Sky Sports’ Lyall Thomas has claimed that Kim Min-jae is still admired by Tottenham Hotspur – but a move for him in January may not be on the cards.
Reports emerged from the Daily Mirror last week that suggested the club were interested in the 24-year-old in an attempt to take him from under the noses of Chelsea, however, there hasn’t been much movement on that front in recent days.
Speaking on the Last Word On Spurs Podcast, Thomas claimed that Spurs were interested in him during the summer however some problems arose at his current club which put a halt on any potential movement. However, despite adding Joe Rodon late in the window to compensate, he is very much someone who is liked by the club.
He said: “He’s one they enquired about in the summer, very early in the summer. Apparently, he came back late [to club training] and came back stating that he was quite keen to leave and it didn’t go down very well at Beijing Guoan.
“So what I was told is at that point, he had to stay and he had to play, and his valuation had significantly increased by them at that point.
“I’m not aware of it being back on the agenda at the moment, and obviously they signed Joe Rodon in the summer as well. But he’s been on the list, and one that they’d like.”
Do you want Spurs to sign Kim Min-jae?
No, he's not good enough
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TIF Thoughts on Thomas and his Kim Min-jae comments…
Thomas’ words just go to show some of the perils when it comes to transfer dealings, because you never know what twists might come next when it comes to your plans or the player’s, and why it’s best to do things early.
Central defence has certainly been an issue that Jose Mourinho wants to be addressed in this window, with the likes of Milan Skriniar and Issa Diop also having been linked with a move, and if they want to get the deal for Kim done, they had better do it quickly or it might give Chelsea the opportunity to get ahead in the race again.
And with his contract set to expire in December of this year give it a few months and he’ll be able to sign with who he wants for free on a pre-contract basis, opening up for possibly more people to come after him.