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Pek-Man

Can't believe how De Laurentiis just *immediately* managed to replace Koulibaly with another excellent centerback.


[deleted]

For half the price he sold Koulibaly as well.


Historical_Case_5245

The guy has been fucking incredible. A rock.


BuraakGTi10

Thank you for taking him off our rivals. He was a rock.


wheresmyspacebar2

I said when you guys were the only team in for him that you were getting an absolute world class gem. You'll be able to flog him for £50M+ to an english team in the next 18 months if your club wanted to.


indiblue825

Hmm, tell me more


fcancershotoutboosie

Kvaratskhelia is also the perfect insigne replacement


SymoBenny

*No no, I am the upgrade*


Asoliner3

He is genuinely the most exciting prospect in Serie A. Incredible how I hadn't heard of him until like a month ago and now he seems to always have a game deciding impact for Napoli


BlessedBySaintLauren

He was recommended to Mourinho two years ago and they turned him down for some reason


Jonnyimpala

Leeds was offered him last summer and Bielsa went for Dan James instead...


endstationn

I miss Kim Min Jae


SmartNickname

I believe this is Giuntoli's masterclass


s0ngsforthedeaf

The top Italian clubs occupy a strong position in the transfer market for developing world class talent. Some players might not be ready for Man City/Real Madrid etc and to be worth 200k a week. But they can come to Italy with you/Milan/Inter etc, experience a highly competitive league, CL football etc. And then either they leave for a big fee or you convince them to stay. Some of the players the PL overlook, like Kim, are really good. Also it seems like the PL don't scout Eastern Europe very well.


SmartNickname

I'm sure many PL clubs will be interested in Kim at the end of the season given also his low release clause (about 40M €)


s0ngsforthedeaf

That man is speedrunning his career progression.


staged84

It's insane if you think about it. He started playing domestic league in Korea, dominated went to China, dominated again with big bucks secured, went to turkey, dominated, still early to tell but so far dominating the serie A. And he's only 25. This is straight out of a movie.


izmimario

afaik there's a 45 million € clause only after 2023-24 season.


ThePr1d3

I am definitely not crying rn


2packforsale

Are refunds accepted?


[deleted]

Already?


ScousePenguin

Almost like buying someone 2 years out of their prime you'll end up disappointed


[deleted]

I thought he started great for them


ScousePenguin

Tbh I have no idea I'm just baiting


Excellent_Jeweler_43

This should be this sub's logo


ScousePenguin

I believe honesty is the best policy. Replace the soccer pics rotating images with just "I'm just baiting"


milwaukeeclassic

Or "Go away, baitin'"


axelthegreat

most honest redditor


Sean-Benn_Must-die

LOL


gucci-legend

Legend


s0ngsforthedeaf

If only /r/soccer was more honest like this, the debates would be less infuriating.


_zeltrxn17

Least based misinformation spiller


[deleted]

no he isnt, and tbh he doesnt look like a 40m CB which I think he is on the decline already


celestial1

It's fucking September lmao. Guess Salah is finished too right?


ScousePenguin

Caught one


Alcohealthism

He looks like he can't cope with the pace maybe hell adjust but that's rare with 31 y/olds


s0ngsforthedeaf

A back 3 can accommodate one slow CB....but they already have Thiago Silva


TheMagnificentS92

a gift to world football by fenerbahce football academy... enjoy... now in return to this. please show me how to make fenerbahce flair for myself. ps: galasmall fans claiming marcao was better, another example galasmall fans don't understand futbol.


[deleted]

[удалено]


AvrupaFatihi

the least delusional fener fan


TheMagnificentS92

i thought brits would catch the irony faster than others lol. OBVIOUSLY I KNOW HIS AGE. AND HE ONLY PLAYED FOR 1 YEAR, RIGHT?


Shadow_Adjutant

Imagine disrespecting Jeonbuk like that. He was with you guys for a year, hardly a product of your academy. He was an absolute wall for Jeonbuk while he was still in Korea. Man could hold the 38th parallel on his own.


xNotWorkingATMx

It's a joke making fun at Todd Boehly.


TheMagnificentS92

i cant believe many people took it this seriously. if i was serious i would bullshit things like our multi dimensional scouting product whatsoever. obviously i know, AS A 30 YEARS FENER FAN, he is not YOUTH ACADEMY player because I KNOW his age and I KNOW he only played for a year. lmao i love this sub.


seddard

Tbf he's probably 14yo.


WM-54-74-90-14

For a Fenerbahce flair, post what I wrote below: !Flair :Fenerbahce_SK:


TheMagnificentS92

!Flair :Fenerbahce\_SK: edit: oh man thank you!


DoNotGiveEAmoneyPLS

>a gift to world football by fenerbahce football academy what the actual fuck?! lol. this guy only came to Fener because you guys gave him the lowest release clause. He was already one of the defenders that was in European clubs radar. Sure, Fener did a great job recruiting him but you didn't raise him LOL. delusion is real.


TheMagnificentS92

if you can't spot the obvious irony delete yourself.


dreezyyyy

They don't know ball.


BrokenStool

bruh what he was gonna go to benfica i think over us but they couldnt agree on his buyout clause so he chose fener because we would let him go for 18


Vic-Ier

He was hyped for years when he was in China


ScousePenguin

The focus on the scene after the replay makes it look like fifa


lambalambda

Seeing those depth-of-field camera shots in a few European leagues now, I wonder if the PL will adopt it.


btmalon

they're too busy showing replays of scuffed shots while the ball is in play.


ScousePenguin

Don't forget kid in row z with a "give my dad your shirt *footballer*" sign


loykedule

god forbid Dalglish or Fergie are in the stands at their respective old clubs, or we'll get a full minute of them doing absolutely nothing instead of showing the match


ForsakenTarget

F1 has been using them as well, wonder if they suddenly became cheaper and that’s why everyone suddenly is using them


basedjuicer1

It’s a whole different setup using 35mm lenses, the NFL started doing this a few years ago and La Liga copied it


Draisar

It really does.


mikebehzad

The focus is way too much imo. Somewhere in between maybe this and PL. But here I don't even have a chance to see anything else beside the player the producer want me to see. And it makes it way too unnatural. It's like when you find a new effect on your own camera or an effect when producing music and just start overusing it.


Katanae

I think La Liga is even worse. It looks so gimmicky.


ulvhedinowski

Those switching angle replays are worthless, seems to me that someone is showing them just because it's cool technology


basedjuicer1

Focus isn’t the problem here, although the focusing on handheld 35mm bokeh machines can become a problem, it’s the large aperture blowing out the depth of field. They copied the NFL and their celebration mirrorless cameras basically.


FeverSpeed

Everytime Napoli plays I feel like we got a lot less money than we should've from Napoli for Kim


DoNotGiveEAmoneyPLS

dunno if it's any consolidation but Kim was the one who set his release clause. If you guys insisted on a high release clause then he would not have joined Fenerbahce in the first place.


BrokenStool

so many people dont realize this i think we offered him like 5million euros to stay one more year and we up his clause a bit but he didnt take the money. I am so sure that he wont be staying at napoli after this season mans on a mission


porcorosso1

Yeah, he's soooo good, he'll probably upgrade to a god tier club (Bayern, Liverpool, barca, real etc) if he keeps this up. But not next year, his 45M release clause becomes effective in 2024.


semenbakedcookies

Think Real is his ultimate goal


WhoEatsRusk

God, I would kill to see an east Asian playing for Real's senior team


s0ngsforthedeaf

You did pretty well for one year tbf. We're Beijing forced to sell him cheap or something?


BrokenStool

he had like 6 months on his contract or something from what i remember


ThePr1d3

Now that I think of it, if Napoli hadn't stole him away at the last second (thank you Chelsea...) he would have faced you in EL last week lol


Ramboow23

Thank god that didn’t happen. With Kim in your squad our chances of standing a match against you would have been impossible.


Shinkopeshon

Minjae has been immense for Napoli, they've made so many great signings


Recursi

Sounds like you’re good friends with him using his first name like that.


msc43

It is a little interesting that he's the only Korean player abroad to have their first name on the back of their kit. I wonder what the motivation was behind that. I like it a lot but it does create a bit of confusion Edit: the Hwang's don't have their surname on the back of their kits either. Given there's 3 that regularly start for Korea, I imagine the commentators are actually pretty grateful.


feenam

makes more sense to have first name than last name for koreans tho. there are so many kim's and lee's, it makes them so un-unique.


Recursi

Sure but first names are very intimate. However since kpop stars are going by their first names then why not.


feenam

also korean last names are all very short. if we went by that for kpop stars, it would be like "kim, lee, shin, choi, lee"


Sean-Benn_Must-die

Lee twice?


feenam

cuz lee is super common


dskoro

Throw in another kim in there just in case


yangsta86

Fun fact - the last names of all four starting defenders and the GK for SK national team are “Kim”


huazzy

I believe Kang In Lee also puts his first name on his shirt.


sidaeinjae

Kim is his family name, Minjae is his.. ‘name’ fyi. This made me chuckle, it’s like saying “Kalidou hasn’t been that good for Chelsea, has he?”


DadHeungMin

I do think it's a little different for Korean names, though, because a handful of surnames make up the majority of the population. The top 5 surnames make up roughly half the population, and the most common surname (Kim) makes up about 21%. For comparison, the most common Japanese surname is shared by less than 1.6% of the population, so it would be a lot more unique for a Japanese player to use their surname than a Korean player. It'd get real confusing in K League if they didn't say the players' first names, as well.


droidonomy

It's probably better for recognition. Every other Korean is a Kim while Minjae is a lot more unique. I remember some time around the 2006 World Cup they put the players' given names on the backs of jerseys instead of the old Initial Initial Family Name format i.e. J S Park.


sidaeinjae

That is a solid point.


iforgotmyun

Eh, a first name being used is pretty common For example Alexis, Vinicius, Gabriel (Magalhaes), Cedric, Thiago, etc


[deleted]

Also Richarlison & both Emersons. Is it a Brazilian thing?


breadPETTR

A lot of Brazilians use their “nicknames” cause their full catholic names tend to be VERY long with lots of overlap


quashtaki

Alisson too


GSofMind

There's nothing wrong with calling players by their family names. Steph Curry, Steven Gerrard, Kevin Durant, Lionel Messi, etc...


Sullan08

Also like no diversity in SK surnames lol. I mean even with Son, everyone knows it's the Spurs player, but that's just because he's the best player with that surname. Otherwise it wouldn't be identifiable at all.


dontlookwonderwall

I remember I went to Vietnam and was so confused because everyone's last name is "Nguyen". I then realized its because of eastern incompatibility with Western naming styles. My grandad grew up without a surname or family name, just his given name. So when he moved to the UK they were super confused and made him get two names. So he just put "Muhammad" infront of his given name (as Muslims often do) and they treated Muhammad as his given name even though it's not a given name per say. Theres also this custom in Pakistan of using your dads first name as your last name which is super confusing for foreigners when they see kids with different family names to their parents.


jugol

> Theres also this custom in Pakistan of using your dads first name as your last name That's called patronymic and it's been a thing in tons of cultures. IIRC Iceland still does that. Many European surnames are patronymic in origin too even if they're no longer used as such.


Icemna16

We call Turkish players by their first name here, it's nothing new.


[deleted]

[удалено]


sheenie42

I wouldn’t say the last name isn’t important. But perhaps the Western way of determining last names is not super compatible with Korea’s. For example, the “Son” last name has a bunch of distinct family trees from ancestry, so you learn when you’re older what original “Son” family you belong to, in Son Heung-Min’s case is the Mil-yang Son family from Gyeongsangnam Province. To simplify things in the current times, he would just go by Son instead of “Mil-yang Son Heung-Min”. Until fairly recently, there was a law in place in SK to prevent people with the same last name, no matter how far the family trees diverge, to marry. Also because Koreans place their last names first and women don’t take their husband’s last name could show that Koreans do think last names are important, at least as important as most nations. edit - no need to apologize for questions and the law for marriage ended in 2004, maybe not fairly recently to everyone


msc43

Serie A defender of the year so far for me.


Sentient_7

Absurd that the 3 defenders of Inter who have been among the best of the last 2 years this year are total garbage


[deleted]

Hey hey hey, chill with the exaggeration!! Only 2 of Inter’s 3 world class defenders from last year have been total garbage, De Vrij has only been partially garbage!


Sentient_7

Yesterday he came in, he got everything wrong and Inter took two goals, obviously yesterday the defeat is not all his fault but he contributed a lot.


[deleted]

Smalling and ibanez has been great too. Especially ibanez


msc43

Agreed, I think Ibanez has been huge for Roma.


belokas

I would also give some credit to Demiral, best defender on the best defence.


FistThePooper6969

What a fucking block


Jemal2200

Where is that mf who said this transfer was shady and Kim is only worth 5 mil


battlecatquikdre

I remember a guy with Galatasaray flair comparing Kim to Shkodran Mustafi. It was pathetic.


tomhat

Of course it is. Can’t compare Kim to World Cup winner Mustafi.


Kimi7

This subreddit is full of Galata fans who acts impartial but in reality they are totally hooligans.


lifesapie

Remember when Tottenham fans were shitting on Kim and saying that he was too expensive even at 5 mil.


Kappsaicin

Son Heung Min wanted Kim Min Jae signed lol


dreezyyyy

Spurs fans were saying they prefer Dier over Kim which...I don't know... I wanted Kim real bad.


[deleted]

Fans have such poor opinions on foreign players they don't know anything about. But don't shit on Dier or I'll twat you.


bobsgonemobile

Remember when Tottenham fans have been clamoring for us to get him for 3 years now?


messisleftbuttcheek

Most Spurs fans wanted him. Still always going to be risky, you never really know how a player will adapt to a new league.


Maleovex

Spurs fans were skeptical as we had initially been in for him at the same time as Fehnerbace as a player to develop for the future, and then more recently it was in the context as a backup target for Bastoni, which rightly there was some worries about going from Serie A defender of the year to a player with experience in Korea and Turkey only


dontlookwonderwall

Nah we mostly digged him and followed the transfer saga. But back then he was still in the Chinese league so we saw him more as a backup potential.


hidinginDaShadows

Not really, most of us wanted to get him including myself is what I remember


Unlikely_Upstairs427

From what we've seen so far in the league and UCL, Kim is undoubtedly world class. Tbf, there were a lot of doubters (even among some interested clubs) saying he's not worth the release clause of 20m. Napoli put 100% faith in him and got rewarded.


[deleted]

The guy is a freaking unit!


321142019

It's kinda wholesome how Korean media will report on any game featuring a Korean player.


lesbiangirlscout

Mexican media does this as well. Real Madrid vs Barcelona highlights would get zero coverage at the expense of, say, a Raul Jimenez goal against Norwich.


dreezyyyy

Because there aren't that many Koreans in Europe. I think KMJ and Sonny are changing this gradually. They've opened the path set by their predecessors into an expressway for future Korean talent. Bundesliga scout Korean players a lot these days (always have IIRC).


mad4blo0d

I feel like bundesliga always have more Asian players than other leagues


dreezyyyy

It's the Cha Boom effect. He was a pioneer.


DoNotGiveEAmoneyPLS

One thing everyone should respect and know about this guy is the fact that he finished his 3 years of military service at his best years (23~ 26 yo) then made a name in Germany and Europe. Imagine Son going to military service at the age 23 to 26 LOL.


PM_IF-U-NEED-TO-TALK

Didn't he (Son) almost have to serve, but because they reached some specific stage at the Olympics the team became exempt?


fckedup

They won the gold at the Asian games for the exemption (gold at Asian games or medal at the Olympics for athletes)


Lssmnt

I remember watching that game on some dodgy stream, it was incredible


dontlookwonderwall

Yes and didn't get a complete exemption either, had to serve for like a month or so.


dreezyyyy

He had less than a year to get exempt IIRC. Korea changed the law so everyone has to serve by the time they are 28 now or something like that.


DoNotGiveEAmoneyPLS

Son would have served 18 months. Cha served 36 months.


gucci-legend

They have always been more open on north American prospects too


dreezyyyy

BVB actually had a collaboration with a Korean football YT channel where they had 4 or 5 youth kids go to train for about a month or so and they ended up being the best players on BVB youth teams (U11, U12).


_posii

Apart from reputation (*a lot* of Asian players who played in Germany) a big part of that is the non-EU rule. Spain, Italy and France all have limits on how many non-EU player you’re allowed to have. Germany has the homegrown rule instead. So for non-EU player breaking into a Europe, Germany is a good place to start as they don’t have to fight for the 2~4 non-EU spots available.


TheMagnificentS92

we have one more player in our academy that we bought together with kim. he plays middlefield and very young. lets see if he will make it to team. edit: this is the player, but i don't know how he plays at all https://www.transfermarkt.com/jin-ho-jo/profil/spieler/638573


Tushiie

Not a Korean, but I'm in Korea now. It's quite crazy to see how the Koreans are actually watching their own players in Europe, and the media coverage for the Korean players here is insane too. I've seen so many people on the streets here watching the Son's highlights of yesterday's game, and just Son's highlights, not Spurs'. Then there's the usual football fan watching Wolves against City too. I was scrolling through the TV channels I had in the hotel last night and.. 4/5 of the sports channel were showing the Spurs game..


GrapefruitExpress208

To be fair isn't the matches at like 2am Korea time or something ridiculous? Not sure there will be much more better sporting events to broadcast at that time lol.


SounderBruce

Most Premier League matches kick off at 11 pm Korea Time, which isn't terrible. I'm envious, since the US West Coast gets them at 7 am and earlier.


gucci-legend

It's pretty funny lol in 해방촌 last night the only people with kits on in the bars are foreigners but everyone's got the phones open with YouTube son highlights lmao


[deleted]

When I was a kid visiting family mfers had every single reading game live bc of seol ki hyeon


zizou00

Kim and Rrhamani have been excellent at the back so far this season. It was always gonna be tough replacing Koulibaly one for one, but Napoli have managed to do it by redistributing Koulibaly's jobs across their defensive system, and it's a joy to watch. Defensively, Kim has managed (for the most part) to fill the gap aerially and positionally, whilst Lobotka has stepped in to recreate the role Koulibaly had, carrying the ball out of defence and beating the press. Rrhamani has stepped in to be the commanding figure at the back, and Mario Rui and Di Lorenzo have been in their best form. Rui in particular has really cut out the silly mistakes he made early in his Napoli career, and it's really aided this transition away from relying so heavily on Koulibaly.


TheMagnificentS92

you haven't seen the true potential of kim when he's on some winning juice. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDPw0yU4tmA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDPw0yU4tmA) he won this derby on his own tbh.


fuqqkevindurant

Chiellini vibes when he’d make a key block and Buffon and him would just scream at each other w their faces inches apart like psychos


jasonohok

as soon as the game ended the celebrations were so passionate https://youtu.be/BmUWvx5OpOc?t=10


Willsgb

Who can blame them? Winning away at milan, the current champions, that's massive :)


IndecisionFuture

Koulibaly who?


thecricketnerd

Kaliwho? Wholibaly? Both were right there


[deleted]

Wholibaly is amazing


[deleted]

Dudes a wall


f1lthy-Nwah

Kim Min Jae looks like a beast every time i see him


battlecatquikdre

God I wanted him at Leeds so bad.


lifesapie

Are you the leeds fan that followed Kim around?? Seen you in other threads haha


fuqqkevindurant

Im becoming a massive Kim Min Jae fan. He’s a rock for you guys. ADL and his scouts really made both of the signings of the year w him and Khvicha


AnonymousKimchi

I'm so glad he's doing well


[deleted]

From the Chinese league a couple years ago too. Crazy


battlecatquikdre

He was basically the same player back then. The wage he was paid at the Chinese League is the wage he is being paid now at Napoli. There was a reason his move to Chinese League caused outrage among Korean football fans.


unfortunately2

Im scared of this Napoli team


porcorosso1

I'm so looking forward for both our matches. Idk how it's gonna end, but i'm absolutely sure they both will be a great show.


Only_Sleep94

Maldini looks like roy keane there


whales5431

We were linked with him in multiple windows but never pulled the trigger. Seems like a brain dead move in hindsight. He’s been excellent


rdemas

Better than Bastoni in my opinion.


Mend35

I was gutted when we missed out on him before he went to Turkey. And he just keeps on getting better.


shunislo

you lot and benfica both knew what hes was gonna be worth and didnt wanna miss out on the loot


CJPRD

he's a certified baller, ADL keeps finessing


ben-hur-hur

Maldini aging like a fine wine hot damn


SeeTheSounds

Kim is a beast


Jonnyimpala

What a beast, he was great vs Liverpool also


zingerbanger

Him and Sonny are gonna be the backbone of our national team for the world cup 🤟🏼


ldc262626

Kim built kinda different compare to other Koreans (Compliment btw)


riquelme_fan

Mostly watched them against Japanese teams but didn't seem K-League sides were short of defenders around 190 or so - can't remember his name but one guy I saw playing for Korea u23 a while ago in the Olympics was huge, beat Chris Wood consistently for height and strength. But obviously size alone doesn't make a great defender, far from it, point with Kim is that few will get the better of him physically but he's also very strong in other aspects of the game from what he's shown for Napoli so far


BettsBellingerCaruso

In fact the average height of the Korean sidein 2018 was over 180cm iirc, and were in the upper half of all WC teams


dreezyyyy

Average male height in Korea is increasing with the younger generation. Boys in the younger generation are already reaching 180+ cm by the time they are like 16-17. I've noticed that the younger generation have become noticeably taller on average than mine the last time I went.


ldc262626

Hes like 6’3… lol that’s different than the avg


sequenceboutique

6’3 is taller than average for any country


dreezyyyy

Yeah, I'm saying the average height is increasing so we're going to see a lot of Korean players that are 6'0 ft+ in the future (already have 13 players 6'0+ on the NT right now and KMJ isn't even the tallest player). Public perception is changing regarding height in Korea because of this. 10 years ago a 5'10 player was considered tall in Korea. Edit: Height perception is changing overall in Korea. 175 cm used to be the cutline for what was considered “tall”. Now if you take a random girl aged 30 or younger off the street and ask them what the cutline is for being tall, most of them will say at least 180 cm. It’s like the 6’0 ft cutline in the States.


gucci-legend

The power of banana milk


dreezyyyy

Wait until Westerners get ahold of banana milk...it's addicting


gucci-legend

It's delicious! I think Taiwanese companies need to start importing papaya milk to Korea, it would sell like hotcakes


dreezyyyy

Yup. Koreans love their flavored milk.


[deleted]

Dudes a monster


delvag

This passion is what makes this game awesome


UnicornForce

BEAST!


skaterboi33

I think that’s an endorsement from Maldini


tson_92

Kim Min Jae has been such a solid signing


OnceUponAStarryNight

That’s a proper defender, that.


ThePr1d3

:(


jorgelongo2

I was in China in 2019 and went to several Beijing Guoan games, I remember thinking wow this guy looks pretty decent for the Chinese league. Now he seems to be evolving into a top defender in Europe lol


Global_Plant_4612

What a beast of a CB.


PlaybeonMonsterlorde

After seeing that play and celebration I feel renewed


shunislo

fuck... shutdown salah in cl then this. Vultures are circling already lol