When discussing the finest centre-halves in European or world football, a few familiar names tend to crop up again and again. Virgil van Dijk, for instance. Ruben Dias, Marquinhos, William Saliba, Antonio Rudiger and a few more elite names.
You could maybe add Lisandro Martinez to that collection, presuming the Manchester United favourite can rediscover his pre-injury best after another lay-off.
But when the conversation turns to a man who was labelled the ‘best centre-back in the world right now’ as recently as May of last year, it seems those comments have not aged well.
Man United, per The Guardian, made Kim Min-Jae their number one centre-back target in the summer of 2023, the South Korean colossus helping Napoli end their three-decade wait for a Serie A title while earning some rather glowing praise by manager Luciano Spalletti along the way.
When Bayern Munich snapped up Kim from under Man United’s nose – triggering the £43 million release clause in his Partenopei contract – there was no shortage of hand-wringing form a frustrated Red Devils fanbase. A fanbase concerned that the planet’s number one central defender had just slipped through Erik ten Hag’s fingers.
Did Manchester United get a lucky £43m escape?
12 months on, however, Kim is not even the best defender at Bayern Munich, let alone in Europe, these days.
His decline has been startling to witness. From faultless to faulty, from imperious to error-prone. Kim was part of the Bayern team who conceded five to Frankfurt, three each to Bochum, Heidenheim and fourth-tier Saarbrucken, and has fallen behind even Eric Dier in the pecking order as a result.
His Bavarian nadir arguably came in the first-leg of Bayern’s Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid, Kim at fault for both of the visitors’ goals. Former England international Danny Murphy accused Kim of ‘defending like a 14-year-old’ in a performance which bordered on the ‘unbelievable’ for all the wrong reasons.
And while he was restricted to a brief cameo off the bench in the second-leg – dropped from the XI and only included late on with Bayern 1-0 up – it did not go unnoticed that Kim’s introduction coincided with another rapid-fire Real Madrid turnaround.
Disastrous Bayern Munich season goes on
There weren’t any headline-making mistakes this time around. But Paul Scholes, the Manchester United legend, was certainly not impressed by what he saw from a man who, on this evidence, might not have been the solution to a Red Devils backline which has conceded the most goals in a single campaign since 1977.
“He had a lot of stick last week, and the last place he’d have wanted to be was on that football pitch,” Scholes told TNT Sport, feeling that Kim’s introduction was even more damaging to Bayern than Harry Kane’s removal.
“As soon as he came on, in the first 30 seconds, he was all over the place.”
The Man United ship may have sailed for Kim, but maybe not for his Bayern Munich manager.
According to the iNews, Thomas Tuchel – a tight offside call away from a fourth Champions League final appearance in four years – is now the frontrunner to replace the embattled Erik ten Hag in the Old Trafford dugout.