Former Old Trafford favourite Park Ji-Sung has lavished praise on Napoli's "extraordinary" defender Kim Min-jae in the wake of reports linking him with a summer transfer to Manchester United.
Min-Jae, 26, caught the eye with a string of stellar performances for South Korea at the World Cup, where they qualified from a tough group to reach the Round of 16 at the expense of Uruguay and Ghana, but he had already won plenty of plaudits since moving to Napoli from Fenerbahce in the summer.
Already, though, the centre-back is being linked with a lucrative move elsewhere - and the Premier League has been touted as a potential destination.
Manchester United are known to be admirers of Min-Jae, who has also been on the radar of other English clubs in the past. And while it remains to be seen if Napoli would entertain the idea of cashing in on their defensive lynchpin, the defender has been giving a glowing endorsement by his compatriot, Park.
The 41-year-old was a firm fans favourite at Old Trafford during his playing career and won four Premier League titles, three League Cups and the Champions League with the Red Devils.
While speaking to Tuttomercatoweb about Min-Jae, Park said: “Extraordinary, what a talent. He took the right step by going to play in Turkey and showed himself ready to take a step forward. He didn’t come directly to Italy but step by step, so he grew and there is no doubt that he is doing extraordinary things, as a technical leader and personality in Naples.”
Although Min-Jae has already tried to distance himself from transfer speculation, the defender is believed to have a £42million release clause in his current deal and as had admirers in the Premier League for a long time - particularly in north London.
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Tottenham could emerge as a potential rival to Manchester United if Min-Jae is up for the grabs in the summer, but the Londoners passed on the opportunity to snap up the sought-after defender for a knockdown fee during the final months of Jose Mourinho's tenure.
The former Manchester United and Chelsea boss spent two years at the helm at Spurs before he was dismissed in April 2021. Earlier this year, the current Roma chief revealed that he tried to pip Fenerbahce to a deal for Min-Jae just months before he was sacked - only for the move to be vetoed by the Spurs hierarchy.
"I can tell you a story about one of their players. I spoke to him on FaceTime and wanted to buy him at Tottenham, but Tottenham didn’t help me," Mourinho teased before Roma's meeting with Napoli in January.
"The player cost ten million, Tottenham offered five. A deal could be done for seven or eight, but at that time Tottenham couldn’t spend money. I spoke to the lad two or three times via FaceTime, he really wanted to come, but he couldn’t come. And now he’s that ‘rubbish’ defender who plays there, Kim."
