The man with the biggest grin in the Premier League leans back on a sofa and talks about the days when there was not quite so much to smile about.
Released after a year at Hamburg in Germany, Son Heung-min was 17 and sitting in a single room in a Portsmouth guest house.
He had a dream of playing football in Europe and he had some talent. But back in 2009 that was about all he had.
'Yeah, I had no friends there, no family with me and I couldn't speak the language,' Son said this week.