12-15 Is a Realistic 2015/16 Goals Target for Tottenham's Heung-Min Son

Heung-Min Son has begun his Tottenham career in the best possible way. 

A match-winning brace in the Europa League against FK Qarabag was immediately followed by a decisive strike against Crystal Palace. 

That goal gave his club their first win of the Premier League season and featured many of the factors that convinced them to spend £22 million to prise him away from Bayer Leverkusen. 

Against Palace, Son was penetrative, quick and aggressive. 

He left defenders in his wake, brought team-mates into the game and showed poise and intelligence. 

Three goals in four games is a brilliant start, and Son can set his sights high for the rest of his first season in England. 

He also scored a hat-trick in his last appearance for South Korea. 

For his nation, he has developed into a deadly part of their arsenal and is spearheading their World Cup qualification campaign.

Of course, setting finite targets for goals is fraught with danger. 

Football is less of a science than many sports, and it is difficult to say with certainty that any particular target will be met.

Harry Kane would have scored far fewer goals than he managed last season with less of the fortune that seemed to bless his campaign. This season, fate has swung against him, and he has scored just once despite being in all the right places.

Every footballer is a hostage to fate in the same way. 

With all of that in mind, Son's season can still be measured by certain yardsticks. 

Suggestions of Son's foot injury being significant appear to be overblown, with Sky reporting that he could feature as soon as Spurs' next Premier League fixture against Liverpool. 

If he does rapidly return to fitness, he should be aiming to add 10-12 goals to his tally through the remainder of the campaign.

In the last two seasons at Leverkusen, Son scored 29 goals in 85 games. 

Playing in support of the prolific Stefan Kiessling, Son was not expected to provide the bulk of Leverkusen's goals but instead to chip in as a useful alternate source of goals.  

That will be his role for Tottenham, too. 

His primary role in Mauricio Pochettino's system will be to support the leading striker Kane. 

In that role, he should be able to expect at least as many chances as Nacer Chadli enjoyed in that same position last season. 

Chadli became an effective auxiliary striker in Pochettino's first season. 

He embraced the physicality that made him FC Twente's main man, while enjoying the relative obscurity that Kane's heroics afforded him.

While Chadli was notably absent on some big occasions, he scored against Arsenal and Chelsea en route to a haul of 13 goals in all competitions. 

His ability to fill the space left behind when Kane chose to drop off and take up a playmaking role was important to Spurs' overall style, and Son must identify similar moments. 

There is a vast difference in style between Chadli and Son. 

Where Chadli will seek to exploit his strength and overcome defenders before taking control of the ball, Son allows the ball to do the work where he can. 

Son will allow the pass to run to its natural conclusion, protecting it with his body if necessary, and then explode out against a close defender. 

That is his preference and his greatest skill. 

When Tottenham retain possession for long spells, Son will be able to buzz about and probe for weaknesses, but his greatest strengths will be identified on the counter-attack.

As he has already demonstrated this season, Son's pace makes him a priceless asset when possession has been won back. 

He is both quick and intelligent and pushes into the most valuable space when his side counters. 

This will not be Tottenham's preference this season, but it will afford a player like Son many opportunities to add to his goal tally. 

If Son eventually wins the position on the right flank of Pochettino's attacking line behind the main striker, he will be competing directly with Chadli for goals.

Erik Lamela's recent renaissance complicates matters. 

His provides qualities that can be expected of no other Tottenham player. 

Matt Dunham/Associated Press

Lamela carries the ball better than either Chadli or Son; he is not a reliable scorer, but his ability to beat the first defender, if it proves reliable, will make him a certain selection.

That will leave Son competing with Chadli for playing time, rather than goals. 

Certainly capable of repulsing the challenge of the Belgian, Son must show his best form to avoid relegation to a substitute's role.  

In the worst case, that would relegate Son to a starting role in Europa League and League/FA Cup fixtures where he would get an opportunity to exploit vastly inferior players. 

Certainly, Son should be starting in the Premier League, but if he is dropped, it won't last for long. 

His pace, high work ethic and aggression will always make him a goal threat. 

With Kane struggling to break through a form slump, Son must be there to provide a scoring threat. 

There is even the possibility that Son will be deployed as a central striker if Kane's slump continues. 

Son will be afforded the chance to score many more than the 12-15 goals that he should be able to provide.

If he takes those chances, he will ruled a great success. 

His status as one of the most expensive players in Premier League history carries significance, but that will dissipate if he continues to prove his worth. 

Didier Drogba seemed an absurdly expensive signing at £24 million when the ex-Marseille man stumbled through his early days in the Premier League.

Today, nobody would argue that Chelsea's money was well spent on the Ivorian. 

Son has not had the same struggles that Drogba endured in his early days, but those stumbles may yet come.

Either way, Son has the capacity to take the burden of goalscorer off Kane and flourish in the Premier League. 

His success in Germany is telling, and he is likely to carry on that form in England. 

Son should be expected to score 12-15 goals this season because he is a fine finisher playing in a team that will give him plenty of scoring chances. 

That is the key, and his fast start only underlines his inherent quality.