Ben Davies admits it's an uncertain Tottenham future for him and Son Heung-min

Ben Davies and Son Heung-min are both waiting to see what lies ahead for them either at Tottenham or not in the weeks ahead.

The two close friends have reached the same crossroads in their Spurs careers. Davies is the first team's longest-serving player with 11 years under his belt while Son has now completed a decade in north London. Both players are now in the final 11 months of their contracts after Tottenham took up the option this year to extend them both by another season.

Davies has been linked with a late window move to Leeds United to link up with compatriot and former Spurs team-mate Joe Rodon and some reports have suggested a step down to join Ryan Reynolds' Wrexham as the Disney+-featured side seek a third straight promotion.

The experienced Welshman has become part of the furniture at Tottenham and has been loved by every one of the long string of managers he has worked for, along with his team-mates, thanks to his versatility, intelligence and willingness to put his body on the line for the team.

Ask anyone inside the club and they will all say that nobody has your back quite like Ben Davies does. Even at 32, he retains the hunger to learn and improve that he arrived with in 2014 when he flew across the USA from Swansea's pre-season tour to join up with Tottenham's.

When football.london asked Davies in Hong Kong on the club's latest pre-season tour if he was expecting to see out his contract to make it 12 years in N17 or if there was a chance he could depart this summer, the Welshman said: "That one is not necessarily under my control. I reported for pre-season and I’m excited to be here.

"My focus is now on how I can help this club this year and if something changes I’m sure I will be picking up that phone call but right now I don’t see anything else."

Few are closer at Tottenham than Davies and Son, with the South Korean godfather to the Welshman's son Ralph and the former Premier League Golden Boot winner having proudly watched on at his wedding to his now wife Emily.

So it is somewhat fitting that the two men are going through the same situation at the same time.

Son is open to leaving Spurs this season after finally realising his dream of lifting a trophy with the club. MLS side Los Angeles FC, where former Spurs skipper Hugo Lloris plays, are keen on taking him across the Atlantic.

Davies chuckled when asked whether he had given Son any advice over his current situation.

"He's older than me, so when it comes to advice, he needs to be the one leading it, to be honest!" he said. "But look, footballers, we go through different moments in our careers all the time and he has one year left.

"There's definitely some uncertainty around what's going to happen with him, but all I can say about him is he's been nothing but professional since he's come back in the last few weeks. He's trained hard.

"If there was none of the talk in public about what was happening, I don't think you would know. So it's probably the biggest testament I can give is that he's kept his head down. He's worked hard and what will be will be."

After 10 years spent in each other's company, Davies' favourite memory of the Spurs captain was not one on the pitch. It was a private meal to celebrate something special.

"Me and him are really good friends so we've had a lot of times together, so most of my memories do seem to probably fall off the pitch, but I think it's probably when he got his 100th goal in the Premier League," said the defender.

"That was a big moment for him and something that he'd been striving for for a long time. And I remember after he got that we had a little celebratory dinner at my house with just a few of his mates and stuff. It was really nice to see someone put so much effort in to get that."

A new memory was formed in May when Davies got to see his friend do what so few had dome before him at Tottenham and lift a trophy as captain alongside him.

"I was very proud, very proud. Like I said, he's put so much effort in and probably is one of the people that it takes a toll on the most is when he so focused on success and such a talented player as well," he said.

"Probably in his career he would have deserved to have won more, but I can probably imagine he felt pretty similar to me. It was probably a big sense of relief for him to get that over the line and it was something that he really deserved. I was very, very happy for him."

On winning that Europa League trophy as a squad, Davies added: "It was relief more than anything. We have been there a few times. I’ve played a lot of games for this club. It got to the point where it was that longing and desire, that desperation.

"We just wanted to win something no matter what it was. We have come close, we have fought, we have lost games where we could have won and been in better situations. When that final whistle went it was just relief and happiness that we knew we were going into a new season as champions of a European competition. It was a special memory."

The man who scored that winning goal in Bilbao was Brennan Johnson. Despite being Spurs' top scorer last season with 18 goals, the attacker found himself the subject of plenty of criticism from the club's fans. The abuse he was getting on social media led to him withdrawing from Instagram for a time.

Davies has seen a lot of players come and go through his time at Tottenham so he knows what someone can bring and he believes that many often don't see what his international team-mate does for the side.

"Brennan's a really, really good guy. He came into the Wales squad when I'd been there quite a while and you could see instantly we had a very likeable character, very down to earth, but also someone that when it comes to the nitty gritty of tough football that we knew what we had then and he's been brilliant through the years that I've been with him at Wales and I was delighted when he joined this club, to be honest," he said.

"It was a shrewd signing and he's someone who knows where the goal is, someone who does a lot of stuff that maybe a lot of people don't pick up on, but he's always one of them that's in the thick of the action and knows where the goal is."

He added on whether a lot of the criticism was unjustified: "Definitely. I think that all through the season he was playing a role where there might have been times he wasn't getting on the ball all the time and ultimately a big part of his game was just being in the right place at the right time and he's one of the best at that.

"As you could see in those crucial moments in the big games, he stepped up and no more so in the final and for someone like him, I was delighted for him, for his family. They're big supporters of his, but they're always around that Wales set up and I see them always at Spurs. So just a great family that deserved that success and I was very happy for them."

Now Davies is part of yet another era at the club with his sixth permanent manager in 11 years as well as a string of caretaker head coaches that have been and gone.

So does this summer feel different in that not only is there a new man at the helm in Thomas Frank but also Spurs and their players are now champions?

"In one aspect yes, in other aspects no. It’s new faces, new environment and new ideas that are coming in. It’s always exciting when that does happen because as I said you learn new things," he said.

"Even when you’ve been around the game as long as I have, you see things from a different perspective. It’s always good to learn from the new guys coming in, especially Thomas who had an amazing time at Brentford and I think one of the things you saw from that team was how intelligent they were. How they properly fought against the odds at times to succeed. I’m looking forward to working and learning under him."

Davies has got used to the conveyor belt of managers that comes with the territory in the Premier League.

"It’s part and parcel of being a footballer in this day and age. You are going to have a lot of managers and it’s just the transient nature of how the game has become," he said. "Having someone like Pochettino like I did for five years is not really happening at many clubs anymore.

"That’s not to say that it’s not strange when it happens and as players you feel partially responsible for that but it’s something you have to get used to. With a new manager it’s a chance to learn more and develop as a player."

While Ange Postecoglou will go down in history for leading Tottenham to their first European trophy in 41 years, he also oversaw one of their worst league seasons as the club finished 17th in the Premier League amid injuries galore, disappointing defeats and a switch in focus to the Europa League midway through the campaign.

"It was probably one of the strangest seasons of my career. There were struggles. It was tough at times," said Davies. "In the league we were probably lucky to be in that situation we were in because we weren’t anywhere near the level we knew we could be.

"At the end of the season you could see where the priorities had shifted. Ultimately, if you look back in the history books I don’t think too many people are going to care."

Now there is a new face in the dugout and the Dane has quickly tried to get his ideas across to the squad. Davies said there has been work on building more of a structure within the team than the fluid style under Postecoglou.

"When we all came in we had a sit down meeting and it was basically about what was expected this year and where he thinks we can improve as a team and where the low-hanging fruit is for us to be better in the league than last year," said the Welshman.

"We have been working on that in pre-season, some different tactical aspects, a bit more structure in the team. I think hopefully we will see the results of that pretty quickly.

"The thing he said to us which is more important than anything is that we are in four big competitions this year and we have proven we can be up there with anyone. We have to have a go in each and every one of them."

He added: "Early doors it is just about trying to get everyone to buy into the ideas. There has not been anything which is too in depth so far. There are little nuggets you can pick up here and there.

"Everyone from working with these guys, you can see the value that they put on certain aspects of the game. How, as I mentioned before, there is low hanging fruit where you can pick up goals which turn into wins which can turn into a lot of points come the end of the season for minimal effort if you are in the right headspace for it.

"Without going in to too many details of what that is, I feel like I have picked up a few things."

Davies will have been watching Frank and the coaching staff closely for more than just his improvement as a player. The defender has been proactive in preparing for his career after he hangs up his boots, earning a degree in economics and business as well as studying for coaching qualifications for when it's time to step off the pitch.

There are no concrete plans though for what will come next for the affable Welshman.

"Not yet, not yet. It's definitely something that I've thought about and I've had to think about putting things in place. While I've been here, I've done my coaching badges, so I've got my A licence, which is pretty rare," he admitted.

"I don't think many football players, current players have got that right now. I've done quite a bit of work with the academy at Spurs and I've really enjoyed that. So that's definitely one avenue that I think I will end up pursuing, whether it's at Tottenham or elsewhere.

"I don't know, but I'm hoping to play for a few years longer. The body feels good. So I'll see where it goes and then, on the other hand, I've definitely have an interest in the business of sport as well, and we will see.

"I think there's a lack of athletes involved in the other side of the game. So let's see where that takes me."

When Davies' time at Tottenham does come to an end, it will be done without the headlines, pomp and external emotion that his best friend Son's exit will bring.

Yet the Welshman has been as important a contributor to life at Tottenham Hotspur over the years and you will find few who have had the best interests of the club and his team-mates at heart quite as much as him.

Ben Davies was speaking at a session organised by family literacy charity Bring Me a Book Hong Kong to inspire young people to read as part of Tottenham Hotspur's traditional support for local charitable organisations on overseas tours