East Asia Korea

Watford Still Target Korean International Kim Min-jae

Written by Youngsub Lee

Football Tribe Korea

Korean center back, Kim Min-jae has been reportedly linked with the English Premier League side, Watford F.C.. However, issues related to his current club, Beijing Sinobo Guoan F.C., such as Asian player quota remains as an obstacle.

On Wednesday, Watford’s local news media, ‘Watford Observer’ commented: “the Hornets have retained a dialogue with the Chinese Super League club over a potential move for the player, but that several factors would need to be overcome in order for a transfer to happen”.

The primary obstacle lies in Guoan. The Chinese club is to participate in the next year’s Asian Champions League where one out of four registered foreign players has to be a national of an AFC Member Association.

Currently, the 22-year-old defender is the only foreign player to fulfill the requirement. Thus, Guoan will need a replacement for Kim for the talk to progress between the two parties.

This is not the first time the Hornets have shown interest in the player. The Korean international has been linked with Watford since this January although the move did not happen due to Kim transferring to the Chinese side.

In the meantime, Kim has been called up in the 23-man-squad for the Korean national team to face Lebanon and Brazil during the upcoming International fixtures.