Tottenham star Son Heung-min is a year YOUNGER than he thought – thanks to weird South Korean law change

Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur has gained an extra year, thanks to a change in the law in his native South Korea.

The iconic winger hits 31 next month and some have blamed his mediocre campaign last season on his body slowing down. But South Koreans have all instantly become a year or two younger after the nation's traditional methods of counting age were reworked recently.

Previously, all South Koreans were declared a year old at birth, apparently taking into account time spent in the womb (despite the human gestation period only being around 40 weeks).

Even more unusually to the western world, South Korea ages every person by an extra year from January 1, rather than their birthday.

This would mean that someone born on New Year's Eve would be pronounced as a year old at birth, then turn two the day after. This has now been scrapped to align with the western way of counting.

So Son is one of two Premier League players, the other being Hwang Hee-chan of Wolves, to have de-aged by a year in their home country. Unfortunately for Tottenham fans perhaps wondering if their No.7 is younger than first thought, however, there's bad news: there's no change in Son's age, due to the Premier League operating by true dates of birth rather than specific methods per nation.

It certainly recalls a debate on the internet from yesteryear in which Arsenal fans infamously locked horns on the true age of Colombian hitman Jackson Martinez, which went viral and has become a meme in years since.

Often, other players have the opposite problem. The likes of Nwankwo Kanu and Obafemi Martins have been accused of being older than their years.

Son recently rejected a move to Saudi Arabia to commit his prime to Tottenham.

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Tottenham transfer news is ramping up, with Ange Postecoglou now confirmed as manager.

Real Madrid have opened talks over a deal for Harry Kane, though it is believed that the England captain favours Manchester United. James Maddison is on the radar, while Jordan Pickford was, at one point, on the shortlist, too. Roger Ibanez has been linked, as has Liverpool no.2 Caoimhin Kelleher and long-time target Paolo Dybala.

Meanwhile former striker Teddy Sheringham reckons that, "No Tottenham fan would begrudge him the opportunity to win trophies with another club".