What’s up with Kane and Kim
Does FC Bayern close two gaps for 150 million?
06/29/2023, 10:50 am
FC Bayern wants to beef up their squad to attack new titles. The storm is still about a replacement for Robert Lewandowski. It should be none other than England’s national team captain Harry Kane, but several experts doubt that. It looks better defensively.
According to a report, Bayern Munich is getting closer to signing defender Min-jae Kim. The Italian transfer expert Fabrizio Romano writes that Munich and the South Korean have agreed verbally to a change in the summer. Accordingly, there is a five-year contract that would bind the 26-year-old to Munich until 2028.
In the next step, the German soccer record champions still have to pay a transfer fee to the Italian champions SSC Naples. According to consistent media reports, Kim has an exit clause in his contract, according to which at least 50 million euros are due. The centre-back is currently doing his military service in South Korea and is expected to return to Europe in early July.
Kim leaves Naples at the peak of success.
(Photo: picture alliance / NurPhoto)
“He’s incredible, always aggressive – he deserves to start every game. Kim does at least 20 incredible things a game. If he runs with the ball at his feet, he can put it in the penalty area in five seconds,” enthused Napoli champion trainer Luciano Spalletti of Kim. Due to his stature and height of 1.90 meters, he was appreciatively called “Monster” at the beginning of his career.
Kim to replace Hernández
The South Korean, who reached the round of 16 with his national team at the World Cup in Qatar in a strong group with Portugal, Ghana and Uruguay, could be the replacement for the French players Lucas Hernández and Benjamin Pavard who are willing to change. The injury-prone Hernández definitely wants to go to Paris St. Germain, it is said that Bayern are demanding around 50 million euros for their record purchase, which they cost 80 million euros in the summer of 2019 – and they could reinvest this directly in Kim.
Pavard also wants to leave Munich, and Bayern also have an interest in letting him go now for a fee and not only when his contract expires next year. But he is apparently not as far as Hernández with his future plans. The 27-year-old is said to have recently decided against moving to Liverpool. There he sees his chances of a place in the starting XI as too low, according to the Football Transfers portal. However, with Manchester United, another club from the English Premier League is said to be interested. Man United, in turn, were digging at Kim themselves, so the club now need an alternative.
‘Would be surprised if he leaves England’
In defense, a gap at Bayern seems to be filled, but up front there is still a lack of effective personnel. The possible transfer of Harry Kane has been wafting through the gazettes for weeks, but nothing is fixed yet. Munich would pay more for him than for any player before. Two years ago, Manchester City had courted the services of the England national team captain, but had been shot down by Tottenham because they did not want to pay the requested 150 million euros.
Now the 29-year-old and FC Bayern are said to have agreed to work together, but according to media reports, Tottenham Hotspur rejected an initial offer. With 70 million euros, this should not have been a record offer, the Spurs are probably calling for at least 100 million euros. According to “Sun” and Sky, club president Daniel Levi is still hoping to be able to convince Kane of a new contract offer. Kane’s contract expires after the coming season, then he would be a free transfer. However, Tottenham cannot offer him anything internationally, the club ended the season in bottom place and missed out on qualifying for the European Cup.
The Munich transfer task force headed by coach Thomas Tuchel and Uli Hoeneß has chosen the Englishman as the desired striker. Kane should fill the gap in Munich that has opened up in the storm center since Robert Lewandowski left. Sadio Mané disappointed in his first season at Bayern, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting excelled under Julian Nagelsmann with ten goals and two assists in 19 games, but is prone to injury and was often absent due to groin, back and knee problems. In addition, the Cameroonian international is already 34 years old. As is well known, Thomas Müller is not a classic striker, nor is Serge Gnabry, who was called up as a nine as an emergency solution in the final spurt of the season.
Bayern urgently need reinforcements, but several experts consider it unlikely that Kane will change. “I would be surprised if he leaves England,” wrote Bayern’s former technical director Michael Reschke in a column for “Kicker” and described the English national team captain as an “absolute world-class striker”. Together with Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé, the 29-year-old is in the top three.
“Bayern Munich have no chance”
Even the legendary English coach Harry Redknapp cannot imagine his former player in Munich. The national team captain is “safely staying with Tottenham,” Redknapp told the BBC: “I think he’s building a new house. And family is the most important thing to him – so Bayern Munich has no chance.”
Under team manager Redknapp, Kane had played his first competitive game for Spurs in 2011 and scored his first goal for the professional team. “He won’t want to go to Germany,” believes the 76-year-old, “he won’t want to bring his family over there, no chance.” Instead, Redknapp is “very sure” that Kane will stay with Spurs, as he also sees a change within the Premier League as making little sense. Manchester City is occupied in the position of center forward with Erling Haaland, at Manchester United you win nothing, even at Chelsea success is not guaranteed.
It may be months before the new Bayern squad is finally put together. The Bundesliga starts the new season on August 18th, the transfer window is open until September 1st. It is clear that the team should then definitely perform better than the staff of last season, in which they were only just able to defend the championship title, but not succeeded in the cup and certainly not in the Champions League.