Tottenham forward Heung-min Son admitted he was on the verge of calling it quits last term.

The South Korean was not at his best, neither for his club nor for his nation at the World Cup, last season.

The ex-Bayer Leverkusen attacker, who is now 31, was struggling with a painful hernia all campaign.

Speaking during Spurs' pre-season tour to Singapore, he said: “I was really close to giving up against Leeds.

"But when I looked at the staff I couldn't say 'there's one more game and I'm going to have surgery now'. I was just closing my eyes praying, please let's win this game and luckily we performed last season."

He added: “I was in pain every single moment, literally. It sounds weird but every turn, running, stopping, passing, kicking, it affected everything.

“It was strange because in normal life, doing no exercise, it felt fine so you go on the pitch excited because you didn't have pain when you were walking.

“As soon as you were on the pitch for a warm-up you would be frustrated because the pain is there, every action, turning, passing, kicking… finally I made the decision at the end of the season to have the surgery and it's the best decision I ever made."