Arsenal need Kim Min-jae transfer more than Declan Rice

Arsenal’s title hopes are over, and fans will hope that rather than their best chance being gone, this is just the beginning of an exciting era at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners weren’t too far away from a truly outstanding Manchester City side, and there seems one obvious flaw to fix for Mikel Arteta’s men to come back as more serious title contenders next season.

Declan Rice may be Arsenal’s top target in what is expected to be an aggressive summer in the transfer market, as Ben Jacobs wrote in his recent CaughtOffside column, but there’s surely someone else who should be right at the top of Arteta’s list.

That player, is Napoli centre-back Kim Min-jae. The South Korea international has been one of the players of the season in Europe’s big five leagues, playing a starring role alongside Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia as Napoli won their first Serie A title in 33 years.

Unsurprisingly, there is now plenty of reported interest in Kim, with recent reports from Italy, cited and translated by Sport Witness, claiming that Manchester United are one of the clubs showing the strongest interest in the 26-year-old, who will have a release clause of around €50million this summer.

In this market, that’s an absolute bargain, and it’s a way for Arsenal to fix a problem position without spending a fortune. Arsenal have conceded 42 league goals so far this term, only six fewer than last season and with two games still to play. At home in particular, their defensive record is pretty shocking, with only five teams, including already-relegated Southampton, having a worse record in that department. If Arsenal can fix that on the cheap with one of the top defenders in the game, making Gabriel Magalhaes their backup option instead of Rob Holding next season, then surely it’s an absolute no-brainer.

Rice, by contrast, would likely cost more than double that and wouldn’t be enough on his own to give that defence the protection it needs from midfield. He could certainly be an upgrade on Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka, but Arsenal’s recent collapse in form coincided with Saliba’s injury, and the lack of alternatives in that department is what should be keeping Arteta up at night. It certainly spooked the rest of the Arsenal team in some key moments this season, with the players looking like they knew they were playing alongside a major liability in Holding, who is such a down-grade from Saliba that it’s a…