Arsenal and Aston Villa lock horns for Bayern defender Kim Min-Jae

The Korean was linked with the Villains last summer, while the Gunners’ interests have never gone away amid an injury to one of their key defenders.

Transfer insider Mark Brus, part of Fabrizio Romano’s team, has confirmed that Arsenal FC is interested in Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-Jae.

“Arsenal are considering signing Kim because Piero Hincapie is currently injured,” Brus revealed on an episode of the “Daily Briefing”.

“The team is therefore somewhat thin in defense, while William Saliba has been out for a longer period of time,” the reporter added.

According to Brus, the Gunners are not the only club from England’s Premier League who have set their sights on the South Korean:

“Based on information I’ve received from sources close to the player, I understand that Aston Villa will also be in the running.”

Brus confirmed that the current 16th-placed team in the Premier League had already been in contact with Kim in the summer.

However, Kim had indicated at the time that he wanted to stay at FC Bayern, so Villa did not pursue a possible transfer any further.

The 29-year-old remains on the list of those in charge at Villa and Brun said he expects them to “intensify their efforts” to deter Arsenal.

Although Kim still feels no great pressure to leave FC Bayern, a new challenge could be “tempting” for him, Brus stated.

“It’s too early to speculate, but it’s quite possible that Arsenal would be more attractive to him than Aston Villa for one reason or another.

“A source informed me that interested clubs value Kim at around €25million, but FC Bayern could demand more like €35 to 40million,” said Brus.