Chelsea and one other PL club want to sign 28-year-old defender from Bundesliga club this summer: Reports
Chelsea are among a number of clubs interested in signing Kim Min-jae this summer. Newcastle United are also interested in signing the Bayern Munich defender.
Kim helped Napoli win the Serie A title in the 2022-23 season. He then joined Bayern in the summer of 2023 for a reported fee of €50 million. However, he was the second choice behind the likes of Mathijs de Ligt and Eric Dier under Thomas Tuchel.
The South Korean defender became the first choice at Bayern after Vincent Kompany's appointment as head coach last summer. However, he's failed to make a big impact, even making some costly errors. Hence, he could leave the club this summer.
As per Foot Mercato, Chelsea and Newcastle are interested in signing him. The Blues have been highly active in the transfer market in recent seasons and are looking to continue this summer. Newcastle, meanwhile, failed in their pursuit of Marc Guehi last summer and are looking for defensive reinforcements.
Kim's contract with Bayern expires in 2028, and as per Transfermarkt, his market value is €45 million. A Serie A club is also interested in the 28-year-old. However, as per the aforementioned report, the defender will prefer moving to a new league this summer.
Enzo Maresca on Chelsea's remaining schedule and goals for this season
The Blues lost 2-1 against Legia Warsaw at home in the UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-finals second leg on Thursday. However, they won the tie 4-2 on aggregate. They will now face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday in the Premier League.
In his pre-match press conference, Enzo Maresca was asked about the schedule, and he answered (via the club's website):
"At this moment [of the season], there is no bad time to play. There is only the right time to play a game. We have six Premier League games plus the two semi-final matches, so we have eight official games to play at the moment and they are all important. Now is the moment to go, if we want to reach something.
"Chelsea is a big club, a huge club, one of the biggest clubs in the world. So it’s normal that you have pressure. When you decide to sign for Chelsea, you have to think you are under pressure because it’s Chelsea. It’s the same for the manager, no doubt. So if we have a game away and there is worry [about that], we are in the wrong way."
After Fulham, the west London side will host Everton in the Premier League on April 26. They will then face Swedish side Djurgarden in the Europa Conference League first leg at 3Arena on May 1.
