Kim Min-jae’s first Serie A team could have been a team other than Napoli.

Napoli legend defender Fabio Cannavaro said in an interview with ‘Il Martino’ on the 13th (Korean time), “I recommended Kim Min-jae to Udinese when I was a manager in the Chinese league.”

Cannavaro said, “Kim Min-jae is really impressive. A few years ago, Udinese called me and asked what kind of player he was. I said I was an excellent player.”더블유 토토

Cannavaro led Guangzhou Hengda from 2014 to 2015. Since 2016, he has been the head coach of Tianjin Quan Zhen. From 2017, he returned to Guangzhou Hengda and led the team until 2021.

During this time, Kim Min-jae also played for Guoan in Beijing, China. Kim Min-jae, who played in the Chinese Super League from 2019 to 2021, later moved to Turkiye Fenerbahce, not Udinese, and set foot on European soil.

Kim Min-jae, who was immediately caught on the radar of European clubs by performing at the league’s best level after only playing for Fenerbahce for one season, joined Napoli, which sent Kalidou Koulibaly to Chelsea ahead of this season.

Since then, Kim Min-jae’s performance needs no words. Together with his soul mate Amir Rahmani, he is firmly supporting the Napoli defense.

Napoli was eliminated early in the Coppa Italia, but is leading the league alone, and is cruising in the UEFA Champions League as well.

However, Cannavaro said that Kim Min-jae was not a perfect player from the start. “When I was in China, Kim Min-jae was overconfident in his defense skills,” he said.

Still, he added: “With (Napoli coach) Luciano (Spalletti) I learned to focus. Never distracted, never distracted. Always where I need to be, always know what the right judgment is.”