Tottenham takes Kim for ’10 times the price’ in 3 years
Tottenham Hotspur is reportedly trying to sign Kim Min-jae, who was available for 10 billion won, for more than 100 billion won in three years.
“Kim Min-jae is unhappy with his position at Bayern Munich,” said TBR Football, a British media outlet, on Aug. 18 (KST), adding, “Perhaps an offer of £60 million (approx. 10.3 billion won) or £70 million (approx. 12.2 billion won) will make Munich listen.”
Tottenham would need a bid in excess of 100 billion won to land Kim Min-jae. However, Spurs have been able to sign him in the past for around $10 billion.
“When I was at Tottenham, I wanted to sign Kim Min-jae, but Tottenham didn’t help me,” Jose Mourinho said in a press conference before a match against Napoli in January last year when he was managing AS Roma in Italy. “At that time, I could have signed him for €7 million (about $10.2 billion) to €8 million (about $11.7 billion), but Tottenham only offered €5 million (about $7.3 billion).”
Mourinho began leading Tottenham in November 2019. Tottenham fired Mauricio Pochettino, who was leading the Golden Generation, and brought in Mourinho, who was dubbed a “championship hitman.” He had led Chelsea and Manchester United in the Premier League, lifting trophies in the league and English FA Cup, and it looked like he could do the same for Spurs.
The result was a failure. Mourinho came close to winning the title, but was unable to lead Spurs to the title and stepped down as manager in April 2021.
When he was managing Tottenham, Kim was playing for Beijing Guoan in China. At the time, Tottenham were in need of center back reinforcements and tried to sign Kim, but the offer was too small and fell through. Mourinho was keeping a close eye on Kim because Tottenham already had South Korean Son Heung-min. If Tottenham had signed him at the time, it would have been one of the best transfers of all time. Mourinho even had a video call with the player.
It was August 2021, four months after Mourinho resigned from Tottenham, that Kim headed to Europe. Kim began his European career with Fenerbahce in the Ligue Tunisia.
His career peaked last season, when he moved to Napoli of the Italian Serie A after just one season with the club. In the land of defense, he won the Serie A’s best defense award and led Napoli to the top of the Serie A after 33 years. Kim has proven himself on the European stage as well.
Many clubs were interested in Kim Min-jae, and he chose Munich, his home in Germany. Munich’s head coach Thomas Tuchel was so keen on the player that he called him personally. Munich reportedly spent around 50 million euros (approximately $73.5 billion) to 토토 acquire the proven player. The move to Munich was possible because Napoli had a release clause in his contract.
The first half of his time in Munich was different from the second half. In the first half of the season, he was Tuchel’s first option, which led to some controversy, but in the second half, he fell out of favor and became the third or fourth option. Matthijs de Ligt and Eric Dier, who joined from Tottenham this winter, have replaced Kim as Munich’s first-choice center backs. With his proven skills, it was no surprise that he was pushed out of the first team.
From Manchester United, who wanted him alongside Munich last summer, to Serie A’s Inter Milan and his former club Napoli, there have been reports of interest in him. Tottenham have also been thrown into the mix.
However, a move is unlikely, as Tuchel, who doesn’t use him as a first-team player, has announced that he will be leaving the club at the end of the season, meaning Kim will have to compete for a starting role again next season. “Kim is frustrated with the current situation, but he has no intention of leaving Munich,” said Florian Plettenberg, a leading Munich journalist. “He wants to stay with the team and prove himself next season.”
