Kim Min-jae ready to write new chapter as Player of Month in Serie A

SSC Napoli defender Kim Min-jae is among the candidates for the Player of the Month in the Italian Serie A. He has become the first defender in the league to compete for the title twice in a season.

Kim was nominated for the Player of the Month along with other four competitors on the official website of the Serie A on Thursday. The others are Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a second-time Player of the Month this season who plays with Kim for SSC Napoli, Armand Laurienté, Adrien Rabiot and Destiny Udogie. The Player of the Month is voted by fans.

Last September, Kim became the first Asian Player of the Month in the league. This month, he is the league’s first defender to compete for the title twice in the same season. Except for Kim, Kalidou Koulibaly, previously in Napoli, is the only defender who was selected as the Player of the Month in the league. Likewise, Kvaratskhelia is the only player who received the honor as the Player of the Month twice in the same season.

Kim has played in all three regular matches since this month. Although he was substituted in the 31st minute of the latter half in the match with Atalanta B.C. on March 12, he played a full 90 minutes in the matches with Lazio on March 4 and with Torino on March 19. Recording two wins and one loss since this month, Napoli has scored 71 points, ranking first in the league, 19 points ahead of Lazio.


hun@donga.com