When will Son Rise for Tottenham?

I have to admit that the International Break has taken a toll on me over the last two weeks. I've had way too much time without the opportunity to see our beloved Tottenham compete on the pitch. The time apart has caused all of us to spend way too much time dreaming of how our new signings can impact our squad for this weekend's match at Sunderland. Perhaps the most speculated upon player is new attacker Son Hueng Min. Simply put, I'm worried that two weeks of dreams commingled with YouTube views have blown our early expectations for the Korean forward way out of proportion.

Let me clear one thing up right off the bat: I'm optimistic that Son will prove to be a very good player/signing for Tottenham. He has an outstanding record internationally for South Korea and in the Bundesliga for both Bayern Leverkusen and HSV. What I am not convinced of is Son's ability to walk right into the squad and infuse life into what has been a moribund Hotspur attack.

The first thing about Son that gives me pause is his slight frame. He measures at barely six feet tall, which is no problem, but he weighs in at just 168 pounds. The Premier League might be the most physical league in the world and I worry about his slight frame being knocked off the ball easily. Certainly, slight players can make up for their lack of girth with skill and speed (ie Christian Eriksen) but it's the exception rather than the rule.

Secondly, I just worry that expecting a player to sign, go away on international duty, come back to training for a few days and be ready to start the next weekend is too much to ask for almost anyone. We could've signed Messi and I'd still worry that his talent would be significantly hidden by the lack of understanding he would have with his teammates. We can't really expect Son to mesh with our attack immediately. This adjustment will be made more difficult by the fact that we don't exactly have established continuity amongst our attacking midfielders. We don't know if Eriksen will be fit and the early returns from Chadli, Dembele and Lamela have been mixed at best. We cannot expect Son to come in and flourish in our unstable attack.

Maybe Son will come in and prove to be the anecdote for what is troubling the Tottenham attack. The much more likely scenario is that he will show flashes of ability as he becomes more comfortable with his surroundings, teammates and competition. Remember to be patient with him and hopefully we can avoid a Tottemhamesque meltdown on Sunday.