Report: Spalletti wants Kim Min-jae reunion at Juventus

Reports in Italy claim that Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti is keen to reunite with former Napoli centre-back Kim Min-jae during the summer transfer window. 

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Could Juventus bring Kim Min-jae back to Serie A?

Spalletti and Kim won the Serie A title together during the one season they had together at Napoli in 2022-23, which was the Partenopei’s first league title in well over 30 years and their first since the Diego Maradona era. 

Kim was sold to Bayern Munich, who activated his release clause at the end of the 2022-23 season, which was reported to be in excess of €50m. This makes Kim the most expensive Asian footballer of all time. 

The 77-time South Korea international has struggled to cement himself as a regular-first choice since joining Bayern just shy of three years ago, and has been playing second fiddle behind Jonathan Tah and Dayot Upamecano under Vincent Kompany for most of the 2025-26 campaign. 

According to reports from Fabrizio Romano (via Calciomercato.com), Spalletti would ‘gladly’ bring Kim to Juventus during the summer transfer window, and given their previous successes together in Serie A, is in a prime position to convince the former Napoli star to move to Turin. 

Kim will have two years remaining on his current Bayern Munich contract when the summer transfer window opens, but the Bundesliga club still have high demands for interested sides. Monday’s reports claim that the Bavarians will seek a fee in the region of €40m. 

Kim would also likely need to take a pay cut if he were to join Juventus this summer. Calciomercato claims that he currently receives a gross salary of around €16m, which comes out to just over €8m net per season.