With only a few games left of their 2022/23 campaign, Man United will already be looking ahead to next season, but a lack of due diligence means that they could miss out on a potential summer target.
The Red Devils are in the box seat in terms of finishing in one of the Champions League positions and, were they to complete the season and qualify for the premier European competition, they will need to bring in some gold-standard reinforcements.
Strength in depth will be imperative if Erik ten Hag wants to guide his side to success both domestically and against the best that the continent has to offer in 2023/24.
One player that has been of interest is Napoli’s man mountain, Kim Min-jae, however, it appears that United’s staff have overlooked one important detail to any potential transfer.
“It is not true that a deal has been done with Manchester United,” a member of the player’s entourage told Star News Korea (h/t Football Italia).
“Kim is concentrated on seeing out the season, besides which we still don’t know which English clubs will qualify for the Champions League next term.
“There is no rush for the future. United were interested in him when he was still in China, but we only ever chatted about that. I repeat, there has been no concrete contact.”
Regardless of any contact not being progressed sufficiently at this stage, the worry is what Min-jae has to do between the end of the current season and the start of pre-season.
“In any case, he has to enrol for military service in June,” the agent added.
Given that precise scenario, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the player wasn’t in a fit enough state to join any club and hit the ground running.
He would surely then need to rest for a significant period too, meaning that it’s unlikely he’d be able to pull on a shirt for the first few games of the season.