in the Eastern-Asian football. Thohir was operating under the impression that if Son was to sign for Inter from Bayer Leverkusen that the club’s stock would rise in Asia, given Son’s popularity in Asia.
Thohir targeted Son when he became Inter’s majority shareholder back in 2013, but the South Korean attacker chose to join Spurs instead of the Italian giants. So far it has proved to be a successful marriage between Spurs and Son as the Asian attacker has hit the ground running this season and also scored the late winner in Spurs 1-0 away victory over CSKA Moscow last night.
Gazzetta are reporting that alongside Heung-min Son, Shinji Okazaki was also on Thohir’s list to promote Inter in Asia. Similarly to Son, Okazaki shunned Inter and moved from the Bundesliga to England, where he won the Premier League title with Leicester.
Signing players for marketing purposes is not a new phenomenon in football, but it seems as if Inter missed a trick by not signing Son in 2013. He has started well this season for Spurs and could have paired well with Icardi. Instead Nagatomo is on his own flying the Inter flag in Asia.