Kim Min-jae’s photo. Korea Football Association
The love of the Korean national football team coach Paulo Bento for Kim Min-jae (26, Naples), the ‘monster defender’ who took the lead in the Italian Serie A debut season, is hot.
Coach Bento mentioned Kim Min-jae as a “fantastic (fantastic) player” at the announcement of the list for the September A match evaluation held at the Seoul Football Center on the morning of the 13th.
He said, “As we expected,[Kim Min-jae in Napoli]took a good step,” he said. He added, “He has shown good performances in the league and in the UEFA Champions League (UCL)”.
Bentuho’s built-in centre-back, Kim Min-jae, did not join the A team for a while. His last match was against the United Arab Emirates (0–1 Korea) on March 29, when he was with Fenerbahce (Turkeye).
Kim Min-jae injured his right ankle during a league game in May and returned to Korea to undergo surgery. He missed four matches of the A-match qualifiers in Korea in June.
Korean national football team coach Paulo Bento. Korea Football Association
Kim Min-jae, who returned from injury, moved to Serie A, Europe’s big league, during the transfer window this summer and established himself as a key defender for Napoli. In the 2022-2023 UCL group stage against Liverpool (England) held on the 8th, he played as a starting center back and contributed to the team’s 4-1 victory with perfect defense.
On the 10th, the home match against Spezia in the 6th round of Serie A was missed. Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti gave Kim Min-jae a break for a more important match. Kim Min-jae is expected to play as a starting defender in the second leg of the UCL versus Rangers (Scotland) on the 15th and AC Milan on the 18th in the 7th round of Serie A.
Ahead of the consecutive A-match evaluation match against Costa Rica (23rd, Goyang Sports Complex) and Cameroon (27th, Seoul World Cup Stadium) in September, coach Bento called Kim Min-jae for the first time in 6 months. As it is the last evaluation match in which virtually all foreign players participate before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, they are determined to match the sum of the players.
Bento said, “Europe and K-League also play on weekdays and on weekends.” He added, “It is important to prepare for the game by playing well until the next game and being summoned to the national team on the 19th.”