Chelsea, Newcastle & Juventus chasing Bayern Munich centre-back | OneFootball

Chelsea, Newcastle United and Juventus have all expressed an interest in signing South Korean centre-back Kim Min-jae from Bayern Munich, reports in Germany state.

Kim's stock rose exponentially after helping Napoli win a first Serie A title in 33 years and he left the club after a single season when Bayern agreed to pay his release clause, rumoured to have been worth €50m.

The 28-year-old, who is now approaching two years in Munich, was seen as the long-term partner for Dayot Upamecano, with that case seemingly strengthened further when Matthijs de Ligt was allowed to join Manchester United last summer.

But a number of errors means Kim is no longer viewed as 'unsellable', Sky Germany report, and his potential availability has piqued the interest of Chelsea, Newcastle and Juventus.

French publication Foot Mercato claim that Chelsea and Newcastle have already spoken to Kim's agents about the prospect of moving to the Premier League and their response was positive.

Both teams are in the running for Champions League qualification next season, though it's Newcastle who are best placed at this stage. The Magpies are on a terrific run of form, despite Eddie Howe's recent hospitalisation with pneumonia, and sit third in the Premier League table after stringing together six straight wins.

Newcastle are on the way up and are in a strong position to qualify for next season's Champions League / Sebastian Frej/MB Media/GettyImages

They also ended a 70-year wait for a domestic trophy in February, convincingly downing soon-to-be-crowned Premier League champions Liverpool in the final of the Carabao Cup.

As for Chelsea, they started the season brightly under head coach Enzo Maresca but things have taken a significant downturn since Christmas. The Blues have picked up just 19 points from their last 15 Premier League matches – failing to win a single away game in that stretch – whereas Newcastle have collected 33 points in that time. That's the second-best record in the league whereas Chelsea rank a miserable 14th.

An exit for Kim could also signify a significant change in direction for Bayern. Upamecano, signed in 2021 from Bundesliga rivals RB Leipzig, has just over a year remaining on his contract and negotiations over a new deal have yet to yield an agreement.

Should a stand-off continue, Bayern may try to cash-in and avoid the risk of a potential free transfer in 12 months. They have, however, gone down this road previously with Alphonso Davies and prevailed – the Canada international signed a new five-and-a-half-year contract just weeks before he was sidelined long-term with an ACL injury.