DARREN ANDERTON can think of nobody who is more fitting to steal his assist record for Spurs than selfless skipper Son Heung-min.
Former England midfielder Anderton tops Tottenham’s charts in the Premier League with a whopping 68.
But South Korean icon Son is creeping up behind on 64 and will surely surpass him at some point this term.
Son will target getting even closer to Anderton’s record at home to West Ham.
And Anderton, 52, told SunSport in association with freebets.com: “If anyone is going to break that record, I’m very happy it’s going to be Son because he’s a team player.
“I always considered myself to be that, and always put the team first.
“I’d get as much joy at creating opportunities and setting up goals as I did from scoring myself.”
Assists — providing the final ball to the player who scores the goal — were not as revered in Anderton’s 1990s heyday.
But the growing influence of stats-obsessed American sports and the rise of fantasy football have seen the goal-maker take almost as much credit as the goal-taker.
Put it this way: Anderton would be hailed far more for his playmaking ability if he were playing today rather than 30 years ago.
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Many of Anderton’s assists saw him tee up old mucker Teddy Sheringham.
In fact, their epic 27-goal combinations make the pair the fifth-most prolific duo in Premier League history.
Son is top of that particular list owing to his fruitful partnership with Harry Kane.
They hit a staggering 47-goal combinations before Kane was sold to Bayern Munich two summers ago.
California-based Anderton added: “We live in America now and all the sports over here are about the assists and the stats and everything.
“So I’ve always been aware of it. My American friends always used to say that it’s scandalous no one ever speaks about assists!
“Now they do, so that’s good, and I think they should. It’s a huge part of the game and it’s what happens in the final third that wins games.
“Your team can have all the possession in the world but it’s that final ball which is so, so important.
“I’m very proud of the record. It’s something that I was always aware of.
“When I first got in at Spurs I struggled, but then things really took off for me and my relationship with Teddy in terms of assists and scoring goals.
“When Harry and Sonny had their assist-goal relationship, I saw myself and Teddy’s names up in the top five Premier League goal-assist partnerships.
“Someone sent me something the other day about my record on social media when Son had two assists and I was like, ‘Oh, OK’.
“We were having dinner and I showed my daughter and wife and we were having a bit of a giggle about it.”
Son has missed Spurs’ last three games due to a hamstring issue picked up in the 3-0 home win over Qarabag in the Europa League group stages last month.
However, the South Korean expects to return to action today in the early kick-off.
The attacker, 32, is one of Spurs’ greatest modern-day players and is 21st in the all-time list of Premier League goalscorers on 122.
But he has only scored in one match this season — the 4-0 win over Everton on August 24 — and has not netted in his last five club appearances.
Anderton added: “He hasn’t played as well as he would like and against Manchester United, he wasn’t missed — that performance was incredible.
“But that’s all part of getting to that sort of age and things start to change. I left Spurs at 32, I thought I had a few more years in me, but that’s all part of the game that we all play.
“But everyone in football knows how good he is.
“He’s the perfect football player. He works his socks off, he creates opportunities, he scores goals.
“He has always produced and has been an unbelievable player for the club.”
But if Spurs are to beat their London neighbours today, Anderton believes the performance of £40million midfielder James Maddison will be key.
The playmaker has struggled for large parts of this year as he battles back to peak fitness after damaging ankle ligaments in November 2023.
But he has been in red-hot form in recent weeks, yet was overlooked again by England this month.
Anderton felt the 27-year-old deserved a recall and believes the North Londoners are at their best when Maddison is on top of his game.
Euro 96 star Anderton, who won 30 caps for his country, added: “When he plays well, we play well.
“He has that X Factor that when teams sit deep because we do dominate, you need that bit of magic to create things.
“Christian Eriksen used to do it and James Maddison is in that mould.
“After he had that injury last season, our form was never the same. He’s that important to the team.”