Report: Liverpool and Tottenham scouted £52m star on Sunday

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are maintaining a strong interest in Napoli defender Kim Min-jae having scouted him this weekend.

That is according to 90Min, who claim that Kim was heavily scouted in Napoli’s 1-0 win over Fiorentina over the weekend.

It’s stated that Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham all went to watch Kim in action ahead of the summer window.

The report claims that Kim’s €45million (£39million) release clause can be activated inside the first two weeks of the transfer window.

That fee would need to be paid up front though and that’s difficult for many clubs to pay up in one chunk.

However, Napoli would seemingly reluctantly accept a structured deal worth in excess of €60million (£52million).

Kim is yet to sign a new deal and Napoli are seemingly fearing losing him, so may cash in this summer.

This is very interesting given that Foot Mercato reported in April that Kim’s representatives are very interested in joining Liverpool this summer.

Liverpool seem to be interested too and their scouting mission suggests a summer move is at least possible.

Tottenham may have missed the boat on Kim Min-jae

It’s nice to imagine Kim Min-jae making a move to Tottenham and joining Cristian Romero in the back line.

That would certainly give Tottenham two quality defenders to build around for years to come, no matter what formation is played.

However, it’s hard to see Tottenham splashing out £52million on Kim and beating Chelsea or Liverpool would be a tough ask.

That will sting for Tottenham, who seemed to be interested in Kim a long time ago at a much cheaper price.

Tottenham were keen on signing Kim when he was shining in China with Beijing Guoan.

90Min even claimed that Son Heung-min recommended Kim to Spurs in 2021 in the hope of sparking a deal – but the defender joined Fenerbahce instead.

Fanatik then claimed in April of last year that Tottenham were scouting Kim with Fenerbahce.

Spurs missed the boat again though as Kim joined Napoli and became a star in Italy, winning the league title.

Napoli boss Spalletti has been quoted by Fabrizio Romano as saying that he thinks Kim is ‘incredible’ after superb season in Serie A.

Tottenham now face paying an enormous fee for Kim and it feels like this one may never happen after missing out twice already.