Christian Falk says Manchester United are on Min-jae Kim's list, but the Bayern defender wants to stay at Bayern München and fight for his place rather than push for a move away. Falk also says Kim is not in Bayern's starting XI at the moment, yet is happy to see if he can work his way back in.

Bayern's stance on Kim

Falk's view is that Kim is still part of Bayern's thinking. He said a player like him is critical if they want to go far in all competitions, especially in the Champions League.

That fits the usage numbers from 2025/26. Kim made 37 appearances and played 2,051 minutes, so this was not the profile of a forgotten squad player even if he was not nailed on as a starter. His average rating of 6.93 also points to a solid, if not spectacular, season.

The fee debate around his move to Bayern is still messy. Metro reported a €50m transfer from Napoli in July 2023, while other reporting has put the deal at €58m through add-ons.

United's need at centre-back

United's interest also sits inside a broader recruitment push. Metro reported that the club have had a relatively subdued summer so far, with Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Karl Darlow the only first-team arrivals in that report, and that they are open to signing another centre-back because of Lisandro Martinez and Leny Yoro's injury issues and Harry Maguire turning 34 during the upcoming season.

Fabrizio Romano said he still expects United to do more business before the window closes. Michael Carrick also said United can do something special this season, which shows the scale of the squad-building job still in front of them.

Bayern, though, do not look eager to lose Kim, and the player stance is clearer still. United can keep watching his situation, but Kim's position is that he wants to stay in Munich and push back into the team.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 6 outlets. How we work →