Tottenham's Heung-min Son says he is confident of reaching even greater heights this season after finally having some time off over the summer.
Son won a clean sweep of the club's supporter player-of-the-season awards last term, despite a gruelling campaign in which he competed in the World Cup, Asian Games and Asian Cup for South Korea and helped Spurs to the Champions League Final.
The forward is back in Asia as the biggest attraction on Tottenham's pre-season trip to Singapore and Shanghai and he says he is feeling fresh after starting the 3-2 friendly win over Juventus on Sunday.
"It felt great to be back on the pitch, playing with these team-mates," Son told Standard Sport. "It's been a great summer. I don't normally have any time to rest but this summer I rested well. I had a small operation to take the plate out of my arm [following a fracture in June 2017]. So it was very good time to relax and build for the season.
"Last season especially was tough, there were a lot of games, but I was so happy to play a lot without injury and play well. I think this season will be better. You cannot say it'll be easier because seasons are never easy. But I am more ready than last season and I want to be better than last season. I'm thinking positive, I will bring my best performance to help this team."
Harry Kane has said he may never be able to fully get over Spurs' 2-0 defeat to Liverpool last month but Soninsists he has already moved on from the match in Madrid. In common with his team-mates, he failed to sparkle at the Wanda Metropolitano but says the loss has left him hungrier for success.
"It was the biggest game of my life," he said. "To get to the Final is very difficult but that was not my dream – my dream was to win the Champions League. After this game I was really, really disappointed, sad everything. When I was in the national team [for friendlies in June], I didn't enjoy the first three or four days, I was so disappointed.
"But it's already passed. I don't want to talk about it, or look backwards. I try to be so positive. Now is a big season. We'll try to be successful, to do even better than last season.
In Pictures | Juventus vs Tottenham | 21/07/2019
"I'm always hungry, never happy with my performances. I want to always improve, and be better than last season. "This is my time. Especially after the Champions League Final, it makes you even more hungry. Of course to be there is really, really difficult. You need to have some luck. But I'm so happy to be part of this team. I hope with this team we can be successful for this season."
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