중략
In light of Bayern’s multi-layered problems this season, one shouldn’t apportion too much blame to him though. Tuchel’s team only lost one game all season, 5-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt, when the manager was able to field his preferred defence of Mazraoui, Upamecano, Kim and Davies. And Kim has shown that he has potential for greatness. The basics are all there. He’s got pace and good positioning. He’s tall. He carries the ball well into midfield, his passing is at elite level and his rate of interceptions (2.18 per 90 minutes) is in the 99th percentile for players in his position in the top five leagues (according to fbref.com).
Other defensive qualities, such as leadership and calmness under pressure, are harder to measure. They will become more relevant in his second season, when things will hopefully be more settled at Allianz Arena.
Kim told the club magazine 51 that he used to idolise two of his predecessors, Franz Beckenbauer and Lucio. Bayern will hope that he takes more after the iconic “Kaiser” than the Brazilian, who never quite hit the heights consistently in Munich and had a tendency to lose his head in big matches.
“Both were exceptionally strong defenders and at the same time also had great qualities in building up play going forward,” Kim said. In interviews with South Korean media, he also cited Sergio Ramos as a role model — “Real Madrid is more tough, Barcelona is rather soft. I like the tough style of play” — and revealed that he’s watching Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk as inspiration. Measured against those names, he’s got some room for growth.
But by establishing himself as first-choice centre-back this year, Kim will have a head start under the next manager. He’s the one defender who has come closest to having an OK-ish season so far and one of only a handful of players safe from major changes anticipated for this summer.
And unlike some big-name Bayern pros who seem to have lost their confidence since Hansi Flick’s departure in 2021, Kim embodies precisely the kind of resilience the club want to see in their players. Perhaps his less-than-straightforward journey to the top helps him put things into perspective.
Kim’s parents ran a small sushi restaurant in the port city of Tongyeong. Money was so tight that he had to borrow football boots that friends had outgrown, and when he was called up to the under-17s for the first time, his father drove him to the national football centre in a fish truck.
Kim told reporters at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar that he was a little embarrassed by his mode of transportation but credits his family for giving him the right upbringing. He dropped out of college early to help them financially, focusing on football. Later, he trained like Rocky Balboa, pulling a car tyre behind him for extra strength.
“I don’t know if it helped — but it probably didn’t hurt,” he said. “It’s important to me to this day that I’m always open to trying new things and testing my own methods.”
Against Lazio, a timely monster performance from him would go some way towards saving Bayern’s season.
https://theathletic.com/5308753/2024/03/05/kim-min-jae-bayern-munich/
바이언 ㅡ 라치오 3:0