Tottenham, Gangwon agree €4m deal for Yang Min-Hyuk

It’s a done deal, almost! According to both Fabrizio Romano and Alasdair Gold, Tottenham Hotspur was indeed the club working to bring in 18-year old South Korean winger Yang Min-Hyuk from Gangwon FC. The deal is now agreed apart from part of the medical, and he’ll join Spurs at the end of the K-League season in January 2025.

So this was originally couched as a “loan back” to Gangwon, but I’m not actually sure that’s the case. Instead I think it’s more like the Lucas Bergvall deal in that Yang will just stay on at his current club until the end of the K-League season in November, then join up with Spurs in January, 2025. No loan needed, which means Spurs don’t use up one of their decreasing, and valuable, loan spots for this window.

Sounds pretty good to me! But I wouldn’t expect that Yang will make an instant impact at Spurs when he joins in January. He’s still just 18, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see him slot into the U23s to get adapted to life and football in England. I’d guess he’s at least a year or so away from showing up in a first team match or anything. But hey, I’ve been wrong before, so let’s hope I am and he starts kicking butt right away.

Yang will also have the advantage of having a fantastic mentor in Son Heung-Min when he arrives. Sonny’s spoken in the past about how difficult it is to adapt to a new culture when you first leave Korea, especially when you’re young. If there’s one thing we know about Son is that he’s an incredible teammate and friend, and I have no doubt he’ll bend over backwards to help Yang adapt.