It is news that Manchester City (Man City) has joined before signing Kim Min-jae (27, SSC Napoli).
Britain’s ‘The Sun’ reported on the 24th (Korean time) that Man City will compete with Premier League rivals to sign Napoli center back Kim Min-jae, called the ‘monster’, for 40 million pounds (approximately 66.4 billion won).
Kim Min-jae is already receiving attention from Manchester United (Man United), Liverpool and Tottenham. If Man City is added, four of the top six Premier League teams, excluding Arsenal and Chelsea, will want Kim Min-jae.
Kim Min-jae, who joined Napoli from Fenerbahce (Turkiye) in July last year, has been reborn as one of the best defenders in just one season. Based on his solid physique, his speed, technique, and wide vision combined with Napoli’s core.
With Kim Min-jae’s performance, Napoli is on the verge of winning Serie A for the first time in 33 years. Napoli can now lift the championship cup on its own with just one win and two draws, and even if Lazio, second in the league, loses after one win.
Kim Min-jae has only spent one season at Napoli, but a transfer is possible this summer. This is because of the buyout clause signed with Napoli at the time of his joining. Any club that pays the buyout amount between 50 million and 70 million euros can freely negotiate with Kim Min-jae.
Above all, the fact that Man City is showing interest inevitably draws attention in that it heralds another wave in the transfer market. Given that Man City places the most aggressive bets against the best players, Kim Min-jae’s share price is highly likely to rise.
It is known that Manchester City’s head coach Pep Guardiola is also interested in Kim Min-jae. The media emphasized, “Guardiola understands him as a fan of Kim Min-jae, who moved to Napoli from Penebahce for £15 million last summer.” He is the player the coach wants.
In particular, the media emphasized, “Napoli wants to offer Kim Min-jae a new contract, but Kim Min-jae is believed to want a move to England.”
Man City wanted defender Yoshko Gbardiol (21, Leipzig), who placed Croatia in third place at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
However, given that Gbardiol’s buyout amount is 97 million pounds (approximately 161 billion won), it seems that more attention has been paid to Kim Min-jae, who is about half of that.
As much as Man City is still interested, the possibility of signing Gbardiola and Kim Min-jae at the same time cannot be ruled out. Of course, in this case, it is not an easy choice in that you have to go to the ‘grand construction’ to organize the current players. 안전놀이터
Manchester City’s defenders are plentiful compared to other clubs. They are Ruben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Emric Laporte. Manchester City could turn Stones and Ake to full-back. Laporte may leave at the end of the season.
As the top 4 Premier League clubs are showing interest, in fact, Napoli is likely to have a hard time catching Kim Min-jae. Kim Min-jae’s predictive defense, speed, and concentration throughout the game were enough to captivate the Premier League clubs.