Tottenham's Heung-Min Son says he has been released to play for South Korea at Olympics

Tottenham forward Heung-Min Son has been given permission to play for South Korea at the Olympic Games, according to the 23-year-old.

Son wants to represent his country in Rio in August as one of the three permitted over-age players, but his participation in Brazil would see him miss much of Tottenham's pre-season and the first few weeks of the season.

Clubs are not required to release players over 23 for the Olympics because the tournament is not organised by FIFA, but speaking in Seoul after Sunday's 2-1 win over the Czech Republic, he said: "I was told that I would definitely be allowed to play in the Olympics. What's important is when.

"I would love to join my team-mates (in the Olympic team)... I'm trying to join them as soon as possible.

Son was part of the South Korea team that won bronze at London 2012 and the former Bayer Leverkusen man, who had a stuttering first season at White Hart Lane with eight goals in 41 appearances, wants to help coach Shin Tae-Yong's side again.

"I would like to join the Olympics team soon to help it win a medal for two Olympics in a row," he added.

Tottenham set to allow star to drive up his transfer price

Spurs are going to allow Son Heung-Min to compete for South Korea in this summer’s Olympic Games

Don’t think for a second that Tottenham are allowing striker Son Heung-Min to play in this summer’s Olympics for any sort of altruistic reason. The real motivation for Spurs is to give the South Korean attacker a chance to show off his wares for potential buyers.

ESPN are reporting that Spurs have given Son the green light to participate, but the parties involved are still working on the precise release date. The timing issue could be tricky given the overlap between the Games and start of Tottenham’s pre-season. Still, the decision by Tottenham to permit Son to play tells us a great deal about his future with the club.

Principally, it tells us that Mauricio Pochettino and company are anxious to give Son an opportunity to improve his value in this summer’s transfer window. The affable striker struggled to adjust to life in the Premier League this season, and it’s been rumored that Pochettino doesn’t think he can hack it at White Hart Lane. There’s no better way to drive his transfer value up than to let him showcase his skills on the world stage.

Some Spurs fans might think it’s an effort by the club to give Son a confidence boost, but that just doesn’t pass the logic test. If they wanted to rebuild his confidence, they’d just trot him out there a few times during their pre-season schedule to tally some goals. You certainly wouldn’t send him outside of the club to train and bond with his international teammates instead.

Some Spurs fans still believe that Son can find a way to get back into Pochettino’s good graces, but I think the die is cast. His failure to make it at Tottenham doesn’t make him a bad player, he just isn’t particularly well suited for Pochettino’s demanding high press. He’d be much better off going to a club (and League) that focuses a little more on finesse than power.

As for where Son goes, that’s anybody’s guess at this point. One interesting idea though, could he be used to entice Dortmund to part with Henrikh Mkhitaryan? Just a thought…