Son’s first season being bad is a common myth.
I said "not particularly good".... Not that he was bad.
15/16 he got 8 goals and 5 assists in 42. Lamela that same season got 11 and 10 in 44. But here’s the key part, in the Prem Son had 4 goals in 28 with 13 starts and 15 appearances off the bench, versus Lamela’s 5 goals in 34 games, 28 starts and 6 off the bench. All this off transfermarkt btw. I refuse to believe if Son didn’t start more games he wouldn’t have outdone Lamela, Poch was just weirdly wary of playing new signings.
Neither were exactly prolific.
4 v 5 EPL goals all season....... Hardly exhibits that Sonny was already proving himself to be a significantly bigger goal threat. Then factor in-game contribution beyond goals. It's far from a big reach to conclude that Poch thought Lamela offered more overall to begin with (which the eye test would back up!).
OK, maybe Poch routinely was slow with player integration, but that's a factor outside of Lamela being prolific or otherwise.
16/17, when Son actually played he gave us 21 goals and 9 assists in 47 games overall, 14 and 8 of that being in the Prem in 23 starts and 11 off the bench. Lamela on the other hand gave us a gigantic 2 goals and 7 assists in 14 appearances, with a whopping 1 goals and 1 assist in the Prem and he missed damn near the whole season with a hip injury.
So how the hell does Lamela stand accused of wrongly keeping Son out of the team in that year then?
Typical XI that season:
Hugo
Walker / Dier / Toby / Jan / Rose
Wanyama / Dembele
Dele / Eriksen
Kane
Meanwhile Sonny, was (so to speak) #12 in the squad that year.
48 games
23 EPL starts.....
Damn solid appearance stats for someone outside of the starting XI (of which Lamela was not a part!)... Esp. when you consider that this season (unlike the one before amongt those 48 would also have been CL appearances - Unlike the year before where Sonny got half his goals in the Europa League!).
You also noted that
15/16: 8G in 42app
16/17: 21G in 47app
...That's a huge leap. This further paints that Son indeed wasn't at full throttle in season 1.
Also I don’t know why everyone forgets Son also had one of his biggest injuries v early on w us in his first season, plantar fasciitis which kept him out for 7 games, still to this day the most games Son’s missed with us due to injury.
Heung-min Son - Injury history if you don’t believe it. Also the timing of the injury; he got it in September right after an early run that included scoring on his home debut v Palace, 2 on his European debut for us v qarabag and then helped cement the 4-1 win over City. Shitty timing. If he doesn’t get that injury imo he shows the player that was clearly in there far sooner. Who knows maybe we actually catch Leicester if our 3 in behind Kane were all firing rather than just two of them.
So injury was a another thing that hampered Sonny earning himself a starting berth in his first season.
Ergo; there's little at play here to substantiate the idea that Lamela was explicitly picked at Son's expense in either season.
15/16: Son injured. Learning the ropes. Not showing the goalscoring prowess that would come in time.
16/17: Formation rendered Son the 12th man...... Prolific regardless ergo:
17/18: ........Formation shifted again and Sonny became a first XI player.
Lamela really isn't a significant part of that narrative.