What happened to Kim Min-jae? The Monster's first year in Munich

The Korean defender started the season strong as the centerpiece to Bayern Munich's back line. But things took a turn for the club, its boss and the $55 million-transfer player in the second half of the campaign.

Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae is in action during a Bundesliga match against Eintracht Frankfurt in Munich, German on April 27. [EPA/YONHAP]

Kim Min-jae’s move to Bayern Munich a year ago was, at the time, literally one of the biggest deals in European football.

The German club paid Napoli a 43-million pound ($55 million) transfer fee to add the Serie A’s best defender to their back line, the 25th-highest payout across the Big Five during the 2023 summer transfer window, according to a fee tracker by The Guardian.

The Monster made things official with Bayern, signing a five-year deal after being wooed by a slate of top-tier clubs. It was a win for Thomas Tuchel, the new Bayern manager, who would also nab England captain Harry Kane from the Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur in a bid to win Bayern’s 12th straight title in the Bundesliga.

“Before I came, we talked a lot about my strengths,” Kim told bundesliga.com last August when asked about the role Tuchel had in the transfer. “He told me that I would fit in well with the team and he was excited. Now I have to put in a lot of effort.”

A few dozen matchdays later, Tuchel was on the chopping block, Kim gave himself a grade of "unsatisfactory" and Bayern failed to earn another league title, finishing in third after VfB Stuttgart swiped the runner-up slot in the final game of the season.

Now, Kim is out with an ankle injury and will miss the Korean national team's upcoming World Cup qualifiers in June.

What went down during Kim's first 10 months in Germany?

Early playing time and a lot of it

Kim quickly became a regular pick on Bayern's back line. Tuchel slotted Kim into an already crowded spot alongside the likes of Dayot Upamecano, Matthijs de Ligt and, six months later, Eric Dier.

Manchester United's Facundo Pellistri, right, and Bayern Munich' defender Kim Min-jae vie for the ball during a UEFA Champions League Group A match in Munich, Germany on September 20, 2023. [AFP/YONHAP]

“I love him, I love him,” Tuchel said in an interview ahead of the 2023-24 Bundesliga season’s opening day, according to Bayern update account iMiaSanMia. “The attitude — I think I had two players until now from South Korea and he is exactly the same, I have to say. So disciplined, so friendly, so humble, so clear. So, a very good impression so far.”

Tuchel previously coached midfielder Koo Ja-cheol and defender Park Joo-ho at Mainz 05, with Park also moving to Borussia Dortmund with Tuchel.

Kim "played an outstanding season in Italy and in the Champions League,” Tuchel told reporters in Tokyo on July 25, 2023, ahead of Bayern’s match against Manchester City. “He was very reliable, very strong defense, good build-up play. Very complete and hopefully he can settle in very quickly and be the defender he used to be.”

Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel, left, jokes with the club's summer signing Kim Min-jae at a pre-season training session in Rottach-Egern, Germany, on July 20, 2023. [AFP/YONHAP]

Kim kept a near-perfect attendance record during the first half of his run at Bayern, missing just two matches from August through Christmas — and only because of injury.

And he scored his first Bundesliga goal and recorded his first assist in a 3-0 win over VfB Stuttgart in December.

Named Korea’s best player

In November, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) named Kim the Asian International Player of the Year, the highest individual honor for an Asian player across all foreign competitions — which came during a banner start to his Bundesliga career and about six months after he lifted the Scudetto in Naples.

And then in January, Kim dethroned Son Heung-min as the Korea Football Association’s Player of the Year, determined through a vote by KFA officials and football journalists.

The KFA dropped the news the week before Kim rejoined the Korean national team for the AFC Asian Cup to begin their bid for their first win since 1960. Kim anchored the back line of a stacked squad with Spurs’ Son, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Hwang Hee-chan and Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in, among others, filling in up front.

Return from the Asian Cup

That Asian Cup bid, which ended in the semifinals after a sloppy run, cost Kim about a month of Bundesliga action. Kim watched Korea crash out of the tournament from the sidelines after being suspended for picking up two yellow cards.

Korea defender Kim Min-jae, left, is flashed a yellow card during a match against Australia in the quarterfinals of the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar on Feb. 2, 2024. [YONHAP]

There was a marked difference in Kim's role on Bayern's back line before and after his time in Qatar. During his long absence, Tuchel had to try another back line and found success with new edition Dier. When Kim eventually came back, that meant there was markedly more competition for a spot in the starting lineup.

But Kim did initially regain his spot in the squad, playing the full 90 minutes in three matches across the Bundesliga and the Champions League after his return, but sat out most of the next game.

"Min-jae simply needed a little break," Tuchel said of Kim after that match against RB Leipzig, the first time Kim had played fewer than 90 minutes since September. "He's a few percentage points beyond his limit. It's nothing major."

Tuchel had announced that he would resign at the end of the season, days earlier.

Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel watches his team during a match against RB Leipzig at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany on Feb. 24, days after announcing his intention to resign at the end of the season. [AP/YONHAP]

Kim continued to clock less time in the second half of the season, hitting the bench five times over 16 remaining games, starting just six of them, across the Bundesliga and the Champions League.

A series of unfortunate mistakes Kim famously caught the ire of Tuchel, along with plenty of backlash from fans, when his aggressive defending in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals handed longtime rivals Real Madrid a lifeline in the form of a late-game penalty, nixing Bayern’s advantage heading into the away leg.

Bayern Munich's Kim Min-jae, right, fouls Real Madrid's Rodrygo to concede a penalty that handed Los Blancos the equalizer during the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal on April 30 at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

And Bayern bid adieu to their trophy hopes when Real Madrid scored twice in the final minutes of the second leg to clinch the finals spot, getting both of those goals after Kim was substituted on.

A collision with a Wolfsburg striker during Bayern's final home match sent Kim off the pitch and sidelined him for the final match of the season, which Bayern lost 4-2 to Hoffenheim.

After the Wolfsburg match, Kim called his overall performance throughout the season "unsatisfactory," according to German outlet t-online and as translated by Bayern update account iMiaSanMia. "Tactically speaking, I should have met the coach's demands better, I didn't always do that right. I understand that. As a player, I have to know what I do well and what I don't do well on the pitch, whether I make mistakes or play well."

Tuchel echoed that in the post-match press conference.

"It’s not overly positive, it’s not overly negative, it’s about 50-50,” Tuchel said as translated by Bayern, responding to a question about Kim's self-assessment. “It’s just enough to meet the expectations here at Bayern."

Kim's contract at Bayern runs through June 2028.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]