Lee Kang-in targets a prize greater than glory in the Asian Games

Military exemption is as big a prize as the gold medal up for grabs for Paris Saint-Germain’s South Korean star

For Son Heung-min in 2018, read Lee Kang-in in 2023. Five years ago, Tottenham Hotspur reluctantly released their South Korea forward to participate in the Asian Games and he arrived in Indonesia midway through the tournament to lead the team to gold. This month, Paris Saint-Germain belatedly allowed Lee to fly to China and the midfielder arrived just before the group stage ended ready to help the team go all the way once more. The reason why big clubs from the capitals of England and France and elsewhere have allowed such talent to leave when they are not obliged to by Fifa is the same: the South Korean government grants military exemption to those who win gold at the Games.

The pressure was greater on Son because 2018 was his last chance before turning 28, the age by which all able-bodied men must report for duty that usually lasts between 18 and 21 months. The following year he would have had to return home. At 22, Lee has more time but the Asian Games, which Korea also won in 2014, offers by far the best chance of cutting those 18 months or so down to 544 hours of community service and the best chance of continuing a career at the top of European football (any medal at the Olympics works but that has been achieved only once, in 2012).