Why Son Heung-min won't join Lionel Messi at Inter Miami after confirming Tottenham exit

Son Heung-min has confirmed that he will leave Tottenham this summer withLos Angeles FC one of the favourites to land the 33-year-old, football.london understands.

The Spurs captain confirmed his decision at a press conference on Saturday ahead of the pre-season friendly with Newcastle. "Before we start, I just want to share the information that I have decided to leave this club this summer," he told reporters.

"Respectfully, this club is helping me to make my decision. I just want to share this before we start." He added: "I'm not here to talk about my next team. I want to focus on tomorrow's match."

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Son has spent 10 years in north London, scoring 173 goals and registering 101 assists in 454 appearances. It's understood that a move to the MLS is on the cards with Hugo Lloris' LAFC the favourite to land the South Korean international.

The Black and Gold are one of the most-established teams in the United States alongside Inter Miami. Various conversations have been had on social media about the prospect of Son linking up with Lionel Messi in Miami but that is almost impossible.

Due to the strict roster rules in the MLS, clubs are prohibited on what they can do. Every team must abide by the salary budget that sits between $11.105m (£8.36m) and $13.85m (£10.42m) and each team is afforded three Designated Player slots, which allows the ability to spend well beyond the salary budget on three players.

MLS rules do allow these contracts to be bought down to non-Designated Player deals using the 'allocation money' mechanism used in the league. However, Miami's three Designated players of Messi, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets all earn too much money.

Recently, Rodrigo De Paul joined Miami but the midfielder isn't a Designated Player. The ownership were forced to be creative with De Paul and sign him on loan for the remainder of the season.

De Paul will then make his switch permanently in 2026. It means any move for Son is impossible with no Designated Player slot available.