Man Utd competing with Liverpool and Spurs for Serie A defender with €45m release clause - report

Manchester United have joined several fellow Premier League clubs in the race to sign sought-after Napoli defender Kim Min-jae this summer.

According to the Daily Mail, the Red Devils, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are all vying for the services of the South Korea international, who has gone from strength to strength this season.

Only a year after swapping Fenerbahce for Napoli for around €17 million, the 26-year-old could leave the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in another mega-money move.

Min-jae has a €45m release clause embedded in his contract, but Napoli would like to remove it by offering their in-demand centre-back a new deal.

The highly-rated defender has soaked up the limelight as one of the most dependable centre-backs in Serie A this season, playing a pivotal role in the Partenopei’s unwavering Scudetto push.

Having missed just one league game in 2022/23, he deserves plenty of credit for Napoli’s inexorable march toward their first league title since 1990, helping them move 16 points clear at the summit.

However, the ex-Beijing Guoan man seems to have his heart set on moving to the Premier League, where Man United, Liverpool and Tottenham would welcome him with open arms.

Spurs could use Kim’s international colleague Heung-min Son as a bargaining chip to convince the Napoli star to choose north London as his next destination.

Watch out for United, though, as Erik ten Hag plans to sever ties with numerous fringe players, including the underperforming duo Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire, and replace them with more reliable options.

Even though Lisandro Martinez has enjoyed a decent maiden Premier League season after arriving from Ajax last summer, the Red Devils have experienced another leaky league campaign.

Of all the sides fighting for Champions League placings, only Tottenham (41) have conceded more goals than Man United (37) this season, underlining an ever-growing need for a new defensive leader.

The English clubs may have to defeat stiff foreign competition to lure Min-jae to Old Trafford, with Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain keeping a watchful eye on his progress.

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