Heung-min Son has claimed he was "scared" to play against Victor Wanyama before they became team-mates at Tottenham.

The two midfielders were opponents in August 2014 as Southampton hosted Bayer Leverkusen in a pre-season friendly. Two years later they were together at Tottenham.

Son arrived from Germany a year before the Kenya international's signing and has spoken of how the latter has aided his output after a season which saw him score a career-high 21 goals.

"I was really a fan of Victor when he signed," Son said in an interview published on Wednesday but conducted in May. "When I was with Leverkusen and I played against Southampton, I saw him for the first time and he was a beast – I was scared to play against him!

“When he signed, everyone knew what he could do from when he played for Southampton and I enjoy watching him play. I think he’s done very well for us and he was very important during the season.”

He added: "Victor is a really, really good player. I’m an offensive player, an attacking player, but when I feel that behind us we have Victor and Mousa Dembele, I feel comfortable.

"If sometimes I lose the ball, I still feel comfortable because in behind me are, for example, Jan, Toby, Eric, Mousa and Victor. Every player who plays at the back makes it more comfortable to play in my position."