Son Heung-min has hit back at ’s relegation jibe at and countered: “He’s wrong.”

The Spurs captain revealed he had a private chat with Maddison about sourpuss - and the England discard On The Overlap podcast, Keane scowled: “People say, 'Maddison's the man', but when is he going to step up to the plate?

“He got relegated with and [looks like he will] with Spurs. Maddison isn't bad, but if you think he's going to come back and get Spurs top six, you're in cuckoo land.”

But Son jumped to the defence of Maddison, who scored his 10th goal of the season on his comeback from almost a month out through injury on Sunday. The captain said: “Everybody has an opinion but I don’t care what they say - for me, Madders is one of the best team-mates I’ve played with in my career.

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“In big games he steps up and scores goals, and that’s why we’ve missed him. Everyone has an opinion, but me and Madders had a chat about this because he’s always had a good personality and been able to move on - he’s shown people that it’s wrong.

“He showed great character and put on a great performance (against United). Rather than listen to the outside noise, we just focus on ourselves and that is his answer.”

Son praised Tottenham’s youngsters for holding the fort while a core of senior players was missing en bloc through an injury crisis which crippled Tottenham’s season either side of .

Spurs crashed out of the Carabao Cup semi-finals and the in the space of four days earlier this month, leaving boss only with the to give up to his boast that he always wins a trophy in his second season with a club.

What is your take on Roy Keane's comments?

Son said: “I don’t want to dwell on our dreams or blame anything on us missing our main players - in the period of time they have been out, everyone at the club should appreciate the job the young players have done. We should never forget all the tough moments they have faced in the last two and a half months.

“They didn’t deserve it but I think they have handled it really well and now it’s the turn of the senior players to step up. Three points is always good, especially when you are getting some senior players back and at a massive moment like this it’s what we needed.”

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