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Kim Min-jae was evaluated as the world's best center back. He seems to have fully recovered his skills during his Napoli days.
The International Sports Research Institute (CIES) under the International Football Federation (FIFA) on the 11th (Korea time) released the rankings of center backs who have shown the best performance so far this season. World-class players such as Virgil van Dijk, who has been performing well this season, were listed on the rankings that were scored and released through CIES' own standards. Since the score is based on the overall performance of the centerback, it is safe to judge that Kim Min-jae's performance this season was the best among the five European league centerbacks.
The main character of the first place was Kim Min-jae, the main player of Bayern Munich. Kim Min-jae scored a total of 91.1 points, being named at the top of the ranking table. Under Kim Min-jae, Manchester City defender Díaz ranked second (89.7 points), Liverpool defender duo Ibrahima Konate ranked third (89.5 points), and Virgil van Dijk ranked fourth (89.4 points). All three players are considered top defenders in the English Premier League (EPL) in recent seasons. In particular, Van Dijk is one of the key players leading Liverpool's lead this season, and Kim Min-jae was praised for his outstanding performance.
In addition, Kim Min-jae's partner Dayo Upamecano ranked sixth with 88.9 points, while Manuel Akanji (88.2 points), Inigo Martinez (88.2 points), Willie Orban (87.1 points), and Marton Duron (87.0 points) were included in the rankings.
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The high evaluation of Kim Min-jae's performance reminds me of Kim Min-jae's Napoli days. Kim Min-jae moved to Naples during the 2022-2023 season and immediately played as the best defender in Serie A. At that time, Kim Min-jae showed tremendous speed, cover ability, and concentration to block Serie A's outstanding strikers, and even won the Serie A Best Defender Award at the end of the season.
Since then, when the news of Kim Min-jae's buyout was reported, the big clubs also received tremendous attention before full-fledged negotiations with their current team, Bayern. At the time, Italian media Corriele Delo Sport listed the names of clubs who showed interest in Kim Min-jae's skills, saying, `Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, PSG, and Bayern Munich want Kim Min-jae.' This season, Kim Min-jae ranked No. 1 in the world by performing so well that he was not far behind compared to that time.
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Meanwhile, Kim Min-jae's performance this season is more meaningful because it is the result of Kim Min-jae having a difficult time last season and overcoming it.
Kim Min-jae is again playing as the main center back under Bang Sang Kompany this season. It's different from what I felt sorry for last season. Last season, Kim Min-jae had a disappointing performance in the second half, but in the first half, he played almost without a break to fill the vacancy without Dayot Upamecano and Matthias Derricht, taking charge of bad things. It is inevitable due to injuries to teammates, but Kim Min-jae also had a difficult time, showing signs of exhaustion during the league game due to continued full-time digestion. In the end, he had to keep the bench behind Eric Dier at the end of the season along with a disappointing slump in the second half.
When Matthias Diricht left the team this summer, fans were concerned. Until the two players were sluggish against Wolfsburg in the opening game, these concerns seemed to become a reality. There were also constant criticisms. Bayern legend Lothar Mateus turned to Kim Min-jae and said, `Kim Min-jae is not at the level of Bayern"It will be difficult to show who you were during your Napoli days. It is a factor of instability in Bayern," he criticized, and German media Bild consistently gave disappointing ratings and evaluations even in games where Kim Min-jae played.
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However, Kim Min-jae erased all these concerns and doubts and even won the evaluation of being the best center back in Europe beyond the Bundesliga this season. With his consistent performance in every game this season, he has become an indispensable player in the Bayern defense. Bild, who has consistently criticized Kim Min-jae this season to the extent that some say he is forced to kick him out, was also very strong at a critical moment after the recent game against Benfica. There was a lot of stability,' he praised. It also set a milestone. Kim Min-jae was listed as the first player to record a 100% success rate by trying to pass more than 103 times during the game against Benfica on the 7th. Kim Min-jae is also the player who recorded the most forward passes (398 times) this season in the five major European leagues.
Kim Min-jae, who surprised everyone in Naples, returned.
digh1229@sportschosun.com
