Manchester United are ready to fork out £53million to land Napoli defender Kim Min-jae, who could replace Harry Maguire.
Maguire, 30, is now Erik ten Hag's fifth-choice centre-back, spending the majority of this season watching from the bench as his team-mates shine. Despite Ten Hag publicly offering his backing to the England international, there are suggestions from Old Trafford that United would be open to selling Maguire this summer and recouping some of the £80m they paid Leicester for him in 2019.
But in that case, the Red Devils would almost certainly want to recruit a new centre-back to offset Maguire's departure, and that's where Kim comes in. According to Italian publication Corriere dello Sport, United would be willing to stump up the €60m (£53m) required to trigger the South Korean's release clause.
Kim, 26, only moved to Naples from Turkish giants Fenerbahce last summer for around £17m, yet has made an instant impact. His imperious performances have helped Napoli win their first Serie A title in 33 years with five games to spare, although Kim has also made headlines off the pitch and not for such positive reasons.
The South Korea international upset his home country in March following a 2-1 defeat to Uruguay, where after questions about his below-par display, he confessed that he wanted to prioritise finishing the season strongly with Napoli. "I am mentally tired and I only want to focus on my club at the moment, not on the national team," a frustrated Kim declared.
After his comments were perceived poorly in South Korea, the 26-year-old was forced to say sorry. "I apologise to them and the players who were surprised by my words," Kim admitted. "I had a minor injury and I have recovered. I've played many games and I never spared myself. I collapsed mentally and had an outburst. I apologise again and ask the fans always to support us."
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He's had no reason to apologise in Naples, though, performing above and beyond expectations in his first campaign to help Luciano Spalletti 's men claim the title as well as reaching the Champions League quarter-finals. Boasting a superb 91 per cent passing accuracy and averaging 1.5 tackles every 90 minutes, Kim has more than adequately replaced Kalidou Koulibaly, who chose to leave Napoli after nine years last July and sign for Chelsea, where he's since struggled.
Kim could now succeed Maguire, who's still United's club captain, during the summer transfer window. Ten Hag prefers Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez as his primary centre-back partnership, but even though the duo are both currently out injured and Maguire is available, the Red Devils boss has found Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw - usually a left-back - to be his next-best pairing.
