Napoli’s Kim Min-jae transfer stance highlights Man Utd’s long-term issues
Robin Bairner
- 30 Sept 2022 09:52 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United’s pursuit of a central defender has seen them turn towards Napoli’s South Korea international Kim Min-jae.
Napoli won an arm wrestle with Ligue 1 side Rennes to capture the 25-year-old for a fee of around €18 million from Fenerbahce this summer, but after an impressive start to life in Italy, Kim is already being touted for a big transfer.
With Man Utd captain Harry Maguire still hopelessly out of form, manager Erik ten Hag is reportedly looking at finding other solutions for the centre of his defence, hence the links to Kim.
The Red Devils have been told there is a €50m release clause in the player’s contract, which is active from summer 2023.
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Napoli hoping for 'exorbitant' transfer fee
Napoli, meanwhile, are laidback at this prospect, with experts in Italy of the belief that the new arrival has not done enough to justify such a fee.
“It is no coincidence that there is talk of strong interest from Manchester United, a club that – market history tells us – has often paid exorbitant sums for a central defender,” transfer market expert Alfredo Pedulla told Calcio Napoli 24.
“For the Red Devils, it would be no problem to prepare a cheque for 50 million, euro or sterling changes little, to try to solve the remaining problems with another investment.”
And here in a nutshell is one of Man Utd’s major problems in the transfer market. They have overpaid year after year for players, with Maguire just one example of this. Even Ajax were able to bully them into paying €95m for Antony in the summer, when the Premier League side had previously set themselves a much lower valuation for the player.
If they were to spend so lavishly on Kim, it would be another example of their haste. The South Korea international is only valued at €13 million by FootballTransfers, albeit his value has shot up since arriving at Napoli.
Man Utd would be well advised to take a step back and carefully consider their next move; they cannot afford to spend big on another defensive flop.
