Lucas Hernandez has expressed his desire to go to Paris Saint-Germain, and with his contract expiring in a year, Bayern Munich will have to let him go this summer.
The same situation is with Benjamin Pavard, who flirted with Barcelona, and in the meantime, Liverpool also got involved. The departure of two reliable defenders will significantly weaken the defence of the Bavarians.
We saw against Manchester City in the quarterfinals of the Champions League that Dayot Upamecano is not a player who can adequately replace Hernandez’s absence as a stopper, and because of all of the above, it is not surprising that hiring a central defender is among the priorities at the Allianz Arena in the coming weeks. And most German journalists report that the first pick is Napoli’s Kim Min-jae.
Kim Min-jae is an option – but ideally Bayern would like to replace Hernández with a left-footed centre-back. Pau Torres has been appreciated by the club for a long time. Bayern also like Wolfsburg’s Micky van de Ven.
The South Korean international has a great season behind him. Few believed that he would be able to replace the departure of Kalidou Koulibaly to Chelsea, but not only did he succeed, but he was also named the best defender in Serie A in Napoli’s championship year. The excellent games, of course, have drastically raised Kim’s price, which is why Aurelio De Laurentiis is more than satisfied.
He brought him a year ago from Fenerbahçe for 18,000,000 euros, and now he will earn many times more since the 26-year-old from South Korea has an exit clause in the contract in the amount of 60,000,000 euros, which can be activated from 1 to 15 July.
Nowadays, it is a figure that many are willing to pay even for a player of worse quality than Kim.
Bayern Munich is in that club category, but they are not alone. Manchester United contacted the player and allegedly agreed on the contract’s personal terms way before the Bavarians, according to which Kim would earn 7,000,000 euros per year.
It would be a drastic increase in salary compared to the 2,500,000 he receives in Napoli, but Foot Mercato writes that the German champion is ready to offer a significantly higher amount – around 10,000,000 euros per season.
It is not a negligible difference, even if Kim promised (as reported) to the leaders of Manchester United that he would come to Old Trafford.
If the South Korean stopper honours his word and really heads to the Premier League, they have other options at the Allianz Arena. Among them are Bundesliga names: Wolfsburg’s Mickey van de Ven and Eintracht’s Evan Endika (but he is already on his way to Rome).
As for Napoli, Nikola Milenkovic was mentioned as a replacement for Kim Min-jae, but in the last few days, it has been reported in the Italian media that Feyenoord’s Slovakian David Hancko is getting closer to signing for the new Italian champions.
