Emery chasing €30m Bayern Munich powerhouse to bolster brittle Aston Villa backline – report

Aston Villa are reportedly ready to rival the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Juventus and AC Milan in the race to sign a Bayern Munich defensive star when the January transfer window opens.

Villa jumped above Spurs in the Premier League table after a 3-2 win in north London on Saturday, although both clubs have concerns over the number of goals they have been conceding to start the campaign.

Unai Emery’s men have let in nine in their five games to date, with Roberto De Zerbi’s men conceding eight, in what has been a worrying start to the season for both teams – although Villa did at least manage to chalk up their first league win of the campaign over the weekend.

Both teams lost influential central defenders over the summer, with Villa reluctantly selling Ezri Konsa to Arsenal, while Tottenham opted to cash in on wantaway skipper Cristian Romero.

Villa did add Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Modou Keba Cisse to bolster Emery’s backline, with experienced duo Tyrone Mings and Victor Lindelof the current starters as Pau Torres continues his recovery from a hamstring issue.

However, a report from Germany claims that Villa are primed to make a move for powerhouse Bayern centre-back Kim Min-jae in the winter window in what would be considered an upgrade to Emery’s current options.

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Kim Min-jae on Aston Villa, Tottenham radars

Despite not being a regular starter for the reigning Bundesliga champions, Kim Min-jae somewhat surprisingly stayed at Bayern beyond the summer.

However, the 29-year-old’s future could once again become a topic in the coming months, with a number of clubs understood to be monitoring him.

Indeed, according to German outlet fussball-news.de, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Juventus and AC Milan are all keeping an eye on Min-jae’s situation in Munich.

The report adds that Bayern’s management team are planning a meeting with the player to discuss his role and long-term prospects in Bavaria in December, ahead of the winter transfer window opening.

Should a decision be made for Min-jae to move on, negotiations would likely start at the €25-30million (£21.4-25.7m) mark.

The South Korea international, who has won 82 caps for his country, has played 399 minutes across five games for Bayern so far this season and most recently came off the bench at half-time of the 7-0 rout of Union Berlin.

He has made 121 appearances for Bayern in just over three seasons in Germany, winning the Bundesliga title twice in that time, as well as the German Cup.

One to keep an eye on then ahead of January, especially if Villa are still conceding goals and lingering down at the wrong end of the Premier League table.

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