South Korea coach Paulo Bento has no plans to discuss his lack of Premier League goals this season with Son Heung-min and will instead focus on preparations for the forthcoming friendlies against Costa Rica and Cameroon.
Tottenham Hotspur striker Son finished as Premier League top scorer alongside Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah but is yet to find the goal this season.
“I feel the same way and I think the same way when he scores a lot of goals. There’s no qualms, I won’t talk to him about it,” said Portuguese-born Bento.
“Maybe next Monday he’ll come in a good way, so I won’t spend time talking to him about things like that.
“(We will) focus on what we need to do in those two games and all the confidence is in him as always. It’s not a problem for me, nor is it a cause for concern.”
Son, 30, will lead the Koreans against fellow World Cup qualifiers Costa Rica on September 23 and Cameroon four days later. 27
The friendlies will give Bento one last chance to take a look at his main team ahead of preparations for the World Cup finals, where the Koreans will be drawn against Uruguay, Ghana and Portugal.
The Koreans have qualified for the World Cup Round of 16 only twice – on home soil in 2002 and in South Africa eight years later – and Bento was reluctant to speculate on his side’s chances in Qatar.
“I can’t predict what’s going to happen,” he said.
“Without good competition there is no way to make more games. It’s not sure if we’re going to compete really well, as I expect, it’s not sure if we can go to the next level.”