LAFC expected to announce MLS record signing of Son Heung-min

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LAFC expected to announce MLS record signing of Son Heung-min

Published: 06 Aug. 2025, 15:40 Updated: 06 Aug. 2025, 16:57

JIM BULLEY
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A Son Heung-min fan holds an LAFC shirt with Son's name and number on it as he waits for his arrival at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles on Aug. 5. The shirt is not officialy available on the MLS Store, but fans can customize shirts with any name or number of their choosing. [AFP/YONHAP]

Los Angeles FC has scheduled a press conference at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, where the club is widely expected to announce the signing of Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min for a reported league record $26.5 million.

The move appears to be a done deal. Son is already in Los Angeles and attended the team’s Leagues Cup game against Tigres UANL on Tuesday evening. He was shown on the jumbotron sitting alongside injured LAFC defender Aaron Long, with a graphic appearing at one point that read “Welcome Son Heung-min” above and “LAFC forward” below.

The $26.5 million transfer fee, originally reported by The Athletic and ESPN, will make Son the highest-value signing in Major League Soccer history. Atlanta United’s Emmanuel Latte Lath currently holds that record, moving from Middlesbrough for $22 million last winter, while Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami after his PSG contract had expired.

If it goes ahead as expected, Son’s move to Los Angeles comes less than a week after he announced that he would be leaving Tottenham Hotspur after a decade with the Premier League club.

Korean football star Son Heung-min is seen watching a match between LAFC and Tigres of Mexico at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Aug. 5. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The move, while not entirely unexpected, still came as a surprise to fans around the world, many of whom had expected Son to stay with the London club for one more season after leading the team to Europa League victory at the end of the last campaign.

“There’s something I need to tell you, and it wasn’t an easy decision,” Son said at a press conference in Seoul on Aug. 2. “I’ve decided to leave the team this summer. I felt it was right to share this directly at a press conference.”

Following that announcement, it quickly became clear that Sunday’s preseason game in Seoul between Spurs and Newcastle United would be Son’s last.

Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min waves to fans after a Coupang Play Series match against Newcastle United at Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul on Aug. 3. [YONHAP]

On an emotionally charged night, Son played 65 minutes before handing the captain’s armband off to close friend Ben Davies and leaving the pitch. He was given an impromptu guard of honor by players from both teams and mobbed by club staff and players for at least five minutes before play could resume.

Tottenham players rushed to honor Son on social media after the final whistle, but when the squad jetted back to London, Son stayed put in Seoul. Two days later, on Tuesday, Son flew to Los Angeles.

When Son does sign, he will immediately become one of the two biggest stars in the MLS, if not the biggest.

Son joins Messi, who is widely considered to be one of the two greatest players of his generation, at the very top of the MLS. But Son, who is five years Messi’s junior, might be the Argentinian’s equal when it comes to stardom.

Inter Miami CF forward Lionel Messi dribbles the ball against Atlas FC during the first half of a group stage Leagues Cup match at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on July 30. [YONHAP]

While Messi far outpaces the Korean star on social media followers, Son has spent over a decade playing in the Premier League, still by far the most-watched league in the world, and comes with the support of an entire continent.

Son and Messi are set to be the tip of an ever-growing football star iceberg in the MLS. Since joining Miami, Messi has brought in Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets. Rodrigo De Paul just joined the club this summer, while Thomas Muller is set to join the Vancouver Whitecaps. Son’s old Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris already plays for LA, while Wilfried Zaha is playing for Charlotte FC and Miguel Almiron for Atlanta United.

This isn’t the first time the MLS has had a stacked year of transfers. In 2015, anybody and everybody was shipped off to the United States — Steven Gerrard, Kaka, Andrea Pirlo, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, David Villa — creating a marquee year that gave league-wide ticket sales a 12 percent boost, according to data from the “MLS Fact and Record Book.”

A similar thing happened in 2007, when David Beckham moved to the United States and gave the league an 8.2 percent sales boost, and in 2010, when Thierry Henry arrived to deliver a 4 percent boost, in 2011, with a 7.2 percent boost on the arrival of Robbie Keane, and of course in 2023, when the Messi effect increased sales by 5 percent in that and the following season.

The arrival of Son, Muller and De Paul will likely make 2025 another big year for the MLS, and the timing ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be played across North America, is particularly poignant.

Son Heung-min [AP/YONHAP]

Son’s assumed arrival also comes after MLS Commissioner Don Garber hinted earlier this year that the league is considering major changes, including to the calendar. The MLS currently plays a spring-to-fall schedule in line with the Korean league, but at odds with all major European leagues.

Son’s signing will mark another big milestone for both the league and LAFC, especially because he arrives in the MLS at a younger age than many of his big-name predecessors. It’s another step in the right direction for a league that has been trying for decades to prove it should be taken seriously.

The LAFC press conference, which will be at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning in Korea and 10 p.m. on Wednesday evening in London, will be broadcast live on the club’s YouTube channel.

BY JIM BULLEY [[email protected]]