The old saying goes that you are worth whatever someone will pay you.
For Bayern Munich center-back Kim Min-jae, that is a total package of €15 million — a figure he likely would not get anywhere else.
And because of that financial set-up, the Korean defender is not inclined to explore any other options for a move. Instead, he is ready to accept the limited role of being the third center-back per Bild journalists Nico Linner and David Verhoff (as captured by @iMiaSanMia):
Despite all departure rumours,
and although Bayern would be willing to listen to offers for him, Kim Min-jae is currently not considering a move away from Munich. Kim is happy with his role as third centre-back behind Upamecano and Tah, and is confident he will play a similar or an even more important role next season through rotations and potential injuries after the World Cup.
The Korean defender has completely settled in at the team and in the city and is not causing any unrest in the dressing room. Another factor is that Kim earns an important salary of around €17m gross per year including bonuses. The whole FC Bayern package is very attractive for him and is difficult to be topped elsewhere. From the club’s perspective, Kim staying would not be ideal as they would prefer to get him off the payroll.
BFW Commentary
This situation is less-than-ideal for Bayern Munich.
At a time, where the club needs to make a few, targeted improvements, it is stuck with a player that it appears to no longer really want, strictly because the club paid him too much.
This is not the first story we have seen indicating that Bayern Munich wants to sell the defender (not the first one stating he will not leave) and there has been a lot of consternation around Kim (especially here at BFW). He is a good player, a tough guy, and a great athlete, but does not appear to be someone that Bayern Munich wants to plan with going forward and maybe not necessarily a fit for what Kompany wants from his center-backs. However, that salary package makes it both tough to move him to another club and even more tough to convince him to leave.
If Bayern Munich truly wants to upgrade it center-back position, it will likely have to sell Hiroki Itō and cut out some other roster needs.
A bigger question than whether or not Kim will leave, though, is this — does Bayern Munich really need to operate financially in a way where it can never make a mistake? Right now, deciding to pay €50 million to get Kim and offering him the hefty salary look like mistakes given where this is all heading.
Clearly, Bayern Munich did not envision Kim’s €15 million total salary package as pay for third center-back. If the opportunity truly is there to get a game-changer like Manchester City star Joško Gvardiol, will Kim’s salary prevent that move from happening?
It appears so.
With a core group that probably has two more legitimate seasons to win a treble, the failure to chase greatness over a financial miscue from 2023 seems like a tough way to operate.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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