Man Utd lucky to miss out on 'best defender in the world'

Carlo Garganese

• 1 May 2024 10:10 BST
• 4 min read

Manchester United have had a disastrous 2023-24 season and much of that has been due to a horrific defence.

The Red Devils have conceded 51 goals in just 34 Premier League games and set a record for goals conceded in the group stages of the Champions League by an English team.

It has been claimed by some that United’s defence would have been far better had they signed their primary transfer target last summer.

READ MORE: Premier League summer transfers 2024: All the Done Deals

Manchester United missed out on the signing of their top defensive target Kim Min-Jae when he was at Napoli.

United had been red hot favourites to sign the centre back after he agreed personal terms early in 2023.

However, the chaos over the ownership situation at Old Trafford delayed negotiations between the clubs, and Bayern Munich stepped in to pay Kim’s €50 million release clause, which was valid for the first two weeks in July 2023.

READ MORE: European Golden Shoe 2023/24: Who is Europe’s leading striker?

Kim’s move to Bayern was a bitter blow for Man Utd at the time.

Min-Jae has been an absolute revelation after joining Napoli from Fenerbahce for €18m in the summer of 2022, helping the club to their first Scudetto in 33 years.

He was signed as a replacement for Kalidou Koulibaly, who left after eight years to join Chelsea, and Kim was magnificent at the heart of Napoli’s defence.

His Napoli manager, Luciano Spalletti, even described Kim as the best in the world in his role.

“Kim does at least 20 incredible things per game, for me he truly is the best centre-back in the world,” Spalletti said in March 2023.

Kim Min-Jae at Bayern Munich

However, it now seems that it may have been a blessing that Kim joined Bayern Munich instead of Man Utd.

Kim has been a huge disappointment with the Bavarians this season as they failed to win the Bundesliga title for the first time in 11 years.

He has failed to nail down a regular starting role at Bayern, making just 20 Bundesliga appearances from the beginning.

Kim has been a shadow of the player nicknamed ‘The Monster’ at Napoli, making a string of costly errors in an error-prone Bayern defence.

This was demonstrated on Tuesday evening as Kim made two massive errors leading to goals in the 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final in Munich.

With Bayern on top at 0-0 in the first half, Kim suicidally pushed up to the half-way line to press Vinicius Jr, allowing the Brazilian to spin into acres of space behind him, collect Toni Kroos’ pass and slide past Manuel Neuer to give Madrid the lead.

And then in the second half, after Bayern had turned the game around to lead 2-1, Kim clumsily fouled Rodrygo in the area to give away a penalty that Vinicius Jr scored.

The game finished 2-2 and Madrid will now be favourites to go through to the final at Wembley.

Kim was heavily criticised after the game by fans, pundits and even his own manager Thomas Tuchel.

Tuchel has been linked with taking over at Man Utd next season, it seems unlikely he will be bringing Kim with him!