Ange Postecoglou says the bizarre incident that left Son Heung-min with a dislocated finger has reinforced his belief the South Korean is the ideal man to captain Tottenham.
Son returned from Asia Cup duty with the unusual injury, which resulted from a game of table tennis played in the South Korea camp between matches.
It emerged the striker reacted angrily to younger players bolting down meals to make more time for games instead of team bonding. A scuffle saw Son hurt, with team-mate Lee Kang-in later issuing both an apology and a denial that he had punched his captain.
It was an amusing tale as well as an odd one, with Son going on to play in the tournament with the digit strapped up. For Tottenham manager Postecoglou, however, it was simply an example of how a captain ought to behave behind the scenes.
“What I know of the story is Sonny showing leadership,” he said. “Leadership is not about being popular and trying to make everybody happy, it’s about when you see something that you don’t feel is right then you stand up for it.
“He doesn’t like standards slipping and I’ve seen him do that around here. If something is not right he will say it.”
That Son should have been at the centre of such an incident was all the more surprising given that the 31-year-old is one of the least controversial characters in the game. Postecoglou argued that there was no correlation, however.
“Sometimes people are mistaken about Sonny because he’s such a positive guy who whenever you see him is smiling – but he wants to win,” he said.
“Sonny by nature is a nice guy. He is very polite and very respectful but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a real winner and a guy who has high standards.
“There is a real discipline you need top last this long, especially in the Premier League, and that drive to have high standards transfers to leadership.”
Son returned to England earlier than he had been hoping when South Korea suffered an unexpected 2-0 loss to Jordan in the semi-finals, a result that saw Jurgen Klinsmann sacked as national team coach.
The forward came on as a second half substitute in last week’s 2-1 win at home to Brighton and is expected to reclaim his place in the starting line-up when Wolves are the visitors to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The last few days have also seen Postecoglou’s name suggested as a possible contender to succeed Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool at the end of the season. The Australian made it clear that he had no time for speculation.
“If it’s just people throwing up names then who cares? Like, seriously?” he said.
“At the end of the day, if I’m doing a good job then hopefully people will acknowledge that in one form or another — whatever that form is.
“But so-called ‘chat’? That’s of no interest to me.”